The most famous crosstown rivalry in college football will be renewed this afternoon with the UCLA Bruins traveling to their old home at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum to meet the USC Trojans at 3:30 p.m. ET on ABC.
Since the Great Depression, the two premier college football program have clashed over the Victory Bell in one of the more visually stunning rivalries you’ll see in the entire sport. Legendary players and decades of traditions have defined this annual battle of Los Angeles and today’s matchup marks the final time the rivalry will be played under the Pac-12 banner before both schools depart for the Big Ten.
Below, we’ll dive into the history of UCLA vs USC.
History of UCLA vs. USC
Total games played: 92
Record: USC leads 52-33-7
First game: September 28, 1929, USC wins 76-0 at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum
Last game: November 22, 2022, USC wins 48-45 at the Rose Bowl
The rivalry between these two crosstown rivals began in 1929 when USC, coming off the program’s very first national championship, crushed UCLA to open the season. The Trojans had a multi-decade head start on a Bruins program that had just began in 1919, and that bore out in the early results of the rivalry. USC won the first two games by a combined score of 128-0 before the game went on a brief hiatus until 1936, where the rivalry returned and has been played every year ever since.
1941 was a major flashpoint in the series as USC students managed to steal UCLA’s student section bell during their season opener against Washington State. The USC students managed to keep the bell hidden on campus for over a year, angering UCLA and USC’s president alike. An agreement was made that the winner of the game would get possession of the “Victory Bell” and each year, the winning team would paint it the color of their school. That 1942 game proved to be a cathartic moment for the Bruins as they recorded their first ever victory over the Trojans in a 17-14 nailbiter. Not only did they get the bell back, but it propelled them to their very first Rose Bowl appearance a few weeks later.
USC would continue to dominate the rivalry throughout the 1940’s before UCLA flipped the tide of the series in the ‘50’s under head coaches Henry R. Sanders and William F. Barnes. The Bruins posted a 7-2-1 record against the Trojans throughout the decade, a run that included a 34-0 shutout during their coaches poll national championship season of 1954.
With the program reeling from NCAA sanctions, USC would elevate assistant John McKay to head coach for the 1960 season. What resulted was one of the most legendary coaching runs in college football history as McKay re-established the Trojans as a national powerhouse. He also turned the tide of the crosstown rivalry by winning the Victory Bell four out of his first five years as the head of the program. However, new UCLA head coach Tommy Prothro and eventual Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Gary Beban managed to take down the Trojans in a pair of one-score games in 1965 and 1966. This set up a colossus showdown between the two schools in 1967 that earned the fabled “Game of the Century” label. USC won a 21-20 thriller in a contest that served as a national coming out party for eventual Heisman Trophy winning running back…ahem…uhhhh…O.J. Simpson (more on this game later).
The 1970’s marked another run of dominance for USC in the rivalry as McKay and successor John Robinson with a 7-2-1 record throughout the decade. The 1980’s brought extended parity for the first time in the rivalry’s history as the Bruins barely edged the Trojans with a 5-4-1 record throughout the decade. UCLA’s 20-19 victory in 1982 was significant as it marked the first time the game was played in the Rose Bowl. The two schools had shared the L.A. Coliseum as a home for over a half century before the Bruins moved out and made the famed stadium in Pasadena their new home in the early 80’s.
USC’s steady decline as a national championship contending program meant good news for UCLA in the 1990’s as the Bruins owned the Trojans during that period. They won eight consecutive games against the Trojans from 1991-1998, setting a series record for most consecutive victories. However, struggling ‘SC head coach Paul Hackett was able to win back the victory bell in back-to-back years before USC fired him following the 2000 season. They replaced him with a recently fired NFL head coach looking for work.
That coach was Pete Carroll, who part of turning USC back into a death star, placed an emphasis on dominating their crosstown rivals from Westwood. And they’d do just that. With college football legends like Carson Palmer, Troy Polamalu, Reggie Bush, and Matt Leinart leading the program, Carroll’s Trojans usually wrecked UCLA to close the regular season before heading to whatever BCS bowl they were destined for. The head coach posted an 8-1 record against the Bruins, with his only slip up coming in a 13-9 loss in 2006 that cost the Trojans a shot at playing in their third straight national title game.
With Carroll gone and the USC feeling the effects of NCAA sanctions in the early 2010’s, UCLA finally got from under the boot of their rival with Jim L. Mora;s Bruins beating Lane Kiffin’s Trojans three years in a row. Since 2015, USC has once again wrested control of the Victory Bell by winning six of the last eight contests.
Biggest game in series history: 1967
“64 yards. 64 thrilling, captivating, collegiate football yards!”
The aforementioned 1967 game earned a “Game of the Century” label as it pit No. 1 UCLA against No. 4 USC. The two schools were actually ranked No. 1’s and 2, respectively, for a week before a pesky Oregon State team complicated things for both. The Bruins and Beavers played to a 16-16 tie on November 4, dropping the Bruins from No. 2 to No. 4 in the AP poll. The following week in Corvallis, the Beavers upset the Trojans 3-0, a game that dropped USC to No. 4 and elevated UCLA up to No. 1. That set the stage for a colossus showdown in the L.A. Coliseum on November 18 with the Victory Bell, the Pac-8 title, a trip to the Rose Bowl, and a possible national championship all on the line.
With the game tied 14-14 in the fourth quarter, Gary Beban, playing with a rib injury, hit Dave Nuttall for the go-ahead touchdown pass. A missed extra point made the game 20-14. Facing 3rd and 7 with just over 10 minutes left, USC quarterback Toby Page called an audible and handed it off to O.J. Simpson. What resulted was one of the most famous runs in college football history.
The Trojans would take the lead on the ensuing extra point and hang on to win the football game. The victory propelled USC back up to No. 1 and they’d go on to defeat Indiana in the Rose Bowl and be voted on as national champion in 1967.
Throwing for over 300 yards and two touchdowns (insane QB numbers for the time), Beban would be rewarded for his gutsy performance in the loss with the Heisman Trophy a few weeks later. On the other side, Simpson’s run propelled him into national stardom and set into motion his Heisman Trophy campaign the following year in 1968. And then, well, you know what happens next. Just go watch any number of OJ docs from the last decade.
Odds for 2023 via DraftKings Sportsbook
Spread: USC -5
Total: 63.5
Moneyline: USC -225, UCLA +185
