It’s rosy for USC, but murky for the rest

This most unusual of college football seasons, marked by one upset after another, produced at least one familiar result: USC is headed back to the Rose Bowl.

The eighth-ranked Trojans earned their fourth trip to Pasadena in the last five seasons with a 24-7 victory over crosstown rival UCLA on a brisk, windy afternoon at the Memorial Coliseum.

“The Rose Bowl is always our goal,” tailback Chauncey Washington said. “We want to own the Rose Bowl.”

The scenario was not nearly as clear cut elsewhere, the wild season taking a few more turns.

Top-ranked Missouri lost the Big 12 Conference championship game to Oklahoma, and No. 2 West Virginia was upset by four-touchdown underdog Pittsburgh, meaning that, after an entire regular season, fans were left precisely where they started.

Wondering what comes next.

The Bowl Championship Series title game, determined by a combination of voting and computer tabulations, will be announced today on the Fox Network at 5 p.m.

Big Ten champion Ohio State, which began Saturday figuring it was Rose Bowl bound, now appears to be the only lock for the national championship game in New Orleans on Jan. 7. The Buckeyes were No. 3 before Saturday and didn’t play.

The No. 4 team, Georgia, could slide into the second spot. But the Bulldogs didn’t even win their division in the Southeastern Conference.

That has led to rampant speculation that Louisiana State, which started the day at No. 7 but defeated Tennessee in the Southeastern Conference championship game, could leapfrog into the national title game. They would have to jump Georgia, No. 5 Kansas, which didn’t play, and No. 6 Virginia Tech, which won the Atlantic Coast Conference title with a victory over Boston College on Saturday. Remember, this was a season that started with perhaps the biggest upset in the history of college football -- Appalachian State upsetting then-No. 5 Michigan. About a month later, 41-point underdog Stanford defeated then-No. 2 USC at the Coliseum, a loss the Trojans can blame for knocking them out of the national title hunt. Even with the BCS’s unfathomable machinations, the Trojans have almost no chance of jumping from No. 8 into the title game.

That Stanford victory started a string of upsets that resulted in 11 teams ranked Nos. 1 or 2 losing in the season’s last two months and set the table for Saturday’s regular-season finale.

At least one thing remains consistent. The Trojans’ victory clinched an unprecedented sixth consecutive Pac-10 title for USC, which has made the trip to Pasadena almost a rite of January.

Like just about everything else, USC’s opponent in the Rose Bowl is unknown. The Trojans will probably face Georgia or Illinois.

UCLA, which finished with a record of 6-6, will probably play in the Las Vegas Bowl on Dec. 22. But it’s a gamble now as to whether Coach Karl Dorrell will accompany the Bruins. Multiple sources at UCLA have said they believe he needed a Rose Bowl berth to retain his job.

“To play against a good team like USC, you can’t afford mistakes,” Dorrell said Saturday after his team lost three fumbles and an interception.

UCLA Athletic Director Dan Guerrero recently said he was “very interested” in how the final weeks of the season played out -- the Bruins lost four of their last five games. After Saturday’s loss, he said only that he would meet with Dorrell this week.

The Trojans also brought some controversy to the mix.

In a startlingly public maneuver, USC administrators announced last week that they were prepared to leave the Coliseum after 80 years and were negotiating to move their home games to Pasadena’s Rose Bowl. The university’s lease on the Coliseum expired after Saturday’s game, and efforts to craft a new agreement have stalled. The Rose Bowl Operating Co. will consider USC’s proposed move on Thursday.

Asked about the possibility of USC’s switching stadiums, Coach Pete Carroll avoided joining the fray, saying of the Coliseum: “It’s a great place to play. I know that.”

Potential coaching changes and leases mattered little to the players on the field Saturday.

Intent on avenging last year’s 13-9 upset loss to the Bruins, USC could have put the game away early as UCLA fumbled twice in the opening minutes.

Instead, the finishing touches didn’t come until the start of the fourth quarter, after USC tailback Stafon Johnson broke loose on runs of nine and 18 yards. A few plays later, quarterback John David Booty found tight end Fred Davis over the middle for a 12-yard touchdown pass that gave the Trojans their final margin of victory.

Booty completed 21 of 36 passes for 206 yards. Backs Johnson, Washington and Joe McKnight powered a running game that totaled 231 yards.

“They just overpowered us,” UCLA flanker Terrence Austin said.

Which put USC back in a familiar New Year’s locale. After a season of unexpected scores and a week of off-the-field controversy, it was as simple as that.

david.wharton@latimes.com