UCLA isn’t only home team to win

UCLA’s 13-9 upset victory over USC had more than the Victory Bell ringing Saturday evening.

The concierge phone at the West Los Angeles furniture store owned by H.D. Buttercup was ringing off the hook after the Bruins won free furniture for anyone bold enough to buy at least $2,000 worth of merchandise before Saturday’s kickoff.

“A lot of calls were from people who had a little too much to drink,” said Mila Becker, the store’s director of public relations. “A ton of people were in the store [on Saturday], and I’m sure people will start lining up well before we open [today] at 11 a.m. to claim their furniture.”

According to Becker, the promotion was “spawned out of a bet of sorts. Our CFO is a USC alum who’s always touting the Trojans and some of us were getting sick of it. Around noon on Wednesday, our CEO phoned and said, ‘OK, let him put his money where his mouth is.’ ”

Becker said the exact amount of furniture given away by the store won’t be known for a couple of weeks. But she said a couple from Alhambra, with a newly purchased first home, was delighted to have won a free bed.

“[The promotion] generated great business for us, and buzz, and a sense of community in L.A.,” Becker said. “We will probably do it again.”

Trivia time

Before losing its last two Big 12 games to Kansas State and Texas A&M;, Texas was trying to become the ninth school to play in the Rose Bowl three consecutive years. Which are the only schools to go four consecutive years?

Six of one ...

While wondering if UCLA won one for Dennis Green’s job security, Briefing picks some of today’s NFL games:

* New York Giants over Dallas: Giants ask a favor of old coach Bill Parcells: “Can you send us Bledsoe?”

* Indianapolis over Tennessee: Peyton Manning interrupts busy commercial filming schedule to phone Eli with sage advice: “Try more handoffs.”

* St. Louis over Arizona: Six years later, we have role reversal. Now, Matt Leinart is recruiting Pete Carroll.

* Washington over Atlanta: Falcons owner Arthur Blank gripes on CBS, “I’ve got three No. 1 wide receivers and none of them can catch the ball.” Yeah, but who’s paying them?

* New England over Detroit: How bad are the Falcons? The Lions beat them by more than two touchdowns.

* Denver over Seattle: Last week, Jake Plummer complained that because of fantasy football, there were no real fans anymore. This week, thousands of unreal fans dropped Plummer from their rosters and replaced him with Jay Cutler.

... Half a dozen of the other

Briefing makes a few more picks while trying to figure out why baseball regards Barry Bonds as a pariah and the Chargers consider Shawne Merriman a messiah:

* Kansas City over Cleveland: Suppose there were a receiver who had T.O.’s personality and baggage, but not his talent. Ladies and gentlemen, meet Braylon Edwards.

* Minnesota over Chicago: Bears fans’ chant, 2005: “We want Rex!” Bears fans chant, 2006: “We want Griese!”

Side note, 2006: Rex Grossman is 9-2.

* New York Jets over Green Bay: In his celestial video room, Vince Lombardi watches the Packers lose to Seattle, 34-24, in the snow. And then he sells his satellite dish to Bo Schembechler.

* San Diego over Buffalo: If Merriman returns from steroids suspension to lead the Chargers to the Super Bowl, will their rings come with an asterisk?

* New Orleans over San Francisco: Remember how Reggie Bush and Deuce McAllister were going to carry the load? At this pace, the Saints will finish the season with no 1,000-yard rushers and one 5,000-yard passer.

* Miami over Jacksonville: Who’s the front-runner for 2006 NFL comeback player of the year? Some say Joey Harrington. And if that happens, the front-runner for 2007 will be? The NFL comeback-player-of-the-year award.

Trivia answer

USC (1967-70) and Ohio State (1973-76).

And finally

Noting that Bolton soccer Coach Sam Allardyce recently took a trip from England to Las Vegas to attend a Celine Dion concert, a BBC commentator quipped, “You’d have thought after four games without a win he’d have suffered enough.”

*

mike.penner@latimes.com