Notes on a Scorecard - Nov. 20, 1991

S tuff about UCLA, USC, their football series and the game Saturday at the Coliseum:

The late Red Sanders, who coached UCLA in 1949-57, said the rivalry “is not a matter of life and death. It’s a little more important than that.” . . .

Another former Bruin coach, Tommy Prothro, said Oregon-Oregon State was the most heated rivalry in which he was ever involved. . . .

USC leads the series, 34-19-7. . . .

This year, the USC band is being criticized for its frequent playing of “Tribute to Troy.” However, in 1966, the band was criticized for not playing. Then-Daily Trojan reporter Steve Harvey revealed that several non-musicians filled out the ranks while the band was marching, but didn’t use their instruments. . . .

Freshman Rob Johnson of USC may become the second member of his family to play quarterback in a Trojan-Bruin game. His brother Bret, who has transferred to Michigan State, completed nine of 16 passes for 151 yards for UCLA in a 10-10 tie in 1989. . . .

The highest-scoring game was won by the Trojans, 45-42, last season at the Rose Bowl. The previous record was 76 points, all scored by USC in 1929, the first game of the series. . . .

Movie producer Mike Frankovich holds UCLA records for the longest pass play, 93 yards to Ransom (Pants) Livesay in 1932 against Oregon, and the longest drop kick, 27 yards against Utah in 1933. . . .

Traveler, the Trojan horse, is not going to a bowl game this season but will appear next month in the Los Angeles Classical Ballet’s “The Nutcracker” at the Terrace Theatre in Long Beach and Pasadena Civic Auditorium. . . .

The only tickets remaining in the 92,516-seat Coliseum for Saturday’s game are in the peristyle end. . . .

ABC will televise California vs. Stanford at Palo Alto, but Prime Ticket will show USC-UCLA at 3:15 p.m. . . .

The first Bruin-Trojan telecast was in 1948 by Channel 13. . . .

Card stunts are making a mild comeback, but the competition between the two student sections used to be one of the day’s highlights. . . .

Operation Bounce Back: USC, which will have 18 starters returning next season, rebounded in style from its previous two losing seasons. The Trojans were 11-0-0 and national champions in 1962 after going 4-5-1, and were 9-3-0 and Rose Bowl champions in 1984 after going 4-6-1. . . .

The 1993 game probably will be played at Anaheim Stadium while the Coliseum is being renovated. . . .

The UCLA library is ranked third among all academic research libraries in North America. . . .

USC maintains one of 24 comprehensive cancer centers in the nation. . . .

The sword on the Tommy Trojan statue has been stolen so many times, it is now made of wood, instead of more expensive brass. . . .

UCLA Coach Terry Donahue has been involved in 23 cross-town games as a player, assistant coach and head coach. He was the epitome of the “gutty little Bruin” as a 190-pound defensive tackle. . . .

USC Coach Larry Smith has done some of his best work in intracity and intrastate rivalries. He is 3-0-1 at USC against UCLA and was 5-2 when he coached Arizona against Arizona State. . . .

O.J. Simpson, the greatest Trojan of them all, played only two years for USC. Unlike Todd Marinovich, who played as a redshirt freshman and sophomore in 1989-90, Simpson played as a junior and senior in 1967-68 after transferring from City College of San Francisco. . . .

UCLA has retired the jerseys of No. 13 Kenny Washington, No. 38 Burr Baldwin, No. 80 Donn Moomaw, No. 16 Gary Beban, No. 84 Jerry Robinson and No. 5 Kenny Easley. . . .

I walked out of a biology class at USC on Friday morning, Nov. 22, 1963, and learned that President Kennedy had been shot. The UCLA-USC game, scheduled for the next day, was postponed a week, but the NFL played a full schedule that Sunday. . . .

The biggest crowd, 103,303, saw the lowest-scoring game, a 0-0 tie in 1939. One of the UCLA halfbacks was Jackie Robinson. The smallest crowd, 35,000, saw UCLA win, 26-13, in the second of two games played between the schools in the World War II year of 1943. . . .

Prediction: UCLA 27, USC 21.