Not all will be answered on the field

Every year in late autumn, in keeping with local tradition, a ceremony is carried out in either Los Angeles or Pasadena.

This tradition holds that the finest football players to be employed -- ahem, sorry, deployed -- by USC and UCLA meet on a patch of grass, the Trojans trying to qualify for the national championship game, the Bruins trying to save Karl Dorrell’s job.

As this hallowed annual event is nearly upon us again, the November issue of Los Angeles magazine features a UCLA versus USC “Grudge Match” quiz. Here is a sampling (with answers below):

1. In the fall of 1987, the Trojans successfully changed the Hollywood sign. What did it say?

2. In the fall of 1993, the Bruins got revenge and changed the Hollywood sign to their liking. What did it say?

3. What was the original nickname for the Bruins?

4. What was the original nickname of the USC football team?

5. Which weighs more, the Victory Bell or Matt Leinart?

6. True or false: A Japanese tourist visiting UCLA once paid $350 for a pair of Nikes off Reggie Miller’s feet.

7. Name UCLA’s only four-sport letterman.

8. Name USC’s seven Heisman Trophy winners, in chronological order.

9. Which sportswriter came up with the nickname “Trojans” in 1912?

10. Name the school whose athletes have won the most Olympic gold medals.

But should Maddox really count?

Briefing’s Monday trivia item asked readers to name the five UCLA quarterbacks to have played on Super Bowl teams. For some, the five-man roster -- Troy Aikman, Steve Bono, Billy Kilmer, Tom Ramsey, Jay Schroeder -- wasn’t large enough.

From Will Beall: “I think you forgot one. John Sciarra was on the Eagles Super Bowl team in 1981, I believe. I know he didn’t play quarterback for the Eagles, but the way the question was worded, I think he counts.”

(Sciarra returned two punts for the Eagles in the 1981 Super Bowl, a 27-10 Oakland victory. During the regular season, he ran back 36 punts but did not throw a pass.)

From Jeff Ball: “And maybe Drew Bennett?” (Bennett missed the Tennessee Titans’ Super Bowl run by two years. The Titans won the 1999 AFC championship; Bennett has been a Titans wide receiver since 2001.)

From Jim Carbone: “I hate to have to admit it, but I believe Tommy Maddox (who was a two-year starter at quarterback for UCLA) was on the Pittsburgh Steelers roster in 2005 when they won the Super Bowl. That would make UCLA’s Super Bowl quarterback count at least six.”

(Last season, Maddox threw a total of 71 passes, few of them helpful to the Steelers, but technically speaking, yes, he did play for them.)

Trivia answers

1. USCWOOD.

2. GO UCLA.

3. The Cubs.

4. The Fighting Methodists.

5. The Victory Bell, which weighs 295 pounds. Leinart weighs 230.

6. False.

7. Jackie Robinson.

8. Mike Garrett, O.J. Simpson, Charles White, Marcus Allen, Carson Palmer, Matt Leinart, Reggie Bush.

9. Owen Bird of The Los Angeles Times.

10. USC’s athletes have won 234 medals, UCLA’s 213.

And finally

San Francisco’s Mike Nolan and Jacksonville’s Jack Del Rio recently broke from the NFL head coaches’ pack to wear suits instead of sweatshirts and windbreakers on the sidelines. Carolina’s John Fox, however, is not about to follow suit.

“That’s one of the reasons why I didn’t become a basketball coach,” Fox told the Charlotte Observer.

Sunday, Fox was even more underdressed than usual for the Panthers’ game against Washington. The Redskins came in and took the shirt off his back, 17-13.

mike.penner@latimes.com