UCLA-USC rivalry
Encyclopedia
The UCLA–USC rivalry is the American college rivalry
College rivalry
Pairs of schools, colleges and universities, especially when they are close to each other either geographically or in their areas of specialization, often establish a college rivalry with each other over the years. This rivalry can extend to both academics and athletics, the latter being typically...

 between the UCLA Bruins
UCLA Bruins
The UCLA Bruins are the sports teams for University of California, Los Angeles . The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Pacific-12 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation . For football, they are in the Football Bowl Subdivision of Division I...

 sports teams of the University of California, Los Angeles
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...

 (UCLA) and the USC Trojans
USC Trojans
The USC Trojans are the athletic teams representing the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California. While the men's teams are nicknamed the Trojans, the women's athletic teams are referred to as either the Trojans or Women of Troy...

 sports teams of the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...

 (USC).

Both universities located in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

. The rivalry between the two is among the more unusual in NCAA
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...

 Division I sports because the campuses are only twelve miles apart, and both are located within the same city. The close proximity of both alumni and students, and the likelihood of encountering each other and interacting on a daily basis make this one of the most intense college rivalries in the United States.

Athletic rivalry

USC is recognized as consistently being one of the top football programs in the nation, while UCLA is recognized as consistently being one of the top basketball programs in the nation. However, a somewhat rare confluence of events occurred in 1954, which began with USC in a Final Four appearance in the 1954 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
1954 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
The 1954 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 24 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 8, 1954, and ended with the championship game on March 20 in Kansas City, Missouri...

 and ended with UCLA winning their only NCAA Division I-A national football championship.

Both schools also are successful in many "non-revenue" sports. Both have had success in track and field, water polo, tennis, and women's basketball. By May 2011, UCLA had won 107 NCAA team championships and 128 total National Championships, which is more than any other college or university. The No. 2-ranked UCLA women's golf team defeated No. 1-ranked USC women's golf team to win the 2011 NCAA Division I Women’s Golf National Championship
NCAA Women's Golf Championship
NCAA Champions for women's golf:-Division I:-Division II-III combined:-Division II:-Division III:-Team:The following schools have won more than one team championship:*15: Methodist*7: Arizona State*5: Duke, Rollins*4: Florida Southern...

, the third title in school history. The UCLA Women's Water Polo team beat USC's team 6-3 to win the 2008 Championship on May 11, followed by the Women's Tennis the following week beating California 4-0 to win their first women's tennis championship and the school's 102nd NCAA title. However, UCLA was knocked out by USC Women of Troy in Women's Golf on May 23, 2008. USC captured the 2008 NCAA Women's Golf Championship. This is also true of Women's Soccer. USC defeated UCLA in the 2007 NCAA Women's soccer College Cup Semifinals and went on to win its first women's soccer National Championship.

UCLA ranks first overall in NCAA championships and were first to 100 (currently 107). They also rank second in men's NCAA team championships with 71, and second (behind Stanford) in women's NCAA team championships with 36. USC ranks higher than UCLA in NCAA men's team championships with 79; it is 3rd overall (behind UCLA) with 93 NCAA titles

Both universities also compete in which school's athletes have been featured on more Sports Illustrated magazine covers. As of August 2008, USC led the rivalry with 119 Sports Illustrated covers (more than any other college or university) to 114 for UCLA.

Gauntlet

The Lexus Gauntlet
Lexus Gauntlet
The Lexus Gauntlet was a year-long all-sports competitions between two pairs of rival Pacific-12 Conference universities in California. The original Southern version, now known as the Crosstown Gauntlet, is held between between UCLA and USC; a Northern version between Stanford University and...

 is the name given to a competition between UCLA and USC in the 18 varsity sports that both compete in head-to-head; in 2003, 2005, and 2007 UCLA won the Lexus Gauntlet Trophy, while the University of Southern California won the trophy in 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008 & 2009 (first back to back win). After the 2009 award, it was terminated when Lexus pulled out as the sponsor.

Football rivalry

Quite often, the winner of the football game has won or shared the Pacific-10 Conference title in football. A berth in the Rose Bowl
Rose Bowl Game
The Rose Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game, usually played on January 1 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. When New Year's Day falls on a Sunday, the game is played on Monday, January 2...

 game has been on the line many times as well for both schools. Since the formation of the Pacific Coast Conference
Pacific Coast Conference
The Pacific Coast Conference was a college athletic conference in the United States which existed from 1915 to 1959. Though the Pacific-12 Conference claims the PCC's history as part of its own, the older league had a completely different charter and was disbanded in 1959 due to a major crisis...

 in 1916, USC has won or shared 37 conference titles and UCLA has won or shared 17 titles. Washington is third in overall conference titles with 15. Since the 1959 season, when the Pacific 10 Conference was formed as the Athletic Association of Western Universities, through the 2007 season, the schools have won or shared 33 of the 48 conference titles. USC has won 17 championships outright, shared eight and gone to the Rose Bowl or BCS
Bowl Championship Series
The Bowl Championship Series is a selection system that creates five bowl match-ups involving ten of the top ranked teams in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision , including an opportunity for the top two to compete in the BCS National Championship Game.The BCS relies on a combination of...

 bowl 21 times. UCLA has won six championships outright, shared five and gone to the Rose Bowl eight times. The schools have shared the championship between them three times. Both teams have spoiled conference and national championship runs for the other.

USC was a somewhat established national football power under Howard Jones
Howard Jones (football coach)
Howard Harding Jones was an American football player and coach. He served as the head coach at Syracuse University , Yale University , Ohio State University , the University of Iowa , Duke University , and the University of Southern California , compiling a career record of...

 and had begun a major rivalry with Notre Dame when UCLA joined the Pacific Coast Conference
Pacific Coast Conference
The Pacific Coast Conference was a college athletic conference in the United States which existed from 1915 to 1959. Though the Pacific-12 Conference claims the PCC's history as part of its own, the older league had a completely different charter and was disbanded in 1959 due to a major crisis...

 in 1929. Los Angeles Times sportswriter Braven Dyer predicted on the day of the first football meeting on September 28, 1929, "In years to come, this game will probably be one of the football spectacles of the West" USC dominated the early games (so much so, that after the first two games, the series was suspended for five years and they did not play each other from 1931 to 1935) until UCLA established itself. By the late 1930s, star players such as Kenny Washington, Jackie Robinson
Jackie Robinson
Jack Roosevelt "Jackie" Robinson was the first black Major League Baseball player of the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line when he debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947...

, and Bob Waterfield
Bob Waterfield
Robert "Bob" Stanton Waterfield was an American football player.Waterfield attended Van Nuys High School, in Van Nuys, California and went on to play college football for UCLA. In 1943 he led the Bruins to the Pacific Coast Conference football championship...

 enabled UCLA to be competitive. With the hiring of Hall of Fame Coach Henry "Red" Sanders
Henry Russell Sanders
Henry Russell "Red" Sanders was an American college football player and coach. He served as the head coach at Vanderbilt University and the University of California at Los Angeles , compiling a career college football record of 102–41–3...

, UCLA became the more dominant program in the 1950s with their one and only National Championship in 1954. A famous quote was attributed to Sanders regarding the rivalry, "Beating 'SC is not a matter of life or death, it's more important than that."
But Sanders died suddenly of a heart attack, and shortly thereafter, one of the greatest colleges football coaches in NCAA history took over the struggling USC program. Upon the arrival of their new head coach John McKay
John McKay (football coach)
John Harvey McKay was an American football player and coach. He was served as the head coach at the University of Southern California from 1960 to 1975 and of the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 1976 to 1984. In 16 seasons with the USC Trojans, McKay compiled a record of 127–40–8 and...

