UCLA-USC Game Gains Significance

More than the usual bragging rights will be on the line when USC and UCLA meet for the 62nd time Saturday at the Rose Bowl.

For UCLA, winner of its last two games after losing five in a row, it’s a chance to end an injury-plagued season with a winning record.

For USC, it’s a chance to finish no worse than tied for second place in the Pacific 10 Conference race and position itself for a possible Fiesta Bowl bid after a 3-8 record last season.

For both, of course, it’s a chance to ruin the other’s plans.

Under similar circumstances two years ago--USC looking for a major bowl bid, UCLA looking for respect--these teams produced what might have been the most exciting game in series history. They combined for 42 points in the fourth quarter, with USC winning, 45-42, on a 23-yard touchdown pass from Todd Marinovich to Johnnie Morton with 16 seconds to play.

Last year, UCLA defeated the Trojans at the Coliseum, 24-21.

The Bruins opened this season with high hopes and, despite losing quarterback Wayne Cook in their opener, defeated Cal State Fullerton, Brigham Young and San Diego State to climb to No. 11 in the Associated Press poll.

But as injuries continued to mount--UCLA has used four starting quarterbacks--the Bruins lost their first five conference games.

They have rallied, however, improving to 5-5 by defeating Oregon State, 26-14, and Oregon, 9-6, in their last two games.

After Louis Perez kicked a 40-yard field goal as time expired Saturday to give UCLA its victory over Oregon, the Bruins retreated to their locker room at Autzen Stadium, where they were heard chanting, “Beat SC, Beat SC.”

A victory over the Trojans would make the Bruins’ season.

“We’ve had a rough year,” Coach Terry Donahue said. “Everybody in football and everybody in life needs hope, and we have hope for a winning season and we have hope to conclude the season on a positive note.

“We’ve got to play a real strong SC team, but the fact is, we’re not as deep in the doldrums as we would have been if we had come out of (the Oregon game) with a loss. We feel better about ourselves, and our confidence level is higher than it was two weeks ago. A winning season would be very, very wonderful for us.”

It might also attract attention from bowl representatives.

USC is all but assured of a bowl bid, but is less certain of attracting interest from a major bowl.

“This is not the end of our mission,” USC Coach Larry Smith said Saturday after USC defeated Arizona, 14-7, to improve to 6-2-1 overall and 5-2 in the Pac-10. “We’ve only just begun.”

Last year’s loss to UCLA won’t be the only motivator for the Trojans this week.

If Washington State were to defeat Washington earlier Saturday, a USC victory over UCLA would give the Trojans a share of the Pac-10 title, although Washington still would go to the Rose Bowl because it defeated USC.

A victory Saturday would assure the Trojans of finishing in a tie for second place with Stanford, at worst, and might earn them a trip to the Fiesta Bowl, depending on how they fare against Notre Dame on Nov. 28 at the Coliseum.

If USC finishes third in the Pac-10, it almost certainly will play in the Freedom Bowl on Dec. 30 at Anaheim Stadium.

But a loss to UCLA could drop USC into fourth place, which might land the Trojans in the John Hancock Bowl on Dec. 31 at El Paso.

“We don’t want to go to just another bowl game,” USC quarterback Rob Johnson said. “We want to go to a Jan. 1 bowl game.”

The Bruins would settle for a victory.

“We’ve been the underdogs all year,” UCLA defensive end Mike Chalenski said. “We’ve been the battered Bruins. People were looking at us as the worst team. I knew deep down all along we weren’t the worst team in the Pac-10. I knew we had a damn good team, and I knew we’d come out of this.

“We’ve been through it all. We were ranked No. 11 in the country, and we fell to (last place) in the Pac-10. We went from the penthouse to the (cellar).”

USC has been headed in the opposite direction.

UCLA could halt its ascent.