2002 USC Trojans football
National champion (Dunkel, Matthews, Sagarin) Pac-10 co-champion Orange Bowl champion
Orange Bowl, W 38–17 vs. Iowa
Conference	Pacific-10 Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 4
AP	No. 4
Record	11–2 (7–1 Pac-10)
Head coach	Pete Carroll (2nd season)
Offensive coordinator	Norm Chow (2nd season)
Captains	Carson Palmer Troy Polamalu
Home stadium	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (c. 92,000, grass)
Seasons ← 2001 2003 →

The 2002 USC Trojans football team represented the University of Southern California in the 2002 NCAA Division I-A football season. USC ended the regular season ranked #5 in both the AP Poll and the Coaches' Poll. Trojans quarterback Carson Palmer won the 2002 Heisman Trophy as the best college football player in America. During the bowl games, USC had a convincing 38–17 win over #3 Iowa in the Orange Bowl. USC became #4 in the final AP Poll and Coaches' Poll. Other notable players for the USC Trojans in 2002 include WR#2 Kareem Kelly, RB#21 Malaefou Mackenzie, QB#10 Matt Cassel, RB#4 Sultan McCullough, RB#34 Hershel Dennis (FR) RB#25 Justin Fargas, RB#39 Sunny Byrd, RB#34 Chad Pierson, S#43 Troy Polamalu, WR#44 Gregg Guenther, TE#86 Dominique Byrd, WR#83 Keary Colbert, WR#1 Mike Williams, WR#7 Sandy Fletcher, WR#82 Donald Hale, TE#88 Doyal Butler, and WR#87 Grant Mattos.

The team was named national champion by the Dunkel System, Matthews Grid Ratings, and Sagarin Ratings, all NCAA-designated major selectors,^[1]: 115 although none are claimed by the university.

USC was ranked highly (#12 by Scout, #13 by Rivals) for getting Darnell Bing, Manuel Wright, Winston Justice, Fred Matua, Tom Malone, Jason Mitchell, Hershel Dennis, Kyle Williams, Dominique Byrd, Dallas Sartz, Justin Wyatt, Chris McFoy, Mike Williams, LaJuan Ramsey, Oscar Lua and Brandon Hancock among others.

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 2	5:00 p.m.	Auburn*	No. 20	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	ABC	W 24–17	63,269[2]
September 14	12:30 p.m.	at No. 18 Colorado*	No. 17	Folsom Field Boulder, CO	ABC	W 40–3	53,119[2]
September 21	4:00 p.m.	at No. 25 Kansas State*	No. 11	KSU Stadium Manhattan, KS	TBS	L 20–27	49,276[2]
September 28	3:30 p.m.	No. 23 Oregon State	No. 18	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	FSN	W 22–0	56,417[2]
October 5	4:00 p.m.	at No. 17 Washington State	No. 18	Martin Stadium Pullman, WA	TBS	L 27–30 OT	36,861[2]
October 12	3:30 p.m.	California	No. 20	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	FSN	W 30–28	63,113[2]
October 19	12:30 p.m.	No. 22 Washington	No. 19	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	ABC	W 41–21	52,961[2]
October 26	12:30 p.m.	at No. 14 Oregon	No. 15	Autzen Stadium Eugene, OR	ABC	W 44–33	56,754[2]
November 9	5:00 p.m.	at Stanford	No. 10	Stanford Stadium Stanford, CA (rivalry)	ABC	W 49–17	44,950[2]
November 16	4:00 p.m.	Arizona State	No. 8	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	TBS	W 34–13	73,923[2]
November 23	12:30 p.m.	at No. 25 UCLA	No. 7	Rose Bowl Pasadena, CA (Victory Bell)	ABC	W 52–21	91,084[2]
November 30	5:00 p.m.	No. 7 Notre Dame*	No. 6	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA (rivalry)	ABC	W 44–13	91,432[2]
January 2, 2003	5:00 p.m.	vs. No. 3 Iowa*	No. 5	Pro Player Stadium Miami Gardens, FL (Orange Bowl)	ABC	W 38–17	75,971[2]
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Pacific time