 (1960–1975), USC entered a new golden age in their storied history. During McKay's tenure, the Trojans won 8 conference titles, 5 Rose Bowls, produced two Heisman Trophy winners (Mike Garrett and O.J. Simpson) and won three National Championships (1962, 1967, and 1972) and shared one (1974). Against UCLA, McKay was tough to beat posting a 10-5-1 record against the Bruins between 1960 and 1975. For most seasons from the mid 1960s to the end of the 1970s, the two schools were the top powers on the West Coast with USC usually holding the top spot. In the 15 Rose Bowls played from 1966 to 1980, USC or UCLA played in 12 of them. Even with the rise of Don James' Washington Huskies in the 1980s and early 90s, UCLA or USC still went to the Rose Bowl seven times between 1981 and 1995. In the 1990s, UCLA enjoyed an impressive 8 game winning streak against USC. The Bruin's unbeaten string ended in 1999 when the Trojans went on their own 11-1 run from 1999 to 2010. This unprecedented dominance was the direct result of the hiring of Pete Carroll
Pete Carroll
Peter Clay Carroll is the head coach and executive Vice-President of the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League. He is a former head coach of the New York Jets, New England Patriots and the University of Southern California Trojans football team.-Early life:Carroll attended Redwood High...

 by USC in 2000. During Carroll's tenure (2001–2009 seasons), USC was virtually unbeatable against its two most heated rivals, UCLA and Notre Dame. The only game that UCLA beat a Pete Carroll coached team was the 13-9 win in 2006 at the Rose Bowl that kept USC out of the BCS Championship game and allowed the Bruins to keep the record for consecutive wins (8) in the rivalry.

Title of the game

A number of titles have been applied to the football game such as: "The Los Angeles City Championship," "The Crosstown Showdown," "The Battle of L.A.", or simply the "crosstown rivalry." But none really have gained traction. Most often the game is referred to as the USC-UCLA (or UCLA-USC) football game by the media. Fans of a particular team refer to it as the USC game or UCLA game, using the name of the opposing school.

Activities before the game

At UCLA, the week before the game is known as "Beat 'SC Week" (officially dubbed "Blue and Gold Week"). At USC, the week before the game is known as "Troy Week" or, more popularly, "Conquest".

Both schools host a number of activities on their respective campuses during the week to promote school spirit. Activities include parades, bonfires, rallies, and live entertainment.

CONQUEST! "The Ultimate Trojan Experience" occurs on the USC campus the Thursday before the USC-UCLA Football Game. It brings together athletics, academics, school spirit and traditions and attracts almost 10,000 students, alumni, faculty and staff.

Also, both schools take steps to prevent vandalism of two major landmarks on campus: USC covers its Trojan Shrine
Trojan Shrine
Tommy Trojan, officially known as the Trojan Shrine, is one of the most recognizable figures of school pride at the University of Southern California. The life-size bronze statue of a Trojan warrior sits in the center of campus and serves as a popular meeting spot, as well as a centerpiece for a...

 (better known as "Tommy Trojan") statue in bubble wrap and duct tape, while UCLA hides its Bruin statue with a large sign reading "THE BRUIN BEAR IS HIBERNATING. BEAT 'SC." Groups of UCLA students also camp out in Bruin Plaza, ostensibly to protect the Bruin Bear in the event of a prank, while the USC Trojan Knights
Trojan Knights
The Trojan Knights are an American service and spirit organization associated specifically with the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California...

 hold a weeklong vigil guarding Tommy Trojan with the sign "Don't Bruin your life". This has come as a response to students painting the statues in the rival schools' colors before the game.

There are a number of inter-campus competitions between various groups before the game.
  • ROTC "Blood Bowl" - The football rivalry extends to the military training units at both schools. The Naval and Army Officers Training Corps midshipmen and cadets at both universities compete in the annual "Blood Bowl" flag football
    Flag football
    Flag football is a version of Canadian football or American football that is popular worldwide. The basic rules of the game are similar to those of the mainstream game , but instead of tackling players to the ground, the defensive team must remove a flag or flag belt from the ball carrier to end...

     game against each other, usually held the Friday before the official game, as a parallel to the varsity match. The name stems from the often rough and passionate play by the midshipmen and cadets representing school pride. After a 25-12 victory on Dec, 3 2010 by the Army Battalion, UCLA continues to lead the series all time versus USC 15-11. As of November 18th, 2011, the USC NROTC battalion is in possession of the Bloodbowl football trophy following a 24-20 upset against their UCLA counterparts.

  • Daily Bruin vs. Daily Trojan "Blood Bowl" - Staff of the Daily Bruin
    Daily Bruin
    The Daily Bruin is the student newspaper at the University of California, Los Angeles.-Frequency and governance:When classes are in session, the Bruin is published Monday through Friday during the school year and once a week on Mondays in the summer quarter.It is overseen by the ASUCLA...

     and Daily Trojan
    Daily Trojan
    The Daily Trojan, or "DT," is the student newspaper of the University of Southern California. The newspaper is a forum for student expression and is written, edited, and managed by university students. The paper is intended to inform USC students, faculty, and staff on the latest news and provide...

     have competed in a flag football contest that is also called the "Blood Bowl". This tradition has existed since at least 1950.

  • The Band Bowl - From the 1950s until 2000 the UCLA Marching Band and the USC Marching Band
    Spirit of Troy
    The Spirit of Troy, also known as the University of Southern California Trojan Marching Band , self-described as "The Greatest Marching Band in the History of the Universe," represents USC at various collegiate sports, broadcast, popular music recording, and national public appearance functions.The...

     played in a flag football contest called the "Band Bowl". Following a fight between the two bands at a contest and multiple cases of theft
    Theft
    In common usage, theft is the illegal taking of another person's property without that person's permission or consent. The word is also used as an informal shorthand term for some crimes against property, such as burglary, embezzlement, larceny, looting, robbery, shoplifting and fraud...

     of band instruments, it was decided to suspend the series. The trophy from this version of the rivalry remains missing.

  • UCLA vs. USC Football Manager's Bowl - UCLA and USC football equipment managers compete in a flag football contest the week leading up to the actual football game. In 2011, the UCLA managers beat the USC managers in triple overtime. The USC managers have won the previous 4 match-ups.

  • UCLA vs. USC Kickoff Golf Challenge - UCLA teams compete against USC teams in a two-person best ball scramble.

  • UCLA vs. USC Men’s Ice Hockey - UCLA and USC have teams that compete in ACHA
    American Collegiate Hockey Association
    The American Collegiate Hockey Association is the national governing body of non-varsity college ice hockey in the U.S. The organization provides structure, regulations, promotes the quality of play, sponsors National Awards and National Tournaments....

     Division II Ice hockey
    Ice hockey
    Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

    . They begin their series for the Crosstown cup.

  • UCLA vs. USC Men's Rugby
    USC men's rugby
    The USC Trojans Rugby Football Club is the official rugby team of the University of Southern California. The club competes in the Southern California Rugby Football Union. Rugby is one of USC's oldest club sports.-About:...

    - UCLA and USC compete every year on the day after the football game.

Activities during the game

Starting with the 2008 season, the winners of a blood drive competition were announced during halftime, with the winners donating more blood to the American Red Cross. UCLA has won in 2008, 2009, and 2010.

Sharing the Los Angeles Coliseum

For a number of years, the schools shared the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum as their home stadium until UCLA moved to the Rose Bowl
Rose Bowl (stadium)
The Rose Bowl is an outdoor athletic stadium in Pasadena, California, U.S., in Los Angeles County. The stadium is the site of the annual college football bowl game, the Rose Bowl, held on New Year's Day. In 1982, it became the home field of the UCLA Bruins college football team of the Pac-12...

 for the 1982 season. Each school alternated as the "home" team for the game, with home fans on North side of the Coliseum and visitor fans on the South (press box) side. Until 1983, players on both teams wore their home football jerseys for the game. Since the 1984 season, when the game was played at the Rose Bowl for the second time, the visiting fans sit in the visitor section of each respective stadium, and the visiting team wears their white jerseys. Because UCLA called the Coliseum home and USC won a number of Rose Bowl games, each school has a lifetime winning record in the others' current home stadium.

