USC
UCLA
Players Mentioned
No. 16 USC Football Visits Crosstown Rival UCLA At Rose Bowl
December 07, 2020 | Football
THEMES
*No. 16 USC and UCLA meet this Saturday at the Rose Bowl for the 90th version of the nation's most famous crosstown rivalry. It will be shown live nationally on ABC.
*A win over the Bruins would see USC host the following week's Pac-12 Football Championship Game as the Pac-12 South representative (there are several other scenarios in which the Trojans could host even if they don't win this weekend).
*UCLA has won just 5 of the last 21 meetings in the series with USC, but the Bruins were victorious the last time the game was in Pasadena. The Trojans have won 66% of the time against unranked UCLA teams.
*USC is looking to be 5-0 for the first time in 14 years.
*This equals the latest date (Dec. 12) that the Trojans and Bruins have met (also in 1942).
*Also at stake on Saturday are city bragging rights, the Victory Bell and Crosstown Cup points. Both teams will wear their home jerseys.
*The Rose Bowl stadium is USC's home away from home, as Troy has played more than 50 games there.
*Coach Clay Helton's undefeated Trojans are coming off their most dominant showing of 2020 with a 25-point home victory over Washington State, helped by 4 first quarter touchdown passes from QB Kedon Slovis to WR Amon-Ra St. Brown (it was 35-0 before WSU scored late in the opening half). St. Brown tied an NCAA record with his quartet of TD grabs in the initial quarter, while Slovis equalled a USC mark with his quintet of first half scoring aerials. Slovis, who is about to enter the school career passing Top 10 as just a sophomore, continues to lead the nation in completions and is in the Top 10 in completion percentage (a blazing 72%) and passing yardage. Besides St. Brown, WRs Tyler Vaughns (USC's No. 5 career receiver) and 2-sport performer Drake London headline Troy's stable of pass catchers. While USC's air attack was on fire versus WSU, the Trojan ground game was slowed but expect the rushing corps led by TBs Stephen Carr and Vavae Malepeai (both 1,000-yard career runners), along with TBs Markese Stepp and speedy Kenan Christon, to bounce back. OT Alijah Vera-Tucker has consistently shown he is among the Pac-12's top offensive linemen. USC's steadily-improving defense has 12 takeaways this year to help the Trojans rank second in the nation in turnover margin (+1.5), with S Talanoa Hufanga already with 3 interceptions. And the defense is averaging 3 sacks a game, with DL Nick Figueroa getting 3 himself against the Cougars (1 shy of the school record). DL Marlon Tuipulotu, S Isaiah Pola-Mao, OLB Drake Jackson and CBs Olaijah Griffin and Chris Steele also appear prominently on the defense.
*UCLA, under coach Chip Kelly, won at Arizona State last weekend. The Bruins are 16th nationally in rushing offense (they have hit 200-plus rush yards 3 times in 2020) and are outscoring opponents 36-9 in the fourth quarter. RB Demetric Felton Jr. is 11th in the country in rushing (115.6) and eighth in all-purpose running, and has eclipsed the 100-yard rushing mark 3 times this season. QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson, who is in UCLA's career Top 10 in passing yards, completions, passing TDs and total offense, returned to action at ASU after missing 2 weeks. WR Kyle Philips and TE Greg Dulcich join Felton as the top pass catchers and Duke grad transfer RB Brittain Brown helps the ground game. UCLA's defense, which is in the Top 20 nationally in sacks and tackles for loss, is led by S Stephan Blaylock, LB Caleb Johnson (17th in the nation in sacks) and senior DL Osa Odighizuwa. *The day after the football game, the USC women's basketball team hosts UCLA (and the Trojan men weclome Stanford).
RANKINGS
*USC is ranked No. 16 in the current AP sports media poll and 15th in the Amway coaches poll. UCLA is not ranked.
SERIES
*USC leads the series with crosstown rival UCLA, 48-32-7 (dating to 1929, a 76-0 Trojan win), not including Troy's 2004 and 2005 victories that were vacated due to NCAA penalty (original record: 50-32-7). UCLA only has been victorious 5 times in the last 21 meetings dating to 1999.
