Reggie Bush Reminisces on Last USC National Championship as Trojans Gear Up for Expanded College Football Playoff

The former All-American running back looks back at some of the most memorable games of his career and praises current coach Lincoln Riley and quarterback Miller Moss.

Reggie Bush watches the USC Trojans’ season-opening game against the LSU Tigers at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

After the 2023 season ended well short of expectations for a championship program, USC Trojans coach Lincoln Riley made sweeping changes to the defensive staff and hired D’Anton Lynn from the crosstown rival UCLA Bruins. The program’s 27–20 Week 1 win over the then-No. 13 LSU Tigers was a good start for the revamped defense in the Trojans’ inaugural season in the Big Ten.

If you ask former USC All-American running back Reggie Bush, there is plenty to be excited about this season for the Trojans. Bush, who spoke with Sports Illustrated on behalf of his season-long partnership with Modelo Beer, believes the Trojans will be one of the 12 teams to earn a berth in the expanded College Football Playoff.

“I definitely think they have what it takes to make the playoff,” Bush says. “... I think USC is going to do great in this new playoff system. They’re going to have much tougher games. But that’s part of the deal, right? This is big-boy football. … I know [Miller Moss] is going to play great because Lincoln Riley is coaching him. I know any quarterback that goes to USC is going to play great and possibly have an opportunity to win a Heisman Trophy as well.” 

Moss throws the ball against the Tigers in the season opener. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The Trojans are long removed from the last time they were a serious title contender. It’s been 20 years since USC captured its last national championship, when the Trojans beat the Oklahoma Sooners, 55–19, in the Orange Bowl in January 2005. (That title was later vacated after an NCAA investigation.) The title came a few weeks after starting quarterback Matt Leinart won the Heisman Trophy. 

Bush, who was a sophomore that season, enjoyed plenty of success that season. He rushed for 908 yards and six touchdowns and caught 43 passes for 509 yards and seven scores in 2004. In addition to the heavy offensive burden, he was also one of the most explosive players in college football in the return game. Bush recorded two punt return touchdowns and averaged 25.6 yards per return on kickoffs. His special year, which concluded with a championship, earned him a fifth-place finish in the Heisman Trophy voting.

“I’ll never forget going to that Heisman Trophy ceremony and losing,” Bush says. “I remember saying to myself and my family that I was going to be back here next year. I was going to win the Heisman Trophy next year. I had to see the vision first of what I wanted to be and what I wanted to do. Once I had that vision in my head, it was just about going out and doing it … putting in the work and making it part of my reality.”

With two formidable Heisman contenders in tow, the Trojans entered 2005 as favorites to repeat as national champions. USC was ranked No. 1 in the preseason AP poll. For Bush, it was an opportunity to not only lead his school to a second consecutive national championship, but it was also a chance for him to make individual history.

“2005 was a magical year. For me, I always prided myself [on] being a player who played multiple positions. Punt returner. Kick returner. Running back. I would catch balls out of the backfield. And I felt like that was the secret sauce. I felt like if I did all these things well, then I would have an opportunity to win a Heisman Trophy,” Bush says.

Bush’s season started out strong.

After carrying the ball 12 times for 86 yards and two scores in the opener, Bush rattled off five straight games of rushing for 100 yards or more. The fifth game of that stretch was one of the most iconic games of the 21st century: the “Bush Push” Game in South Bend, Ind., against the then-No. 9 Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

“I remember at the beginning of the game, we were warming up on the field. Notre Dame came out in one uniform, and then they went back into the locker room, and they came out in the green uniform. I was like, ‘Oh, what’s this? What’s happening here?’ ” Bush says with a laugh. “That’s supposed to be a uniform that they never lose in, at least that’s [how] I understood it. When the crowd went crazy, you just felt and understood that, ‘O.K., this is going to be a different game.’ The energy was different, the fans were crazy and you could just see [Notre Dame] was driven.”        

Bush avoids the tackle of Notre Dame cornerback Mike Richardson on his way to a touchdown in 2005. / Matt Cashore-Imagn Images

Bush had 195 yards from scrimmage and three touchdowns, which included 160 yards on the ground—a season high to that point. But the pivotal moment in the game—one that is still at the forefront of the minds of college football fans—was one where Bush didn’t touch the ball.

Trailing 31–28, USC drove the ball deep into Notre Dame territory. With 17 seconds remaining and the ball placed at the 4-yard line, the Trojans lined up in an empty set formation with Leinart under center. He took the snap and was flushed to his left toward the sideline. He barrelled back toward the line of scrimmage, but was tackled by Notre Dame linebacker Corey Mays, who knocked the ball out of bounds with seven seconds remaining. In a moment of confusion, the clock continued to run when it should have stopped, leading to Notre Dame’s student section and fans pouring onto the field with a monumental upset presumably clinched.

After review, the ball was placed at the 1-yard line with seven seconds remaining and the Trojans out of timeouts. After review, when it was clear USC was getting a last opportunity to score a touchdown and avoid the upset, Leinart made his intentions clear to Bush.

“Before Matt sneaks the ball into the end zone, you’ll see on video he’s standing at the line and the refs had not blown the whistle yet,” Bush says. “I walked up to him and was like, ‘What are you gonna do?’ And he’s like, ‘I think I’m gonna sneak it.’ And literally, verbatim, I was like, ‘Oh, s---.’ Because I don’t know that this is gonna work.”

Bush felt even more uneasy about Leinart’s call to sneak once the refs blew the whistle and Notre Dame shifted on defense toward the line of scrimmage.

“When the refs blew the whistle, the entire defense was cheating up to the line because they knew it was coming. So now I’m like, ‘Oh my God. This is shaping up to be the worst play.’ When you run a quarterback sneak … you’re never, ever, as a running quarterback supposed to stand straight up during a quarterback sneak. Matt was standing straight up and going backwards … so that’s when the player and competitor in me … I just did the most natural thing I knew, [which] was to push him. Obviously, he ends up getting in the end zone,” Bush says.

USC picked up its biggest win to date that season with the thrilling 34–31 victory and cruised through the rest of its schedule.

For Bush, he cemented his Heisman campaign with his performance in the win against Notre Dame and only further put any arguments to rest with a 294-yard, two-touchdown late-season performance against the Fresno State Bulldogs and a 260-yard, two-touchdown game in the finale against UCLA the following week. He finished his junior season with 1,740 rushing yards, 672 return yards, 478 receiving yards and 19 touchdowns.

Bush runs with the ball against Oklahoma in the 2005 Orange Bowl. / Matthew Emmons-Imagn Images

But USC failed to repeat as national champions, as the Trojans fell to the Texas Longhorns in the Rose Bowl, 41–38, in one of the best college football games of this generation.

The Trojans haven’t been back to a title game since. But Bush is not doubting the ability of Riley to get the school back to the level of winning conference titles and competing for national titles.

“I want to see them start to play complementary football. … I just want to see them play well in all these phases, because if they do that, they have the opportunity to potentially win the conference,” Bush says.

Winning the Big Ten in 2024 means a high seed and first-round bye in the CFP, and if USC reaches that point, all bets are off.