TALE OF THE CITY

ABC didn’t want it. Bigger game in Corvallis, Ore.

Fox Sports Net didn’t want it, not as its Pacific 10 Conference game of the week. Bigger game in Pullman, Wash.

Finally, Fox Sports Net 2 agreed to televise today’s UCLA-USC game to the local audience, squeezed between two hockey games, the football game to be joined in progress. Long gone are the days of the traditional network TV doubleheader: Michigan-Ohio State, followed by UCLA-USC.

“I don’t think you can diminish or underestimate what the game means to both teams,” the coach said. “A lot of supporters and fans might think, ‘Aw, nothing’s happening.’ But that’s not true.”

Oh, sorry. That was California Coach Tom Holmoe talking about today’s Cal-Stanford game. But it could just as well have been UCLA Coach Bob Toledo or USC Coach Paul Hackett, or one of their players, talking about today’s game at the Rose Bowl.

“There’s nothing like it, whether there’s bowl implications or not,” UCLA offensive lineman Brian Polak said.

Go ahead and needle Cal and Stanford for billing their rivalry as “the Big Game,” but there’s nothing very big here.

Neither UCLA nor USC is nationally ranked. USC is alone in last place in the Pac-10. Cal beat UCLA and USC this season, and last. The Bruins will play in a bowl game this year, but Stanford could finish ahead of them in the Pac-10 standings.

The Bruins are 6-4 overall, 3-4 in the Pac-10. The Trojans are 4-6 and 1-6. So you can imagine which cliche was used, and overused, on the UCLA and USC campuses this week.

“You can throw out the records,” Toledo said. “You could be 0-10 or 10-0 and everybody shows up for this game.

“There’s an electricity for this game like no other game, including playing in the Rose Bowl game.”

Indeed, today’s game is sold out. The alumni will flock to Pasadena, the Bruins in blue and gold and the Trojans in cardinal and gold. Bands will play, barbs will fly, and for one afternoon, happiness will be defined by a scoreboard.

The intensity, at the tailgate parties and in the stands, will not approach that of today’s Florida-Florida State game, according to UCLA receiver Freddie Mitchell.

“That’s what college football is all about. People cry,” said Mitchell, who grew up in Florida. “If we lose to SC, people will just say, ‘Oh well, there’s next season.’ ”

The intensity on the field? Now we’re talking big game. If your standard is the ferocity of the hits, or of the trash-talking, this is indeed a big game.

“Everyone is saying there’s nothing to this game,” USC quarterback Carson Palmer said. “But . . . there are so many little things that people on the outside don’t realize.

“There are a lot more cheap shots, a lot more trash-talking. There are going to be some punches thrown, some words said that wouldn’t be said in a regular game.”

Said UCLA safety Marques Anderson, “It’s kind of like the old rivalries that go down to brawling, like medieval times. There will definitely be a lot of trash-talking.”

It has been an odd week for coaches. It was assumed, and rightly so, that players did not need to be fired up.

“You don’t need to give Knute Rockne speeches,” Toledo said.

In last year’s 17-7 USC victory over UCLA, the teams combined for 25 penalties, 16 against the Trojans. The Bruins committed five turnovers and had their eight-game winning streak in the series end.

“Both teams are at peak performance emotionally. Sometimes that’s good. Sometimes that’s bad,” Toledo said. “Sometimes, because you’re emotional, you make a lot of mistakes. . . . You have turnovers you don’t usually have. They force plays they don’t usually make.”

For a scouting report on today’s game, you need not consult the records, the statistics or the oddsmakers. You need only consult USC offensive lineman Brent McCaffrey.

“It’s just going to be a bloody fight,” he said. “I don’t believe there’s any way to be truly prepared for this game unless you experience it.

“It’s like a street fight and you’re going down a dark alley with your friends and they’ve got their friends.

“I respect UCLA, but, at the same time, I hate UCLA.”

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Times staff writer David Wharton contributed to this story.

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ON THE WEB--For more on the USC-UCLA rivalry, including complete advance coverage, a unique four-part video history of the rivalry, recaps of each game in the ‘90s and classic columns from Jim Murray, Mike Downey, Bill Dwyre, Bill Plaschke and J.A. Adande, log on to the Times’ Web site: https://www.latimes.com/rivalry

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Big Game Day

A look at today’s top college football rivalry games:

No. 4 FLORIDA (9-1) at

No. 3 FLORIDA STATE (10-1)

* Series: Florida leads, 26-16-2.

* First Game: 1958 (Florida won, 21-7).

* Trophy: Governor’s Cup.

* Stakes: Winner moves closer to national title shot; loser drops out of race.

No. 5 OREGON (9-1) at

No. 8 OREGON STATE (9-1)

* Series: Oregon leads, 52-41-10.

* First Game: 1894 (Oregon State won, 16-0).

* Trophy/AKA: The Civil War.

* Stakes: Oregon goes to Rose Bowl with a win; Oregon State goes with win and Washington loss to Washington State.

No. 19 MICHIGAN (7-3) at

No. 12 OHIO STATE (8-2)

* Series: Michigan leads, 55-35-6.

* First Game: 1897 (Michigan won, 34-0).

* Trophy/AKA: The 100-Yard War; The Big Game.

* Stakes: Michigan goes to Rose Bowl with win plus losses by Purdue and Northwestern; Ohio State goes with win and loss by Purdue.

No. 25 SOUTH CAROLINA (7-3)

at No. 16 CLEMSON (8-2)

* Series: Clemson leads, 58-35-4

* First Game: 1896 (South Carolina won, 12-7)

* Trophy/AKA: None.

* Stakes: Both teams trying to end two-game losing streaks.

INDIANA (3-7) at

No. 17 PURDUE (7-3)

* Series: Purdue leads, 62-34-6.

* First Game: 1891 (Purdue won, 60-0).

* Trophy: Old Oaken Bucket.

* Stakes: Purdue needs win to clinch first Rose Bowl since 1966 season.

No. 18 AUBURN (8-2) at

ALABAMA (3-7)

* Series: Alabama leads, 37-26-1.

* First Game: 1893 (Auburn won, 32-22)

* Trophy/AKA: The Iron Bowl.

* Stakes: Auburn must win to stay in SEC title chase; Alabama’s last game under Coach Mike DuBose.

STANFORD (4-6) at

CALIFORNIA (3-7)

* Series: Stanford leads, 52-39-11.

* First Game: 1892 (Stanford won, 14-10).

* Trophy/AKA: The Axe/The Big Game.

* Stakes: Bragging rights.

HARVARD (5-4) at

YALE (6-3)

* Series: Yale leads, 63-45-8.

* First Game: 1875 (Harvard won, 4-0)

* Trophy/AKA: The Game.

* Stakes: Bragging rights.