The eyes of college football fans fell upon the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, as for the final time as PAC-12 members, the UCLA Bruins and USC Trojans battled it out on the gridiron. Going into this game, USC stood at 7-4, losing four of their last five against opponents who all were ranked at the time, including two one-score losses to undefeated Washington and a solid Utah team. Meanwhile, the Bruins came into this game at 6-4 following two losses to a rising Arizona Wildcats team and a stunning upset defeat at the hands of 2-7 Arizona State a week prior at the Rose Bowl. Looking to avenge a thrilling Trojan victory at the Rose Bowl last year, the Bruins marched into the Trojan’s home looking to bring the Victory Bell back to Westwood.
USC, led by former Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams, brought a top three scoring offense in the country to the table, but their defense stood inside the bottom fifteen in points allowed. UCLA held the opposite problem. Their defense going into this matchup was top ten in points allowed, but the lackluster Bruin offense, who had used five different quarterbacks this season, was in the bottom half of the nation in points scored. Experts predicted that this game would come down to whether or not the Bruins could shut down the Trojan offense. And shut down the offense they did.
UCLA’s defense forced three turnovers to USC’s zero forced, including a fumble recovery for a touchdown halfway through the third quarter. Despite the fact that UCLA had thirty-three less yards than USC did, the turnovers gave UCLA a short field to work on that led to easy scores. The Bruins also completely took away the run offense for the Trojans, as they only managed to get a meager three yards on the ground for the game. UCLA had 199 on the ground, most of them coming from sophomore runningback T.J. Harden, who shined throughout the game. He rushed for 142 yeards alone and got two touchdowns, one being from the ground game and one being a reception from quarterback Ethan Garbers.
Ultimately, the game ended in a 38-20 victory for the UCLA Bruins over their crosstown rivals. The victory bell, currently held by USC, would leave the stadium with the Bruins after a year long stay at USC. This win also may have secured Chip Kelly’s job for another season, as the Bruin head coach was rumored to have been fired if the Bruins fell to the Trojans. However, UCLA secured a dominant win over USC, and for the next year, the Bruins run Los Angeles.
