When USC lost to Washington two weeks ago, people were stating that every year USC loses to some horrible opponent they shouldn’t lose to.

In reality, though, only one USC loss since the 2006 season was a horrible loss.

The five losses that the Trojans are crucified for are 2006 at UCLA, 2007 against Stanford, 2009 at Washington and 2006 and 2008 at Oregon State.

First of all, the Oregon State losses were not cases of USC choking against a horrible opponent.

In 2006, OSU finished 10-4 and in 2008 it finished 9-4. Also, USC was on the road. So USC lost on the road to a very good team. That happens every year to a lot of teams, regardless of the conference.

The UCLA loss knocked USC out of the title game, so it’s considered worse than it actually was.

A heated rivalry game on the road is a prime place to lose. No horrible choke there.

USC was without key players against Washington. The Trojans were on the road and facing an incredible quarterback in Jake Locker. Not a horrible loss.

Only the Stanford loss was horrible — the other games were in situations that every team loses.

So no, USC does not choke.