*In games against UCLA in the Rose Bowl, the Trojans are 7-11, with wins in 5 of the past 9 Pasadena contests (not including 1 win and appearance vacated due to NCAA penalty; original record 8-11 and 6 of the past 10).
*In 2018 in the teams' last meeting in the Rose Bowl, RB Joshua Kelley ran for 289 yards--the second most by any player against USC--with 2 touchdowns and UCLA scored 13 unanswered fourth quarter points to defeat the Trojans, 34-27. It snapped Troy's 3-game winning streak over the Bruins and was USC's first loss to a team with at least 8 losses since falling to a 1-8 Notre Dame squad in 1960. Kelley's rushing yardage, which came on a USC opponent record 40 carries, was the third most in UCLA history, as well as the most by any runner in a USC-UCLA game. The crowd of 57,116 was the smallest at a USC-UCLA game since 51,906 were at the 1950 game.
*Last year in the Coliseum, QB Kedon Slovis threw for a USC single game record 515 yards and 4 Trojans each had 100-plus receiving yards for the first time in school history as USC dominated UCLA, 52-35. It was USC's most points against the Bruins since 2005 and it tied the 1990 game for the most combined points in a regulation game in the series. USC piled up 643 total yards and 34 first downs, both figures its most since the 2015 Idaho game (737 and 35). See page 4 for a complete recap of that most recent matchup. USC 5-0
*A win over UCLA on Saturday would give USC its first 5-0 overall start since 2006. To date, the Trojans have done so 30 times. USC's 5-0 season starts: 1904-05-07-10-20-21-22-24-26-29-32-33-43-51-52-59- 62-66-67-68-69-72-75-79-80-88-95-2004-05-06 (2005's wins were later vacated due to NCAA penalty). *The last time that USC started off 5-0 in league play was 2005 (however, all those wins were later vacated due to NCAA penalty; the Trojans also started 5-0 in Pac-10 play in 2004).
USC VERSUS UNRANKED UCLA
*USC is 28-13-5 against unranked UCLA teams (not including 1 win vacated due to NCAA penalty; original record 29-13-5).
USC IN ROSE BOWL STADIUM
*USC is 34-20 in regular and post-season games it has played in the Rose Bowl, including 25-8 in the Rose Bowl game, 7-11 versus UCLA and 2-1 in the 1922 regular season (not including 1 win over UCLA and 1 Rose Bowl loss vacated due to NCAA penalty; original records 35-21 overall, 25-9 in Rose Bowl game and 8-11 versus UCLA). Incidentally, USC played the first-ever football game in the Rose Bowl, a 12-0 loss to California in 1922.
IN DECEMBER
*USC has a 43-29-7 (.589) all-time record while playing in the month of December (not including 2 wins vacated due to NCAA penalty; original record: 45-29-7, .599). *This year's UUSC-UCLA game equals the latest date (Dec. 12) that the Trojans and Bruins have met (also in 1942).
DECEMBER REGULAR SEASON GAMES
*USC has played regular season December contests in 49 seasons: 1893-95-97-98-1901-05-07-15- 16-18-21-24-25-26-27-28-29-30-31-33-34-35-36-37-38-39-40-41-42-45-46-47-48-50-51-56-62-72-78- 80-2003-04-05-06-07-08-09-10-20. Troy had 4 December regular season games in 1918, while it had 3 in 1935 and 1942 and 2 in 1893-1905-25-31-33-34-39. Also, USC played bowl games and conference championship games in December in 1924-75-77-85-90-92-93-98-2001-09-12-13-14-15-17-19.
VERSUS PAC-12
*USC has won 70.2% (478-195-29) of its games against current Pac-12 opponents (not including 9 wins later vacated due to NCAA penalty; original record: 487-195-29, 70.5%).
HOME JERSEYS
*For the first time since 1982, both USC and UCLA wore their home jerseys in the 2008 game (a UCLA home game in the Rose Bowl) and the teams have continued to do so since (except for 2011 when the visiting Bruins chose to wear white jerseys). Per an NCAA football-playing rule (no longer in effect beginning in 2009), because the 2008 Trojans were not in their white road jerseys, they were charged with a timeout at the opening kickoff. UCLA responded by calling a timeout immediately after to even things up. The tradition of USC in its cardinal jerseys and UCLA in its blue jerseys, regardless of whose home game it was, went on from 1949 to 1951 and then 1957 through 1982 before an NCAA football rule change required the visiting team to wear white.
