USC football: Pete Carroll’s November streak is history

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Pete Carroll‘s November winning streak ended with the Trojans’ 55-21 loss to Stanford.

The Trojans had won 28 consecutive November games under Carroll since he became coach in 2001.

The November dominance helped the Trojans finish the 2001 regular season strong and then propelled them to two national titles and seven consecutive Bowl Championship Series bowl games.

After the Stanford loss, Carroll said of his success in November, ‘I never really have known why that even existed’ but said, as a competitor, he loved the phenomenon.

“Loved the fact that we finished … in a manner that made us unique and separated us and allowed us to do a lot of great things at the end of the year,’ he said.

After this week’s open date, the Trojans have one more November game, against UCLA. The Trojans finish the season Dec. 5 against Arizona.

Carroll is 5-1 in regular-season games in December. USC defeated Oregon State at the Coliseum in 2003. The other five games were against UCLA, the Trojans’ only loss a 13-9 defeat at the Rose Bowl in 2006.

-- Gary Klein