Starting in 2006, the coaches at the time, USC coach Pete Carroll and UCLA coach Karl Dorrell
Karl Dorrell
Karl Dorrell is a football coach, currently an assistant coach with the Miami Dolphins of the NFL. He was previously the head coach of the UCLA Bruins, the first African American head football coach in the school's history...

 expressed an interest in restarting the tradition of both teams wearing home jerseys. At the time, the NCAA football rules ARTICLE 3. a. stated, "Players of opposing teams shall wear jerseys of contrasting colors, and the visiting team shall wear white jerseys." USC coach Pete Carroll said he would be willing to lose two timeouts during the game so that the USC team could wear their red jerseys for the UCLA-USC football game on December 6, 2008. It was determined before the 2008 game that the visiting school would only lose one timeout for incorrect equipment. Coach Carroll agreed to forfeit a timeout to satisfy the ruling and Coach Rick Neuheisel
Rick Neuheisel
Richard Gerald "Rick" Neuheisel, Jr. , is an American football coach, former player, and attorney. He was most recently the head football coach at University of California, Los Angeles, a position he held from 2008 to 2011...

 agreed to forfeit one, in return (even though, as the coach of the home team, he was not required to do so by the ruling) to get back this tradition, and it was renewed in the 2008 game. In the wake of the coaches' decisions, the NCAA decided to amend their rules regarding away teams' uniforms (which were originally put into place to provide more contrast for Black & White photography and television broadcasts), changing the rule to state that the teams must agree on the decision for both teams to wear their colored jerseys before the game and that the uniforms must be of easily contrasted colors. Since the home team is already required to wear its colored home jerseys and would not be in violation of any equipment rules, this essentially leaves the decision up to them as to whether or not to allow the visiting team is to wear their home uniforms.

The Victory Bell

When the football teams from these schools compete against each other, the victor is awarded the Victory Bell
Victory Bell (USC-UCLA)
The Victory Bell is an annual trophy given to either the University of Southern California or the University of California, Los Angeles. The winner of the annual USC-UCLA rivalry football contest keeps the bell for the next year, and paints it the school's color: "True Blue" for UCLA, or cardinal...

. The Victory Bell was originally from an old Southern Pacific
Southern Pacific Railroad
The Southern Pacific Transportation Company , earlier Southern Pacific Railroad and Southern Pacific Company, and usually simply called the Southern Pacific or Espee, was an American railroad....

 railroad locomotive
Locomotive
A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...

. It was given to the UCLA student body by the UCLA Alumni Association in 1939. It was UCLA's symbol of victory until it was stolen by a USC organization called the Trojan Knights
Trojan Knights
The Trojan Knights are an American service and spirit organization associated specifically with the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California...

 in 1941. After being hidden in various locations for over a year before resurfacing in a USC student magazine (known as the Wampus), a prank war between the two universities ensued until 1942, when the student body presidents of the two schools agreed that the bell would be the trophy awarded the winner of the annual UCLA-USC football game. The bell itself is brass, and the metal mounting around it is painted blue or red by the school that won the football game and earned its possession. When UCLA possesses it, the UCLA Rally Committee is responsible for its protection and care. While it is in USC's possession, the Trojan Knights
Trojan Knights
The Trojan Knights are an American service and spirit organization associated specifically with the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California...

 are responsible for hiding, protecting, and showcasing the bell (including ringing the bell during home football games).

The Rose Bowl

Until the Rose Bowl Game became part of the Bowl Championship Series
Bowl Championship Series
The Bowl Championship Series is a selection system that creates five bowl match-ups involving ten of the top ranked teams in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision , including an opportunity for the top two to compete in the BCS National Championship Game.The BCS relies on a combination of...

, a berth in the Rose Bowl to face the Big Ten Conference champion was the ultimate goal that was awarded to the Pacific 10 conference champion. As of the 2007 season, USC has appeared in the Rose Bowl 32 times and UCLA has appeared 12 times. The Rose Bowl is still the destination for the first place Big 10 and Pac 10 teams, should either fail to qualify for the BCS championship game.

UCLA was the first PAC-10 team to appear in a BCS bowl, the 1999 Rose Bowl, their last conference championship year. USC has appeared in six BCS bowl games, winning the BCS championship in 2005. With the Rose Bowl stadium being the home field for UCLA, the UCLA–USC rivalry football game has been played there to a sellout crowd during even numbered years since 1982.

The Rose Bowl and conference championship has been on the line for both teams 19 times and at least one team 36 times as of the 2007 season. Both teams have either won the championship or spoiled it for the other at one time or another.

Football series record

, USC leads 44 to 28 with seven ties (plus two vacated wins for USC). There has been one overtime game in the series in 1996. Many of the games of this storied rivalry have ultimately determined the Pac 10 Rose Bowl representative and often a chance to play for the national championship. USC was forced to vacate both its wins from the 2004 and 2005 seasons due to NCAA violations.
Year Winner USC UCLA Site Trivia
1929 USC 76 0 Coliseum* First meeting of the two schools in football, first game of season for both teams
1930 USC 52 0 Coliseum** First game of season for both teams
1936 TIE 7 7 Coliseum* Series resumes, Game moved to Thanksgiving Day November 26, first tie in the series
1937 USC 19 13 Coliseum** First "home" game for UCLA
1938 USC 42 7 Coliseum* Game moved to "rivalry" weekend before Thanksgiving weekend
1939 TIE 0 0 Coliseum** First game with the Rose Bowl on the line for both teams. First time both teams are ranked since AP poll started in 1936. USC voted National Champions and into the 1940 Rose Bowl
1940 Rose Bowl
The 1940 Rose Bowl, played on January 1, 1940, was an American Football bowl game. It was the 26th Rose Bowl Game. The USC Trojans defeated the Tennessee Volunteers 14-0. Ambrose Schindler, the USC quarterback, was named the Rose Bowl Player Of The Game when the award was created in 1953 and...

.
1940 USC 28 12 Coliseum*
1941 TIE 7 7 Coliseum**
1942 UCLA 7 14 Coliseum* 1943 Rose Bowl
1943 Rose Bowl
The 1943 Rose Bowl game, played on January 1, 1943 was the 29th Rose Bowl game. The University of Georgia Bulldogs defeated the UCLA Bruins 9-0. The game returned to the Rose Bowl stadium after being played at Duke Stadium the year before...

 on line for both teams. UCLA makes first appearance in Rose Bowl after first victory over USC; The Victory Bell becomes the trophy of the series.
1943 USC 20 0 Coliseum** The teams scheduled second game at the beginning of the season due to World War II travel restrictions
1943 USC 26 13 Coliseum*
1944 TIE 13 13 Coliseum* The teams scheduled second game at the beginning of the season due to World War II travel restrictions
1944 USC 40 13 Coliseum**
1945 USC 13 6 Coliseum** The teams scheduled second game at the beginning of the season due to World War II travel restrictions
1945 USC 26 15 Coliseum*
1946 UCLA 6 13 Coliseum** 1947 Rose Bowl
1947 Rose Bowl
The 1947 Rose Bowl was a college football bowl game. It was the 33rd Rose Bowl Game. The Illinois Fighting Illini defeated the UCLA Bruins, 45–14. Illinois halfbacks Claude "Buddy" Young and Julius Rykovich shared the Rose Bowl Player Of The Game award. They were named the Rose Bowl Players...

 on the line for both teams. Game fixed at third weekend in November where it remains until the 2004 season, except for 1975 when it was played on the Friday after Thanksgiving.
1947 USC 6 0 Coliseum* A UCLA win would have created a four-way tie for first
1948 USC 20 13 Coliseum**
1949 USC 21 7 Coliseum*
1950 UCLA 0 39 Coliseum**
1951 UCLA 7 21 Coliseum*
1952 USC 14 12 Coliseum** Both teams unbeaten and untied. UCLA ranked #3 and USC ranked #4
1953 UCLA 0 13 Coliseum* 1954 Rose Bowl
1954 Rose Bowl
The 1954 Rose Bowl game, played on January 1, 1954 was the 40th Rose Bowl game. The Michigan State Spartans defeated the UCLA Bruins, 28–20. Michigan State halfback Billy Wells was named the Rose Bowl Player Of The Game. This was the first year that Michigan State University was counted in...