VICTORY BELL
*The winner of the annual USC-UCLA football game gets year-long possession of the Victory Bell, a 295-pound bell off a freight locomotive. Originally given to UCLA in 1939 as a gift from the UCLA Alumni Association, several USC students took the bell in 1941 and hid it in a variety of locations for more than a year. A controversy ensued and school administrators had to intercede. In 1942, the bell resurfaced and, by agreement, became the trophy given to the game's winner. However, tradition calls for the Victory Bell to spend most of the year in storage…or, rather appropriately, in hiding. Since the bell became a trophy, its carriage has been painted cardinal 43 times while in USC's possession and blue 32 times while in UCLA's hold (there were 4 ties) (not including 2 USC wins vacated due to NCAA penalty; original record: 45).
CROSSTOWN CUP
*The winner of the USC-UCLA football game scores 10 points toward the Crosstown Cup, a trophy awarded annually to the school with the most successful athletic year against the other. The competition was formerly known as the Crosstown Gauntlet. Points are awarded to the winner of each Trojan-Bruin head-to-head contest and the Crosstown Cup will be awarded to the school with the most points at year's end (100 points is the magic number). USC has won the Crosstown Cup 11 times in the competition's 18 years, including a span of 5 consecutive years: 2001-02, 2003-04, 2005-06, 2007-08, 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12, 2013-14, 2015-16 and 2018-19. (The 2019-20 competition was suspended in the spring when collegiate athletic events were cancelled due to COVID-19.)
USC-UCLA CONNECTIONS
*USC WR Tyler Vaughns' brother, Jonathan (JonJon), is a freshman defensive back at UCLA.
*USC ILB Ralen Goforth's brother, Randall, was a cornerback at UCLA (2012-16).
*USC SNP Nathan Weneta's brother, Jay, was a long snapper at UCLA (2011-12).
*USC TE Erik Krommenhoek's parents both attended UCLA.
*USC ILB Spencer Gilbert's mother, USC director of track and field Caryl Smith Gilbert, was a 3-time AllAmerican sprinter at UCLA.
*USC men's volleyball head coach Jeff Nygaard was a 3-time (1993-95) All-American and 2-time National Player of the Year at UCLA.
*USC women's volleyball head coach Brad Keller previoiusly was an assistant women's and men's coach at UCLA. *Marisa Samaniego, a senior learning specialist in USC's Student-Athlete Academic Services, was an All-American and Pac-10 champion diver at UCLA.
*USC head athletic trainer Russ Romano spent 1997 at UCLA.
*USC senior assistant athletic director/Trojan Athletic Fund Scott Wandzilak held a similar position at UCLA
*USC sports science coordinator Kyle Voigt was a UCLA graduate assistant athletic performance coach.
*UCLA OL Duke Clemens' grandfather, John Kamana (center in 1953-54), and uncle, John Kamana (fullback and wide receiver in 1980-83), played at USC.
*UCLA defensive line coach Johnny Nansen was an assistant coach at USC from 2014 to 2019.
*UCLA baseball coach John Savage was USC's pitching coach from 1996 to 2000
*UCLA women's basketball associate coach Shannon Perry-LeBeauf was an assistant at USC from 2000 to 2004.
*UCLA men's volleyball assistant coach John Hawks was a men's volleyball assistant at USC.
*UCLA women's swimming volunteer assistant coach Kristine Quance Julian was a 9-time NCAA champion swimmer at USC (1994-97), a member of the Women of Troy's 1997 NCAA championship team, a 2-time Honda Award winner (1996-97) and a 1996 Olympic gold medalist.
*UCLA senior associate athletic director/senior woman administrator Dr. Christina Rivera previously worked in USC's student athlete academic services department.
*UCLA assistant athletic director/sports medicine Mark Pocinich previously was an assistant athletic trainer at USC.
*UCLA learning specialist Dominique Randle played on the USC women's soccer team (2014-18).
