USC vs. Alabama: Its place in college football history

Did that historic 1970 USC-Alabama matchup that featured John McKay’s visiting University of Southern California Trojans, with their all-black starting backfield, usher in the era of integrated Southern football?

Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant’s all-white Crimson Tide lost, 42-21. Indeed, many historians view that game as the defining moment that accelerated the integration of the Alabama football program. ESPNU Campus Connection contributor Je’Vonda Wright, a junior telecommunications and film major at Alabama, tells the story of how this year’s Trojans-Crimson Tide game (a 52-6 ‘Bama rout) is a direct example of the progress that has been made since that historic game in Birmingham, Alabama, 46 years ago.