 on the line for both teams
1954 UCLA 0 34 Coliseum** Conference championship on the line for both teams, however UCLA could not go to the Rose Bowl because of PCC no-repeat rule. UCLA's first and only NCAA football championship.
1955 UCLA 7 17 Coliseum* UCLA already clinched the 1956 Rose Bowl
1956 Rose Bowl
The 1956 Rose Bowl game, played on January 2, 1956 was the 42nd Rose Bowl game. The Michigan State Spartans defeated the UCLA Bruins, 17–14. Michigan State halfback Walt Kowalczyk was named the Rose Bowl Player Of The Game. The game was played on January 2, because New Year's Day was a Sunday...

 berth before game
1956 USC 10 7 Coliseum**
1957 UCLA 9 20 Coliseum*
1958 TIE 15 15 Coliseum**
1959 UCLA 3 10 Coliseum* Final outcome a tie for first in the PCC, USC banned from postseason bowls
1960 USC 17 6 Coliseum**
1961 UCLA 7 10 Coliseum* 1962 Rose Bowl
1962 Rose Bowl
The 1962 Rose Bowl, played on January 1, 1962, was the 48th Rose Bowl Game. The Minnesota Golden Gophers defeated the UCLA Bruins, 21–3.Big Ten Conference champion Ohio State declined the invitation to play in the Rose Bowl...

 on the line for both teams
1962 USC 14 3 Coliseum** USC #1 and undefeated
1963 USC 26 6 Coliseum*
1964 USC 34 13 Coliseum** USC and Oregon State tied for 1st and didn't play each other, OSU selected as AAWU representative for Rose Bowl due to better overall record
1965 UCLA 16 20 Coliseum* 1966 Rose Bowl
1966 Rose Bowl
The 1966 Rose Bowl, played on January 1, 1966 was the 52nd Rose Bowl Game. The UCLA Bruins defeated the #1 ranked Michigan State Spartans by a score of 14–12. UCLA defensive back Bob Stiles was named the Rose Bowl Player Of The Game.-Teams:...

 on the line for both teams. UCLA went on to beat #1 Michigan State in the Rose Bowl, 14-12.
1966 UCLA 7 14 Coliseum** It was thought before the game that the 1967 Rose Bowl
1967 Rose Bowl
The 1967 Rose Bowl was a college football bowl game played on Monday, January 2, 1967. It was the 53rd Rose Bowl Game. The Purdue Boilermakers defeated the USC Trojans, 14–13. John Charles, the Purdue defensive back, was named the Rose Bowl Player Of The Game.-Teams:This was the first Rose...

 was on the line for both teams. UCLA had a 3-1 conference record vs. a 4-1 record of USC due to scheduling, but USC was voted into the Rose Bowl despite UCLA's win and better overall record (9-1 vs. 7-3).
1967 USC 21 20 Coliseum* The Game of the Century - 1967 Rose Bowl
1967 Rose Bowl
The 1967 Rose Bowl was a college football bowl game played on Monday, January 2, 1967. It was the 53rd Rose Bowl Game. The Purdue Boilermakers defeated the USC Trojans, 14–13. John Charles, the Purdue defensive back, was named the Rose Bowl Player Of The Game.-Teams:This was the first Rose...

 and #1 ranking on the line for both teams. UCLA ranked #1, USC ranked #2.
1968 USC 28 16 Coliseum** USC ranked #1.
1969 USC 14 12 Coliseum* Both teams undefeated with one tie each on their records. 1970 Rose Bowl
1970 Rose Bowl
The 1970 Rose Bowl was a college football bowl game played on January 1, 1970. It was the 56th Rose Bowl Game. The USC Trojans, champions of the Pacific-8 Conference, defeated the Michigan Wolverines, champions of the Big Ten Conference, 10–3...

 on the line for both teams. USC ranked #5, UCLA ranked #6.
1970 UCLA 20 45 Coliseum**
1971 TIE 7 7 Coliseum*
1972 USC 24 7 Coliseum** 1973 Rose Bowl
1973 Rose Bowl
The 1973 Rose Bowl was a college football bowl game played on January 1, 1973. It was the 59th Rose Bowl Game. The USC Trojans defeated the Ohio State Buckeyes 42-17. USC running back Sam "Bam" Cunningham scored four touchdowns and was named the Rose Bowl Player Of The Game...

 on the line for both teams. USC ranked #1, UCLA ranked #10
1973 USC 23 13 Coliseum* 1974 Rose Bowl
1974 Rose Bowl
The 1974 Rose Bowl was a college football bowl game played on January 1, 1974. It was the 60th Rose Bowl Game. The Ohio State Buckeyes defeated the USC Trojans 42–21.-Ohio State Buckeyes:...

 on the line for both teams. UCLA ranked #6, USC ranked #10
1974 USC 34 9 Coliseum** 1975 Rose Bowl
1975 Rose Bowl
The 1975 Rose Bowl was a college football bowl game played on January 1, 1975. It was the 61st Rose Bowl Game. Fifth ranked USC Trojans defeated third ranked Ohio State Buckeyes 18-17 in one of the most exciting games in the history of the Rose Bowl...

 on the line for both teams. USC ranked #6
1975 UCLA 22 25 Coliseum* 1976 Rose Bowl
1976 Rose Bowl
The 1976 Rose Bowl was a college football bowl game played on January 1, 1976. It was the 62nd Rose Bowl Game. The UCLA Bruins defeated the number one ranked and undefeated Ohio State Buckeyes 23-10. UCLA quarterback John Sciarra was named the Rose Bowl Player Of The Game...

 on the line for UCLA; a USC win would have put California in the Rose Bowl. Game played on Friday night after Thanksgiving (November 28)
1976 USC 24 14 Coliseum** 1977 Rose Bowl
1977 Rose Bowl
The 1977 Rose Bowl was a college football bowl game played on January 1, 1977. It was the 63rd Rose Bowl Game. The USC Trojans, champions of the Pacific-10 Conference, defeated the Michigan Wolverines, champions of the Big Ten Conference, 14–6. USC quarterback Vince Evans was named the Rose...

 on the line for both teams. First game for both John Robinson and Terry Donahue in the rivalry. UCLA ranked #2, USC ranked #3
1977 USC 29 27 Coliseum* 1978 Rose Bowl
1978 Rose Bowl
The 1978 Rose Bowl was a college football bowl game played on January 2, 1978. It was the 64th Rose Bowl Game. The Washington Huskies, champions of the Pacific-8 Conference, defeated the Michigan Wolverines, champions of the Big Ten Conference, 27–20...

 on the line for UCLA; the Trojan's win put Washington in.
1978 USC 17 10 Coliseum** 1979 Rose Bowl
1979 Rose Bowl
The 1979 Rose Bowl was a college football bowl game played on January 1, 1979. It was the 65th Rose Bowl Game. The USC Trojans, champions of the Pacific-10 Conference, defeated the Michigan Wolverines, champions of the Big Ten Conference, 17–10...

 on the line for both teams. USC ranked #3
1979 USC 49 14 Coliseum* 1980 Rose Bowl
1980 Rose Bowl
The 1980 Rose Bowl was a college football bowl game played on January 1, 1980. It was the 66th Rose Bowl Game.The USC Trojans, champions of the Pacific-10 Conference, defeated the Ohio State Buckeyes, champions of the Big Ten Conference, 17-16...

 on the line for USC. USC ranked #3.
1980 UCLA 17 20 Coliseum** Neither team bowl eligible due to probation Last "Home" UCLA-USC game for UCLA at the Coliseum
1981 USC 22 21 Coliseum* Last game at the Coliseum as a shared stadium for UCLA and USC. Rose Bowl on the line for UCLA. USC's win put Washington in.
1982 UCLA 19 20 Rose Bowl** UCLA needed to win to keep Rose Bowl hopes alive. Bruins later earned Rose Bowl berth when Washington and Arizona State lost. USC and UCLA "share" Rose Bowl and wear home uniforms
1983 UCLA 17 27 Coliseum* The visiting team (UCLA) wore white jerseys for the first time. , UCLA fans at end zones in Coliseum for first time. UCLA needed to win to keep Rose Bowl hopes alive. Bruins later earned Rose Bowl berth when Washington lost to Washington State. USC public address announer purposely omitted giving the score of the Washington-Washington State game when provided updates of out of town scores.
1984 UCLA 10 29 Rose Bowl** USC in the 1985 Rose Bowl
1985 Rose Bowl
The 1985 Rose Bowl Game was a postseason college football bowl game between the University of Southern California Trojans of the Pacific-10 Conference and The Ohio State University Buckeyes of the Big Ten Conference, held on New Year’s Day in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California...

