Town Haul Meeting Has Extra Meaning

USC’s quest for a third consecutive national title already includes victories over 11 opponents that considered a matchup against the top-ranked Trojans as their national championship game.

USC survived every challenge and has moved to within one victory of clinching a spot in the Rose Bowl, this season’s bowl championship series title game.

Standing in the way today at the Coliseum is what could be USC’s toughest test: 11th-ranked UCLA.

“We’ve faced everything thrown at us, everything you could imagine,” USC quarterback Matt Leinart said. “But it’s different when you play UCLA and they play us.”

The 75th football game between cross-town rivals is among the most highly anticipated matchups in the history of the series.

For the first time since 1988, the teams have only one loss between them. They feature dynamic offenses led by two of the nation’s best quarterbacks, Leinart and Drew Olson, and two game-breaking running backs and kick-return specialists, USC’s Reggie Bush and UCLA’s Maurice Drew.

USC, riding a 33-game winning streak, has defeated UCLA six straight times. So the Bruins would like nothing more than to end both streaks on a field where USC has not lost in more than four years.

“We know that they are ‘The USC Trojans,’ but we’re going to go into it ready to play with a high level of purpose and a high level of execution to win the game,” UCLA senior linebacker Justin London said.

UCLA, 9-1 overall and 6-1 in the Pacific 10 Conference, came close last season, losing, 29-24, in a game that was not decided until the final minute.

“We know USC is a good team; I mean their record speaks for itself,” UCLA offensive lineman Shannon Tevaga said. “But we feel that we should have won last year.”

USC players, not surprisingly, thought the score should not have been as close.

On the day before last year’s game at the Rose Bowl, a concerned Coach Pete Carroll sensed something amiss. He asked his players what they thought of the Bruins. Several responded in a manner that led Carroll to believe the Trojans might be overconfident.

But USC players said this week that UCLA has proven it’s a team to be reckoned with. The Bruins overcame double-digit deficits four times, three times in the fourth quarter, for victories over Washington, California, Washington State and Stanford. If not for a 52-14 loss at Arizona, the Bruins would be undefeated.

“They know how to win,” USC safety Darnell Bing said. “You can’t take a team like that lightly.”

As they did last season, the Bruins are coming off two consecutive open dates. UCLA followed its defeat at Arizona with a 45-35 victory over Arizona State on Nov. 12.

UCLA Coach Karl Dorrell and his staff spent part of the long break dissecting every USC game.

“There’s only so much you can take from all of those games. Your program is what your program is in terms of its foundation,” Dorrell said. “You can’t make wholesale changes right now. That’s not what has gotten us to this point. We’re 9-1 and we feel pretty good about what we’ve done.”

UCLA’s offense has carried the load. The Bruins average 40 points a game, fifth nationally.

“You can try and shut down our run game but then our passing game will just blaze you,” said Drew, who averages 81.6 yards rushing a game.

Olson, a senior, ranks first nationally in passing efficiency. He has completed 68% of his attempts and has 30 touchdown passes with only three interceptions.

“The quarterback doesn’t make many mistakes,” USC safety Scott Ware said. “He takes chances, but he doesn’t make mistakes.”

Olson will operate against a USC team that leads the nation in turnover margin. However, the Trojan defense looked shaky at times in victories at Oregon, Arizona State and Notre Dame and surrendered 42 points against Fresno State two weeks ago.

UCLA’s defense also has struggled, especially against the run. The Bruins give up 219.5 yards rushing a game, which ranks 115th out of 119 teams nationally.

UCLA could benefit if running back LenDale White is slowed or cannot play because of a shoulder injury he suffered during practice last Sunday, but USC still has plenty of weapons.

The Trojans average a nation-leading 571.3 yards a game and are second in scoring at 48.6 points a game.

Last season, UCLA did not allow Leinart to throw a touchdown pass, but Bush rushed for 204 yards and scored on two long runs.

“The reason why the run was so wide open was partly due to the fact that they were so focused on stopping the pass,” Bush said this week.

After rushing for a career-high 294 yards and amassing 513 all-purpose yards against Fresno State, Bush was asked if he expected to encounter a similar Bruin defensive strategy today.

“Last game I did pretty good,” he said, chuckling. “So I doubt that.”

UCLA is expected to kick the ball away from Bush, who ranks first nationally in all-purpose yardage, and USC is expected to do the same with Drew, who ranks first in punt return yardage.

“We have to control the flight of the ball and put it where we want to put it and not give them a chance to get going,” Carroll said. “Nobody slows him down.”

Last year, USC needed five field goals from Ryan Killeen to defeat the Bruins.

Mario Danelo has made nine of 10 field-goal attempts for the Trojans this season, though none from longer than 36 yards. UCLA’s Justin Medlock is 11 for 15, including five from beyond 40 yards and one from beyond 50.

Asked what it would take to defeat his team, Carroll said an opponent would “have to find ways to do things right longer than we do.”

But Carroll also acknowledged that some factors are beyond the Trojans’ control.

“The game can get you sometimes,” he said. “The ball can bounce screwy, the call can be made, the wind blows. Things can happen.”

Times staff writer Lonnie White contributed to this report.