THE RIVALRY: Saturday at the Coliseum, 12:30 p.m. : It’s in the Brag for Bruins : UCLA Goes for Five in a Row, an Unprecedented Feat in Series

“It’s not a matter of life and death.

It’s a little more important than that.”

--Former UCLA coach Red Sanders on his school’s rivalry with USC

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When quarterback John Barnes walked out of the Rose Bowl on Nov. 21, 1992, after having led UCLA to a 38-37 victory over USC, he knew he was the hero of the moment.

What he has learned over the ensuing years is that, to true Bruin die-hards, he is a hero for a lifetime.

Red Sanders knew what he was talking about.

“People never seem to forget it,” Barnes said. “They still come up to me and ask me about this play or that play. It gives me tingles. I never knew the intensity of the game until I played in

it.”

He should have asked his coach, Terry Donahue, who has been in 28 of these as a player, assistant coach and head coach.

“It’s one of the great thrills that a young man gets to experience,” Donahue said.

The experience has been far more pleasant for Donahue since UCLA launched its current four-game winning streak over USC.

The streak began in the throes of misery. In 1990, in arguably the greatest shootout in the history of the rivalry, UCLA’s Tommy Maddox and USC’s Todd Marinovich traded touchdowns as if there were no defenses on the field. When Marinovich’s 23-yard touchdown pass to Johnnie Morton finally won it for the Trojans, 45-42, the Bruins were crushed.

To this day, Donahue refuses to talk much about that game.

And why should he? He hasn’t lost one since.

1991--UCLA 24, USC 21

Donahue was desperate for a victory. True, his team had bounced back from a 5-6 season the previous year, going 7-3 heading into the showdown against USC at the Coliseum. And true, a victory over a struggling Trojan club that had lost five in a row and was 3-7 when it took the field wasn’t exactly going to shake up the pollsters.

No matter.

UCLA hadn’t beaten USC since 1986, having lost three and tied one over that span.

But in 1991, it was USC’s turn to be frustrated. Trailing, 17-0, at the half, the Trojans, behind quarterback Reggie Perry, made a spirited comeback.

With Perry throwing two touchdown passes, USC was behind by only three, 24-21, with a little more than a minute to play. And the Trojans were on the move.

From the UCLA 37-yard line, Perry faded back to pass and saw a dream situation. Morton, his star receiver, was racing down the right sideline ahead of the defense.

But Perry never saw Bruin linebacker Arnold Ale, who sacked him, causing a fumble that UCLA recovered to hang on for the victory.

The ultimate insult to USC: Ale was a transfer student from Notre Dame.

1992--UCLA 38, USC 37

Barnes’ story reads like a Hollywood script. In fact, Barnes, now a salesman in Orange County, is trying to peddle a screenplay on his unlikely tale.

Barnes had watched the game from the stands the year before, sneaking in by using a former girlfriend’s ID card. He was a walk-on at UCLA, the fourth-string quarterback, who got to start only because everybody ahead of him was hurt.

“I always thought I could play,” Barnes said. “When I was riding my bicycle to practice, I used to think, ‘If [Donahue] were to throw me in, how would I respond?’ ”

Spectacularly.

Barnes rallied his club from a 31-17 deficit, finishing 16 of 28 passing for 385 yards and three touchdowns. The winning points came on a 90-yard, fourth-quarter touchdown pass from Barnes to receiver J.J. Stokes.

“I remember being on the ground after I threw the pass, unable to see, waiting to see how the crowd would react,” Barnes said.

Despite his inexperience, Barnes didn’t lack for confidence.

When USC quarterback Rob Johnson scored on a one-yard sneak with less than a minute to play to cut the margin to a point, the Trojans, needing a victory to get a share of the conference title, went for two points, but failed.

“I was hoping they’d score,” Barnes told an interviewer at the time, “so we could go out and score again.”

There were 41 seconds remaining.

Along with the touchdown pass to Stokes, Barnes has one other lasting memory of that evening.

“I can remember being in the huddle at the end of the game,” he said, “and all the faces of the linemen and receivers knowing we had pulled it out.

“God looked down that day and winked at me.”

1993--UCLA 27, USC 21

This one was like old times for Donahue. For one thing, his old friend and rival, John Robinson, was back at USC, having replaced Larry Smith as coach.

For another, a Rose Bowl berth was on the line.

Again, UCLA had the lead in the closing minute. Again, USC was making a charge.

The Trojans trailed, 17-0, at the half, and USC’s Rob Johnson was making a bid for the kind of lifelong fame enjoyed by Barnes.

On a day when he completed 23 of 36 passes for 307 yards and two touchdowns, Johnson was still finding his receivers as the game moved into its final minute.

Johnson had driven the Trojans from their 19-yard line to the Bruin two.

But then, Johnson threw one pass too many. Trying to hit tight end Tyler Cashman, he threw into triple coverage. UCLA strong safety Marvin Goodwin came up with the ball with 50 seconds to play and the Bruins were back in the Rose Bowl for the first time since the 1985 season.

Goodwin wasn’t the only UCLA hero that day. Running back Ricky Davis rushed for 153 yards, Bjorn Merten kicked two field goals and the Bruin defense held USC to seven yards rushing.

Of all the games in the current streak, Donahue said this one is his most treasured.

“They are all special,” he said, “but that was the one that put us in the Rose Bowl.”

It also broke a string of 10 consecutive Bruin losses at the hands of the Trojans when a berth in Pasadena was on the line for both teams.

1994--UCLA 31, USC 19

For Robinson, a victory would mean a shot at his first trip back to the Rose Bowl in his second tour of duty with the Trojans. For Donahue, it meant a chance to salvage what had once looked like a disastrous season.

USC was 7-2 and had lost only once in the conference. UCLA was 4-6, crawling back from a six-game losing streak that had all but wrecked its season.

But a victory over the Trojans would still be a victory over the Trojans.

And that’s just what the Bruins got, coming back after trailing, 12-3, at the half. UCLA won on the arm of quarterback Wayne Cook, the legs of tailback Sharmon Shah and the effectiveness of its defense.

Shah now calls himself Karim Abdul-Jabbar, but most teams who have tried to get in his path wind up calling him unstoppable.

He ran for 135 yards that day, and Cook connected on two touchdown passes, to Stokes and Jim McElroy.

For the second year in a row, the Bruin defense shut the door on the Trojan running game, limiting USC to 57 yards rushing. UCLA also intercepted two of Johnson’s passes.

USC receiver Keyshawn Johnson made his mark in this game with 11 catches for 175 yards and a touchdown.

But Johnson and Johnson tried to hook up one time too many. With a little more than three minutes to go, Johnson went to Johnson again, but it was intercepted by Bruin cornerback Teddy Lawrence.

The Trojans went on to play in the Cotton Bowl. The Bruins took their 5-6 record and went home.

Disappointing year for UCLA? Not with the way it ended. Not in this town.