 already before the game, USC fans at end zones in Rose Bowl for first time. USC wears its road white jerseys for the first time.
1985 USC 17 13 Coliseum* 1986 Rose Bowl
1986 Rose Bowl
The 1986 Rose Bowl was a college football bowl game played on January 1, 1986. It was the 72nd Rose Bowl Game. The UCLA Bruins defeated the Iowa Hawkeyes 45-28. UCLA tailback Eric Ball was named the Rose Bowl Player Of The Game. He ran for a Rose Bowl record four touchdowns.-Iowa Hawkeyes:Iowa...

 on the line for UCLA. UCLA goes to the Rose Bowl despite the loss when Arizona defeats Arizona State.
1986 UCLA 25 45 Rose Bowl**
1987 USC 17 13 Coliseum* 1988 Rose Bowl
1988 Rose Bowl
The 1988 Rose Bowl was a college football bowl game played on January 1, 1988. It was the 74th Rose Bowl Game. The Michigan State Spartans defeated the USC Trojans 20-17. Michigan State Linebacker Percy Snow was named the Rose Bowl Player Of The Game. This was the last Rose Bowl game to air on NBC...

 on the line for both teams
1988 USC 31 22 Rose Bowl** 1989 Rose Bowl
1989 Rose Bowl
The 1989 Rose Bowl was a college football bowl game played on Monday January 2, 1989 because New Year's Day was on a Sunday. It was the 75th Rose Bowl Game, and also the 100th anniversary of the Tournament of Roses parade. The Michigan Wolverines defeated the USC Trojans 22-14. Michigan FB Leroy...

 on the line for both teams. USC ranked #2, UCLA ranked #4.
1989 TIE 10 10 Coliseum* USC already in the 1990 Rose Bowl
1990 Rose Bowl
The 1990 Rose Bowl was the 76th Rose Bowl Game. The game was a rematch of the 1989 Rose Bowl, won by Michigan, 22-14. Gaining a measure of revenge, the USC Trojans defeated the Michigan Wolverines 17-10. USC running back Ricky Ervins was named the Rose Bowl Player of the Game...

 before the game, last tie in the series
1990 USC 45 42 Rose Bowl**
1991 UCLA 21 24 Coliseum* Start of the longest winning streak in the series (8).
1992 UCLA 37 38 Rose Bowl**** Walk-on and fifth-string QB John Barnes leads the Bruins past Rob Johnson and the Trojans.
1993 UCLA 21 27 Coliseum* 1994 Rose Bowl
1994 Rose Bowl
The 1994 Rose Bowl was a college football bowl game played on January 1, 1994. It was the 80th Rose Bowl Game. The Wisconsin Badgers defeated the 21-16...

 on the line for both teams
1994 UCLA 19 31 Rose Bowl** 1995 Rose Bowl
1995 Rose Bowl
The 1995 Rose Bowl was a college football bowl game played on Monday January 2, 1995 because New Year's Day was on a Sunday. It was the 81st Rose Bowl Game. The Penn State Nittany Lions defeated the Oregon Ducks 38–20. Ki-Jana Carter of Penn State and Danny O'Neil of Oregon both were named...

 possibly on the line for USC. A USC win and Oregon loss to Oregon St. would have put the Trojans in the Rose Bowl. But USC lost and Oregon won.
1995 UCLA 20 24 Coliseum* USC already had clinched 1996 Rose Bowl
1996 Rose Bowl
The 1996 Rose Bowl was the 82nd Rose Bowl Game. It was the 50th game in the series featuring the Big Ten Conference and the Pacific-10 Conference. The USC Trojans defeated the Northwestern Wildcats 41-32 on the strength of two touchdown passes from USC QB Brad Otton to WR Keyshawn Johnson...

 berth
1996 UCLA 41 48(2OT) Rose Bowl** Only overtime game in the series, the first year the rule is in place. UCLA rallied from 17 point 4th quarter deficit
1997 UCLA 24 31 Coliseum*
1998 UCLA 17 34 Rose Bowl** UCLA had clinched at least a 1999 Rose Bowl
1999 Rose Bowl
The 1999 Rose Bowl was the 85th Rose Bowl game and was played on Friday January 1, 1999 at the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, California. It was a college football bowl game at the end of the 1998 college football season. Wisconsin defeated by a score of 38-31. Ron Dayne of Wisconsin was named...

 berth and was ranked #1 in the standings. Legendary USC fan Giles Pellerin
Giles Pellerin
Giles L. Pellerin , nicknamed the Superfan or Super Fan, was an American telephone company executive and a fan of the University of Southern California Trojans college football team, notable for having attended 797 consecutive USC football games over a period of 73 years until his death at age 91...

 died during this game. This was the 797th consecutive USC game he attended, which included all previous games in this rivalry.
1999 USC 17 7 Coliseum*
2000 USC 38 35 Rose Bowl**
2001 USC 27 0 Coliseum* Pete Carroll's first game in the rivalry
2002 USC 52 21 Rose Bowl** USC ranked #4
2003 USC 47 22 Coliseum* Karl Dorrell's first game in the rivalry. BCS in the 2004 Rose Bowl
2004 Rose Bowl
The 2004 Rose Bowl was a college football bowl game held on January 1, 2004 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. It was the 90th Rose Bowl Game. The USC Trojans, champions of the Pacific-10 Conference, defeated the Michigan Wolverines, champions of the Big Ten Conference, 28-14...

 on the line for USC with the win. USC ranked #2. Wins the AP National Championship with a Rose Bowl victory over Michigan.
2004 USC (Vacated) 29 24 Rose Bowl** USC forced to vacate due to ineligible player. BCS on line for USC. The game day moved to the first Saturday in December from the third Saturday in November rivalry weekend to coincide with conference championship games. USC ranked #1.
2005 USC (Vacated) 66 19 Coliseum* USC forced to vacate due to ineligible player. BCS in 2006 Rose Bowl
2006 Rose Bowl
The 2006 Rose Bowl Game, played on January 4, 2006, was a football game that served as the national championship of the 2005-2006 Bowl Championship Series...

 on the line for USC, BCS Bowl berth and a tie for first in the conference on the line for UCLA. USC ranked #1
2006 UCLA 9 13 Rose Bowl** BCS Championship game on the line for USC. USC's loss to unranked UCLA denies the Trojans a berth in the BCS Championship Game vs. Ohio State. Florida takes advantage of the Trojans' lost opportunity and defeats Ohio State in the title game. Trojans still earn another PAC 10 Title 2007 Rose Bowl
2007 Rose Bowl
The 2007 Rose Bowl Game presented by Citi was a college football bowl game played on January 1, 2007 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. It was the 93rd Rose Bowl Game and part of the 2006-2007 Bowl Championship Series at the conclusion of the 2006 NCAA Division I FBS football season...

 Game. USC ranked #2.
2007 USC 24 7 Coliseum* 2008 Rose Bowl
2008 Rose Bowl
The 2008 Rose Bowl Game presented by Citi, the 94th Rose Bowl Game, played on January 1, 2008 at the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, California, was a college football bowl game. The contest was televised on ABC, the 20th straight year the network aired the Rose Bowl, starting at 4:30pm EST...

 on the line for USC, and with a win and an ASU loss for UCLA. USC clinches 6th straight Pac-10 title.
2008 USC 28 7 Rose Bowl** 2009 Rose Bowl
2009 Rose Bowl
The 2009 Rose Bowl, the 95th edition of the annual game, was a college football bowl game played on Thursday, January 1, 2009 at the same-named stadium in Pasadena, California. Because of sponsorship by Citi, the first game in the 2009 edition of the Bowl Championship Series was officially titled...

 on the line for USC, Rick Neuheisel
Rick Neuheisel
Richard Gerald "Rick" Neuheisel, Jr. , is an American football coach, former player, and attorney. He was most recently the head football coach at University of California, Los Angeles, a position he held from 2008 to 2011...

