Southern California’s disappointing finish dropped them out of the BCS for the first time since 2001, with a Dec. 26 trip to San Francisco and a matchup with the Boston College Eagles serving as their consolation.
The Trojans will play in a non-BCS bowl for the first time since Pete Carroll’s first season, but they will still be favored to beat BC, listed as 7.5-point favorites.
USC was 6-1 and ranked fourth in late October, but lost three of its final five games and fell out of the Top 25 for the first time since the end of the 2001 season.
The Eagles were inconsistent in their first season under coach Frank Spaziani, but reached a bowl for the 11th straight year despite being picked to finish last in the ACC’s Atlantic Division.
USC swept the only two meetings with BC in 1987 and ’88. The teams are scheduled for another home-and-home series in 2013 and ’14.
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