to play in the Cotton Bowl against Ohio State, but lost 24–7. In the final AP poll, they were ranked No. 12. Notable players to depart to the NFL include Sam Darnold and Ronald Jones II. Darnold is the 5th USC quarterback to be drafted in the first round of the NFL since 1967. 2018 Through ranked No. 15 in the AP Poll's preseason rankings, the Trojans finished the season 5–7, (4–5 Pac-12), the program's first losing record since 2000 where they held the same record. USC lost to both of its major rivals, UCLA and Notre Dame, in the same season for the first time since 2013, and it also lost to all other California Pac-12 schools (UCLA, California, and Stanford) in the same season for the first time since 1996. They tied Arizona for third place in the Pac-12 South Division. On November 25, USC athletic director Lynn Swann announced that head coach Clay Helton would return in 2019. 2019 The Trojans finished the regular season 8–4, (7–2 Pac-12), holding second place in the Pac-12's South Division. USC was 2–3 against ranked teams. Following the regular season, they lost to the Iowa Hawkeyes in the Holiday Bowl 24–49. 2020 On September 24, the conference announced that a six-game conference-only season would begin on November 6 with the conference's championship game to be played on December 18 after initially announcing in August that all fall sports competitions were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Teams not selected for the championship game would be seeded to play a seventh game. The Trojans finished the regular season with a 5–0 record, and qualified for the Pac-12 Championship Game, which they lost to Oregon 24–31. The following day, USC announced that it would not play in any bowl game, ending the season with an overall 5–1 record. 2021 The Trojans were led by sixth-year head coach Clay Helton in the first two games. Helton was subsequently fired on September 13 following the team's 42–28 loss to Stanford. Associate head coach Donte Williams took over as the team's interim head coach. They finished the 2021 season with 4–8, their worst record since 1991 where they went 3–8. They were not bowl eligible for the second time in 4 years (they were not bowl eligible the 2018 season after finishing with a 5-7 record). 2022 On November 28, 2021, Lincoln Riley was named the