's first game in the rivalry as UCLA's head coach, return to both teams wearing home jerseys.
2009 USC 28 7 Coliseum* For the first time since 2001, the game does not have implications for a major bowl game. First time in the series that the final score (28-7) was identical for two consecutive years.
2010 USC 28 14 Rose Bowl** Last game before Pac-10 becomes Pac-12. For the first time since 1980, neither UCLA nor USC are bowl eligible (UCLA due to record, USC due to probation). Lane Kiffin
Lane Kiffin
Lane Monte Kiffin is the current head coach of the University of Southern California Trojans college football team. He was previously the head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers college football team, the Oakland Raiders of the NFL, and the offensive coordinator for the Trojans...

 becomes, at age 35, the youngest coach of either college to coach his first game in this rivalry.
2011 USC 50 0 Coliseum* UCLA will represent the South in the 2011 Pacific-12 Football Championship Game
2011 Pacific-12 Football Championship Game
The 2011 Pacific-12 Football Championship Game will be played on Friday, December 2, 2011 to determine the 2011 football champion of the Pacific-12 Conference . The game will feature UCLA, champion of the South Division, playing against the North Division champion Oregon...

 despite losing this game because USC is ineligible to participate due to restrictions imposed by Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott is supplement to NCAA sanctions. Had UCLA won the game, they would have had the Pac-12 South Division title outright since both teams would have been tied at 6–3 in conference play, with UCLA holding the tie-breaker. However, due to USC's victory combined with the NCAA sanctions, USC finished alone in first place in the South Division, yet UCLA will represent the South in the conference championship game as the south pac-12 champions.

Notes: *USC home game, **UCLA home game, highlighted scores indicate school with Rose Bowl on the line.

Winning streaks in the series

UCLA holds the longest winning streak in the series, as UCLA won eight straight games from 1991 to 1998. USC's longest streak was for seven football seasons from 1999 to 2005, broken with a victory by UCLA in the 2006 game, although the 2004 and 2005 victories have since been vacated by the NCAA.

The 1967 "Game of the Century"

The 1967 USC vs. UCLA football game
1967 USC vs. UCLA football game
The 1967 USC vs. UCLA football game was an American College Football game played in the 1967 College Football Season on November 18, 1967. The University of California at Los Angeles, 7–0–1 and ranked Number 1, with senior quarterback Gary Beban as a Heisman Trophy candidate, played the University...

 was one of the defining college football games of the 20th century. It matched No. 4 USC with O.J. Simpson against No. 1 UCLA with Gary Beban
Gary Beban
Gary Joseph Beban is a former American football player. Son of an Italian-born mother and a first generation Croatian-American father, Beban won the 1967 Heisman Trophy, the most prestigious award in college football, and the Maxwell Award, while playing quarterback for the University of...

 for the Conference Championship, National Championship, and Heisman Trophy
Heisman Trophy
The Heisman Memorial Trophy Award , is awarded annually to the player deemed the most outstanding player in collegiate football. It was created in 1935 as the Downtown Athletic Club trophy and renamed in 1936 following the death of the Club's athletic director, John Heisman The Heisman Memorial...

 on the line for Beban or Simpson. USC won 21-20 and went on to defeat Indiana in the Rose Bowl and win the national championship. Despite Simpson's sensational performance in this game and accumulating 1,543 rushing yards for the season, Beban won the Heisman Trophy. Simpson would win the trophy in the following year.

Other notable games

  • In the 1929 season
    1929 college football season
    The 1929 college football season saw a number of unbeaten and untied teams. Purdue, Tulane, Notre Dame and Pittsburgh all finished the regular season with wins over all their opponents; Notre Dame was recognized as national champion under the Dickinson system...

    , UCLA would play football in the Pacific Coast Conference
    Pacific Coast Conference
    The Pacific Coast Conference was a college athletic conference in the United States which existed from 1915 to 1959. Though the Pacific-12 Conference claims the PCC's history as part of its own, the older league had a completely different charter and was disbanded in 1959 due to a major crisis...

     for the first time. USC had just come off an undefeated National Championship season under the legendary Howard Jones
    Howard Jones (football coach)
    Howard Harding Jones was an American football player and coach. He served as the head coach at Syracuse University , Yale University , Ohio State University , the University of Iowa , Duke University , and the University of Southern California , compiling a career record of...

    . In the opening game of the season, the USC "Thundering Herd" defeated UCLA 76-0, which stands as the most lopsided score of the series.

  • 1939 season
    1939 college football season
    The 1939 college football season concluded with the Aggies of The Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas being named as the national champions by the voters in the Associated Press writers' poll....

     - This was the first year where the Rose Bowl was on the line for both teams, and the first time both teams were ranked. The game ended in a scoreless tie, and USC went to the 1940 Rose Bowl
    1940 Rose Bowl
    The 1940 Rose Bowl, played on January 1, 1940, was an American Football bowl game. It was the 26th Rose Bowl Game. The USC Trojans defeated the Tennessee Volunteers 14-0. Ambrose Schindler, the USC quarterback, was named the Rose Bowl Player Of The Game when the award was created in 1953 and...

    .

  • 1952 season
    1952 college football season
    The 1952 college football season ended with the unbeaten Michigan State Spartans and Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets each claiming the national championship according to different polls. Michigan State finished first according to two of the "wire service" polls which also both placed Georgia Tech...

     - UCLA was ranked #3 and USC was ranked #4. Both teams were undefeated and untied. USC would win on 14-12. USC would later go on to lose to Notre Dame but win the 1953 Rose Bowl
    1953 Rose Bowl
    The 1953 Rose Bowl was a college football bowl game played on January 1, 1953 at the end of the 1952 college football season. It was the 39th Rose Bowl Game. It was the first-ever Rose Bowl appearance by the Badgers and the first appearance for the Trojans since the 1948 Rose Bowl. This game was...

    .

  • 1965 season
    1965 college football season
    During the 20th Century, the NCAA had no playoff for the college football teams that would later be described as "Division I-A". The NCAA did recognize a national champion based upon the final results of "wire service" polls. The "writers' poll" by Associated Press was the most popular,...

     #7 UCLA met #6 USC for the AAWU (Pac 8) title and the right to meet undefeated and #1 Michigan State in the 1966 Rose Bowl
    1966 Rose Bowl
    The 1966 Rose Bowl, played on January 1, 1966 was the 52nd Rose Bowl Game. The UCLA Bruins defeated the #1 ranked Michigan State Spartans by a score of 14–12. UCLA defensive back Bob Stiles was named the Rose Bowl Player Of The Game.-Teams:...

    . The 1965 "Gutty Little Bruins" team won 20-16 with a score at 2:39 left to play.

  • 1969 season
    1969 college football season
    The 1969 college football season was celebrated as the 100th anniversary of college football. During the 20th Century, the NCAA had no playoff for the college football teams that would later be described as "Division I-A"...

     - Undefeated #6 UCLA (8-0-1) met undefeated #5 USC (8-0-1) with the 1970 Rose Bowl
    1970 Rose Bowl
    The 1970 Rose Bowl was a college football bowl game played on January 1, 1970. It was the 56th Rose Bowl Game. The USC Trojans, champions of the Pacific-8 Conference, defeated the Michigan Wolverines, champions of the Big Ten Conference, 10–3...

     on the line. USC would prevail with a score in the final two minutes to win 14-12.

