Honestly, I don’t really remember Tim Rossovich when he played at USC. I do remember him in the NFL and in his acting career. He made the perfect movie bad guy and was kind of big and scary looking.

Since Tim Rossovich passed away recently at the age of 72, I wanted to write a little something in honor of him and his USC teammates.

At USC, Rossovich was roommates with famous actor Tom Selleck, but he was also a beast on the football field. Playing at defensive end, Rossovich was good against the run and equally good as a

pass rusher coming off the edge.

Rossovich and 3 of his teammates, including running back OJ Simpson, offensive tackle Ron Yary and linebacker Adrien Young, were consensus All Americans. 5 USC Trojans were taken in the first round of the 1968 NFL Draft, and there was enough talent leftover to play for a national title in 1968 and finish up unbeaten in 1969.

These were good times to be a USC football fan and it was happening on the west coast back in those years.

Good times, yes, but the Trojans were pretty average in 1966 finishing up 7-4. Even though they still won the conference, they lost to an unranked Miami Hurricanes team in Miami and they lost to 8th ranked rival UCLA. They also lost, 0-51, to national champion Notre Dame. Supposedly, USC head coach John McKay screamed after the game that he would never lose to Notre Dame again. But, that has proven to be one of those myths that often go along with historical games.

To top it off, the mighty Trojans lost to Purdue in the Rose Bowl by a single point, 13-14.

To ensure that another 4 loss season did not take place, McKay and his staff went out and recruited the best junior college player in the country. That player was OJ Simpson from San Francisco and it paid off with a national title and almost another, plus a Heisman Trophy and another prop for the USC reputation as Tailback U.

With OJ Simpson at tailback and guys like left tackle Ron Yary blocking for him, the USC offense was almost unstoppable. Yary, like Simpson, is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and some considered him at the time the best offensive tackle in football.

But, the defense was also loaded with guys like Tim Rossovich at end, Adrien Young at linebacker and Jimmy Gunn at the other end. They also had lineman Willard Scott and defensive back Mike Battle to form a pretty tough defense.

USC started their 1967 season ranked 7th and then promptly thumped a terrible Washington State team, 49-0. That impressive showing dropped them to the number 4 spot.

Then, they hosted and beat the 5th ranked Texas Longhorns, 17-13. Even though that Texas team turned out to be pretty average with 4 losses on the season, it was still enough to drop USC a few spots to number 2.

Next up was a trip to East Lansing, Michigan to battle the Spartans who finished the 1966 season in a tie with Notre Dame for the national championship. Michigan State lost a tremendous amount of talent off of that 1966 team, but the polls had them ranked 3rd to begin 1967. That didn’t last long because the Houston Cougars came in and beat Michigan State 37-7 in their opening game. They were unranked when USC beat them, 21-17, but nobody had a clue that the Spartans would finish their season with only 3 wins. It was a stunner.

Even so, the polls then placed USC in their top position ranked number one in the country.

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But, old nemesis Notre Dame was next. The Fighting Irish started off 1967 the way they finished 1966, at the top of the polls at number one. After clubbing California in their opening game, the Irish were shocked by 10th ranked Purdue in their second game and lost, 21-28. After beating Iowa, the Fighting Irish were ranked 5th when they hosted USC. Make no mistake about it, these two old

programs do not like each other and USC was particularly upset because Notre Dame had beaten them by 51 points the season before.

I’m sure our guy Tim Rossovich was chomping at the bit wanting to get to those Irish. He, as well as his teammates, probably were really eager for some payback.

The Trojans pretty much came out and manhandled the Irish that day all those years ago, 24-7.

USC beat conference rivals Washington, Oregon and California somewhat easily over the next three games before traveling to Oregon State.

This was not your typical Oregon State team as they were known as the Giant Killers. Giant Killers

Oregon’s State Beavers were the Giant Killers because they beat 2nd ranked Purdue, top ranked USC and they tied then top ranked UCLA. They brought it in big games.

It was said that Oregon State purposefully wet the field that day and they played in a mud pit. USC just couldn’t get anything going and the Beavers upset them, 0-3.

Now, the UCLA Bruins took over the number one position and the Trojans were 4th, setting up the biggest all time show down between the two inner city rivals.

The game lived up to the hype with USC holding on for a 21-20 win. Even though it was something of a shootout for it’s time, the USC defensive line really put a hurt on UCLA’s Heisman winning quarterback Gary Beban. He was a warrior that day, but the game ended with Trojan ends Tim Rossovich and Jimmy Gunn sacking Beban for a big loss.

The Trojans ended their season with a win over the cinderella Indiana Hoosiers in the Rose Bowl, 14-3.

Rossovich was a consensus All American and picked in the first round of the NFL Draft by the Philadelphia Eagles.

I wrote about him in a couple of other blog posts as he was one of the more interesting characters to ever play the game. Glass eater

Thanks for the fascinating memories, Tim Rossovich, and all of your USC teammates.