BRAGGING RIGHTS : That’s About All USC and UCLA Will Be Playing for Today After a Season of Mistakes for Both Teams

USC looks in the mirror and sees UCLA. UCLA looks in the mirror and sees USC:

--Dropping passes.

--Giving up big plays on defense.

--Having special team breakdowns.

--Losing to Stanford rallies.

“Our opponents are like us--up and down, a Jekyll-Hyde kind of season,” USC Coach John Robinson said.

His UCLA counterpart, Bob Toledo, agreed: “Up and down. About the time you think you’ve got it, you don’t.”

The difference is in expectations. UCLA, 4-6 and 3-4 in the Pacific 10 Conference, has played about as forecast with a young team and Toledo in his first season as the Bruin coach.

To get an idea of how the Trojans’ fortunes have fallen since August, when they were seventh in the country and odds-on favorites to win the Pacific 10 title, witness the cardinal and gold signs on the doors of Heritage Hall, on the USC campus: “City Champions.”

USC (5-5, 3-4) isn’t, and hasn’t been for the past five games of this rivalry, which will be renewed today in the Rose Bowl and dates back to 1929. UCLA’s five-game winning streak is its longest in the series.

The Bruin seniors have never lost to USC, UCLA cornerback Kusanti Abdul-Salaam reminded Trojan wide receiver Chris Miller at a birthday party Sunday night.

Abdul-Salaam has also reminded former Pasadena Muir High teammate Ken Haslip, a USC cornerback. So has Abdul McCullough, Haslip’s cousin and UCLA’s strong safety.

The reminders are everywhere. So are the ties.

UCLA receiver Jim McElroy is 4-0 against USC defensive back Daylon McCutcheon. “The first was when I played for Inglewood and he played for Rowland Heights,” McElroy said. “I think I was 12 at the time.”

And so are the slights.

“USC sent me my first letter in high school,” UCLA safety Shaun Williams said. “It was a questionnaire, and I returned it and never heard from them. And I played against Rodney Sermons and Daylon McCutcheon in high school. It’s like USC said I wasn’t as good as Rodney Sermons and Daylon McCutcheon, wasn’t good enough to play for USC.”

It gets old.

“It’s really difficult, living in Southern California,” said Trojan defensive tackle Matt Keneley, who grew up in Mission Viejo. “You walk through a mall and see somebody in a UCLA shirt, and it reminds you. As a competitor, it sets you off. You kind of get more frustrated.”

The frustration has been fed by UCLA’s winning streak, which has been marked by unusual players making unusual plays:

--The Bruins won, 24-21, in 1991, in a game in which Maury Toy fumbled at the one and teammate Brian Allen recovered in the end zone.

--They won, 38-37, in 1992, when John Barnes, a walk-on quarterback at his fifth school, passed for 385 yards and three touchdowns.

--They won, 27-21, in 1993, after Marvin Goodwin intercepted a last-ditch Rob Johnson pass in the end zone.

--They won, 31-19, in 1994, when USC blew a 12-3 halftime lead, and Wayne Cook passed for two touchdowns in the third quarter and ran for one in the fourth.

--And they won, 24-20, last season, when UCLA trotted out some trick plays, including one that involved a 35-yard touchdown pass play by McElroy to fellow wideout Kevin Jordan.

“I’d like to say we were prepared to win the last three times, the ones I played in, but we just didn’t,” USC linebacker Sammy Knight said. “So saying you’re prepared is one thing. . . . Going out on the field and actually doing it, that’s something else.”

It has been something else all season for USC, which lost to Washington, Penn State, Stanford and Arizona State. The Trojans haven’t beaten a ranked team.

UCLA also hasn’t beaten a ranked team, losing to Tennessee, Michigan, Arizona State, Washington, Stanford and Arizona. The Bruins have not won two games in a row all season.

“I wish [the game] was here now so we can get last week out of our system,” Toledo said two days after the Bruins had been hammered, 35-17, by Arizona.

Actually, UCLA needed the week to heal, with linebacker Danjuan Magee, defensive end Travis Kirschke and tackle Chad Overhauser not practicing until Thursday because of various injuries.

All will play today.

The Trojans have had a week off to prepare, which has helped them get tight end John Allred back in the lineup.

“Getting Allred back is huge for us,” quarterback Brad Otton said. “He was our leading receiver when he went down, and the tight ends have caught one ball since he’s been out. John gets open in critical situations.”

Allred has caught 26 passes for 276 yards and a touchdown.

Otton is the last of a line of quarterbacks who have drawn emphasis at USC, which Robinson promises to return to Tailback U. next season. The question is whether he will be around to do it.

There’s talk afoot that, though he signed a five-year contract extension after the Trojans won the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1, Robinson’s future at USC is in jeopardy. He has labeled such talk “speculation,” adding “frankly, when the news is not good, I don’t read it.”

But he then launched what seemed to be a campaign to keep the job, listing the accomplishments of his second term at USC.

“People have talked about these two games making a season,” Keneley said of UCLA and Notre Dame, which USC plays next Saturday. “I hope they still feel like that, that if we can win these two games people will forget about the Stanfords and Cals.”

Toledo is 5-0 in the series, three wins coming as a Trojan assistant on Robinson’s staff, two as offensive coordinator on the staff of Terry Donahue at UCLA. The five-game winning streak was accomplished on Donahue’s watch.

“You don’t want to be the coach of the team that breaks the streak,” Toledo said.

It would make it tough to look in the mirror on Sunday morning.

Times staff writer Earl Gustkey contributed to this story.

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Rivalry at a Glance

USC at UCLA

TEAMS AT A GLANCE

*--*

USC UCLA 5-5 Records 4-6 19.9 Scoring Avg. 27.7 25.7 Scoring Defense Avg. 28.2 116.9 Rushing Avg. 152.9 164.9 Rushing Defense Avg. 118.1 237.3 Passing Avg. 219.7 182.5 Passing Defense Avg. 239.1 354.2 Total Offense Avg. 372.6 347.4 Total Defense Avg. 357.2

*--*

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

USC

Rushing: LaVale Woods

* 115 carries, 585 yards, 7 TD

Passing: Brad Otton

* 323 attempts, 171 completions, 2,193 yards, 15 TD, 9 int.

Receiving: Rodney Sermons

* 35 catches, 277 yards, 4 TD

UCLA

Rushing: Skip Hicks

* 204 carries, 918 yards, 15 TD

Passing: Cade McNown

* 289 attempts, 147 completions, 2,068 yards, 11 TD, 15 int.

Receiving: Danny Farmer

* 26 catches, 443 yards, 3 TD

THE SERIES

* Overall: USC 34, UCLA 24, 7 ties

* John Robinson: 5-5

* Bob Toledo: 0-0

GAME RECORDS

RUSHING

*--*

Team Player Yds. Year USC Marcus Allen 219 1981 UCLA Gaston Green 224 1986 PASSING USC Rob Johnson 307 1993 UCLA Tommy Maddox 409 1990

*--*

RECEIVING

*--*

Team Player Yds. Year USC Keyshawn Johnson 175 1994 UCLA J.J. Stokes 263 1992

*--*