  • 1976 season - This one of the biggest games of the 1976 season. Undefeated #2 UCLA (9-0-1) vs. #3 ranked USC (8-1) met to determine the 1977 Rose Bowl
    1977 Rose Bowl
    The 1977 Rose Bowl was a college football bowl game played on January 1, 1977. It was the 63rd Rose Bowl Game. The USC Trojans, champions of the Pacific-10 Conference, defeated the Michigan Wolverines, champions of the Big Ten Conference, 14–6. USC quarterback Vince Evans was named the Rose...

     representative, and an outside shot at the National Championship should #1 ranked Pittsburgh lose. USC won 24-14 in the first rivalry game for both John Robinson and Terry Donahue
    Terry Donahue
    Terry Donahue is a former American football, player, coach, and executive and, currently, a football analyst. He served as the head football coach at the University of California, Los Angeles from 1976 to 1995, compiling a record of 151–74–8. From 2001 to 2005, Donahue served as...

    .

  • 1986 season
    1986 NCAA Division I-A football season
    The 1986 NCAA Division I-A football season ended with Penn State winning the national championship. Coached by Joe Paterno, they defeated Miami 14–10 in the Fiesta Bowl. This Fiesta Bowl was the first in the game's history to decide the national championship, launching it into the top tier of...

     - Just before halftime, UCLA is up 24-0 over USC. A fake kneel down followed by a hail mary into the end zone put UCLA up 31-0 over USC at halftime. This play was known as "Hail Mary, and In Your Face". UCLA won the game 45-25.

  • 1988 season
    1988 NCAA Division I-A football season
    The 1988 NCAA Division I-A football season ended with Notre Dame winning the national championship. The Fighting Irish won the title via a 34-21 defeat of previously unbeaten West Virginia in the Fiesta Bowl in Tempe, Arizona....

     - Undefeated second-ranked USC (9-0) and quarterback Rodney Peete
    Rodney Peete
    Rodney Peete is a former American football quarterback from the University of Southern California who played in the National Football League for 16 years. He retired in 2004 and is now in broadcasting.-Early life:...

     met 9-1, sixth-ranked UCLA and quarterback Troy Aikman
    Troy Aikman
    Troy Kenneth Aikman is a former American football quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys in the National Football League. The number one overall draft pick in 1989, Aikman played twelve consecutive seasons as quarterback with the Cowboys...

     with the 1989 Rose Bowl
    1989 Rose Bowl
    The 1989 Rose Bowl was a college football bowl game played on Monday January 2, 1989 because New Year's Day was on a Sunday. It was the 75th Rose Bowl Game, and also the 100th anniversary of the Tournament of Roses parade. The Michigan Wolverines defeated the USC Trojans 22-14. Michigan FB Leroy...

     on the line. UCLA had been ranked #1 before losing to Washington State. A possible Heisman trophy for Peete or Aikman was on the line. The attendance set a regular season Rose Bowl record of 100,741. Rodney Peete was stricken with measles the week before the game and had been to the hospital. But he managed to lead the Trojans over the Bruins 31-22. It would set up the classic #1 Notre Dame vs #2 USC matchup the following week. Peete and Aikman would finish 2nd and 3rd in the Heisman balloting behind Barry Sanders
    Barry Sanders
    Barry Sanders is a former American football running back who spent all of his professional career with the Detroit Lions in the NFL. Sanders left the game just short of the all-time rushing record...

    .

  • 1999 season
    1999 NCAA Division I-A football season
    The 1999 NCAA Division I-A football season saw Florida State named national champions, defeating Virginia Tech in the BCS Sugar Bowl.Florida State became the first team in history to start out preseason #1 and remain there through the entire season. Their 12-0 season gave them 109 victories in the...

     - USC won 17-7 to break the Bruins' streak of eight straight.

  • 2005 season
    2005 NCAA Division I-A football season
    The 2005 NCAA Division I-A football season ended with the least amount of controversy surrounding the Bowl Championship Series title game in many years.To an extent it was a return to classic football...

     - USC had been ranked #1 all season and faced a one-loss eleventh ranked UCLA (9-1) team as its last obstacle to the dream 2006 Rose Bowl
    2006 Rose Bowl
    The 2006 Rose Bowl Game, played on January 4, 2006, was a football game that served as the national championship of the 2005-2006 Bowl Championship Series...

     BCS Championship matchup with #2 Texas. USC featured Heisman trophy winner Matt Leinart
    Matt Leinart
    Matthew Stephen Leinart , is an American professional football quarterback for the Houston Texans of the National Football League...

     and eventual winner Reggie Bush
    Reggie Bush
    Reginald Alfred "Reggie" Bush II is an American football running back for the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League. He was drafted by the New Orleans Saints in the first round of the 2006 NFL Draft...

    . USC defeated UCLA 66-19 in one of the most lopsided games of the series since the first matchup in 1929. The win was later vacated for NCAA infractions.

  • 2006 season - On December 2, 2006, UCLA, which finished the regular season with a record of 7-5 (5-4 Pac-10), pulled one of college football's biggest upsets for 2006 by defeating the Trojans 13-9. In doing so, the Bruins not only ended No. 2 ranked USC's 63-game streak of scoring 20-plus points per game, but also dashed the Trojans' hopes of playing No. 1 ranked Ohio State for the 2006 national championship.

  • 2011 season - On November 26, 2011, USC routed UCLA in a match up ending 50-0 in favor of USC. This was the largest margin of victory for USC since the 1929 matchup where USC won 76-0.

Rivalry Glory Years

Between 1965 and 1978, the conference championship and Rose Bowl berth were on the line for both teams 9 times.
  • 1965 #7 UCLA uses two late touchdowns sandwiched around an on-side kick to beat #6 USC, 20-16.
  • 1966 #8 UCLA, playing without injured star QB Gary Beban
    Gary Beban
    Gary Joseph Beban is a former American football player. Son of an Italian-born mother and a first generation Croatian-American father, Beban won the 1967 Heisman Trophy, the most prestigious award in college football, and the Maxwell Award, while playing quarterback for the University of...

    , beats #7 USC, 14-7.
  • 1967 #2 USC, led by O.J. Simpson's 64 yard TD run and three blocked kicks, beats #1 UCLA, 21-20.
  • 1969 #5 USC, after a penalty on a 4th & 10 incompletion, scores a controversial late TD to beat #6 UCLA, 14-12.
  • 1972 #1 USC pulls away in the 2nd half to beat #14 UCLA, 24-7.
  • 1973 #9 USC, taking advantage of numerous turnovers, beats #8 UCLA, 23-13.
  • 1974 #8 USC wins easily over an injury riddled unranked UCLA squad, 34-9.
  • 1976 #3 USC, behind the scrambling and passing of QB Vince Evans
    Vince Evans
    Vincent Tobias Evans is a former professional American football quarterback who was selected by the Chicago Bears in the sixth round of the 1977 NFL Draft...

    , beats #2 UCLA, 24-14.
  • 1978 #5 USC runs out the last 6½ minutes of the clock to hold off #14 UCLA, 17-10.


In two other years (1975 and 1977) between 1965 and 1978, the Rose Bowl berth was on the line for UCLA only.
  • 1975 #14 UCLA overcomes 8 lost fumbles and holds off unranked USC, 25-22 and goes on to upset #1 Ohio State in the Rose Bowl
  • 1977 #17 UCLA loses on a last second USC field goal, 29-27; thus, Washington goes to the Rose Bowl and upsets Michigan.


The USC coaches during this time were John McKay and John Robinson, while UCLA was coached by Tommy Prothro
Tommy Prothro
James Thompson "Tommy" Prothro, Jr. was an American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Oregon State University from 1955 to 1964 and at the University of California, Los Angeles from 1965 to 1970, compiling a career college football record of 104–55–5...

, Pepper Rodgers
Pepper Rodgers
Franklin C. "Pepper" Rodgers is a former American football player and coach in the United States. He served as the head coach at the University of Kansas , University of California, Los Angeles , and the Georgia Institute of Technology , compiling a career college football record of...

, Dick Vermeil
Dick Vermeil
Richard Albert "Dick" Vermeil is a former American head coach for the National Football League's Philadelphia Eagles , St. Louis Rams and Kansas City Chiefs...

, and Terry Donahue
Terry Donahue
Terry Donahue is a former American football, player, coach, and executive and, currently, a football analyst. He served as the head football coach at the University of California, Los Angeles from 1976 to 1995, compiling a record of 151–74–8. From 2001 to 2005, Donahue served as...

.

Other notable sports rivalries

Because of the geographical proximity and conference affiliation, UCLA and USC compete in other NCAA sanctioned sports, such as Basketball, Track and Field, Volleyball, and Water Polo. UCLA and USC are #1 and #3 respectively in terms of the most NCAA championships won in Division I as of 2007. They have faced each other for the national title in several sports including Men's Volleyball
NCAA Men's Volleyball Championship
The NCAA Men's Volleyball Championship is the tournament that determines the national championship of American college volleyball.The "Final Four" is a term used exclusively by NCAA Basketball but is commonly used to describe the Men's Volleyball Championship...

 and Women's water polo. Although basketball and football tend to get the most attention, the rivalry between the two schools is intense in every sport.

Baseball

The athletic rivalry began in 1920 when the University of California, Southern Branch Cubs defeated USC in spring baseball 7-6. USC has gone on to be the premier team in college baseball with 21 appearances in the College World Series
College World Series
The College World Series or CWS is an annual baseball tournament held in Omaha, Nebraska that is the culmination of the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship, which determines the NCAA Division I college baseball champion. The eight teams are split into two, four-team, double-elimination brackets,...

 and 12 titles, the most of any school and double the next closest school, Texas, who has six titles in 32 appearances. UCLA has appeared in the College World Series twice. As of the 2007 season between UCLA and USC, USC has 246 wins and UCLA has 110 wins.

Basketball

Men's


UCLA has 30 conference championships and USC has seven. When John Wooden
John Wooden
John Robert Wooden was an American basketball player and coach. Nicknamed the "Wizard of Westwood", he won ten NCAA national championships in a 12-year period — seven in a row — as head coach at UCLA, an unprecedented feat. Within this period, his teams won a record 88 consecutive games...

 became the coach, UCLA turned into a national basketball powerhouse. UCLA has won 11 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournaments and has dominated the conference, winning two games for every one that USC won. As of the 2007–2008 season, UCLA has won or shared the conference title 30 times, and USC has won or shared the title 9 times. There have been some notable games in the rivalry.
  • The first official meeting between the two schools as they are now known took place in February 1928 after UCLA was invited to join the Pacific Coast Conference
    Pacific Coast Conference
    The Pacific Coast Conference was a college athletic conference in the United States which existed from 1915 to 1959. Though the Pacific-12 Conference claims the PCC's history as part of its own, the older league had a completely different charter and was disbanded in 1959 due to a major crisis...

    . UCLA won two of a three game basketball series to inaugurate the basketball rivalry.
  • USC had a 41-game winning streak against UCLA from 1932 to 1943, a national record that stood until UCLA eventually beat it in 1980 with a 42nd consecutive win against Cal, on the way to a 52-game winning streak, the current NCAA record of one opponent over another. UCLA Defeated USC 42-37 in the first of the two final home games in the 1943 season to break the streak. This is still the third-longest streak of one Division 1 opponent against another.
  • In the 1960–1961 season, USC and UCLA met for the third time on March 3, 1961 in the game that would ultimately decide the AAWU champion and 2nd place. The teams had split the two previous games. USC beat UCLA 86-85 in overtime, and later advanced to the NCAA tournament.
  • In the 1968–1969 season, USC took UCLA, led by Lew Alcindor
    Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
    Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is a retired American professional basketball player. He is the NBA's all-time leading scorer, with 38,387 points. During his career with the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers from 1969 to 1989, Abdul-Jabbar won six NBA championships and a record six regular season...

    , to two overtimes before losing 61-55 at the Los Angeles Sports Arena. On the second game, one night later on March 8, 1969, USC would finally defeat UCLA 46-44, marking the Bruins' first loss in Pauley Pavilion
    Pauley Pavilion
    Edwin W. Pauley Pavilion, commonly known as Pauley Pavilion, is an indoor arena located in the Westwood Village district of Los Angeles, California, on the campus of UCLA. It is home to the UCLA Bruins men's and women's basketball teams...

    .
  • In the 1970–1971 basketball season, UCLA and USC were ranked #1 and #2 for much of the season. #2 ranked USC coached by Bob Boyd suffered its first loss against #3 ranked UCLA, blowing a 9-point second half lead. In the rematch in the final game of the season, UCLA jumped out to a big early lead and went on to win 72-63. USC would finish the season 24-2 and ranked #2, but only the conference champion, UCLA, could be invited to the 1971 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
    1971 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
    The 1971 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 25 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 13, 1971, and ended with the championship game on March 27 in Houston, Texas...

    , as there were no at-large slots in the bracket. This would be one of the cases for expanding the bracket to 32 teams for the 1975 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
    1975 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
    The 1975 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 32 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 15, 1975, and ended with the championship game on March 31 in San Diego, California...

    .
  • In the 1973–1974 basketball season, the two teams were tied for first in the Pac-8 going into the last game of the season. With the conference championship and berth in the 1974 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
    1974 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
    The 1974 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 25 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It was the first tournament to officially be designated as a Division I championship—previously, NCAA member...

     on the line, Bill Walton led UCLA to a lopsided victory. Notably, UCLA would be the national semi-finalist in the NCAA tournament, while USC would be the semi-finalist in the Collegiate Coaches' Association Tournament, a tournament that invited second-place conference teams.
  • In the 1984–1985 season, UCLA and USC would meet for the game that would decide first place in the Pacific 10. USC already had beat UCLA 78-77 in double overtime at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena
    Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena
    The Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena is a multi-purpose arena, in the University Park neighborhood, of Los Angeles, California, at Exposition Park. It is located next to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, just south of the campus of the University of Southern California.-History:The Los Angeles...

    . The second game at Pauley Pavilion on February 28, 1985 was finally decided in quadruple overtime with USC winning 80-78. USC would be invited to the 1985 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
    1985 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
    The 1985 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 64 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. This was the first year the field was expanded to 64 teams, from 53 in the previous year's tournament. It began...

    , while UCLA was invited to and won the National Invitation Tournament
    National Invitation Tournament
    The National Invitation Tournament is a men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association. There are two NIT events each season. The first, played in November and known as the Dick's Sporting Goods NIT Season Tip-Off , was founded in 1985...

    .
  • In the 2007–2008 season, UCLA and USC met in the 2008 Pacific-10 Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
    2008 Pacific-10 Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
    * Denotes a vacated win, as the result of a January 3, 2010 announcement that USC has vacated all wins during the 2007–2008 season, including its Pac-10 Conference Tournament victory over Arizona State ....

    , for the first time in 225 games in post-season play. The teams had split in the regular season with the Trojans winning at Pauley Pavilion and the Bruins winning at Galen Center. In their third game, a capacity crowd of 18,997 at the Staples Center saw UCLA beat USC 57-54 in the semi finals. Both teams had highly regarded freshmen: Kevin Love
    Kevin Love
    Kevin Love, born in Des Moines, Iowa, is a former NASCAR driver. He ran five races in the 2004 Craftsman Truck Series season, all for Fiddleback Racing....

     and O. J. Mayo
    O. J. Mayo
    Ovinton J'Anthony "O. J." Mayo , is an American basketball player currently playing with the Memphis Grizzlies of the NBA. He signed with the team on July 8, 2008. He played college basketball for the University of Southern California...

    . USC later had to vacate the win due to an ineligible player.

Women's

In Women's basketball, UCLA has one AIAW championship and USC has two NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship
NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship
The NCAA Women's Division I Championship is an annual college basketball tournament for women. Held each April, the Women's Championship was inaugurated in the 1981–82 season...

s. The Bruins and the Trojans have faced each other twice in the second round of the AIAW championships with UCLA winning in 1979 and USC winning in 1981.

Fencing

Both USC Fencing Club
USC Fencing Club
The University of Southern California Fencing Club has a long and colorful history. Founded in 1926, the Club has been home to a number of world class fencers and has won multiple championships. The USC Fencing Club is one of many U.S...

 and UCLA fencing club are in the Intercollegeiate Fencing Conference of Southern California (IFCSC). UCLA has consistently dominated USC throughout their meetings. They compete against NCAA fencing teams as well, such as UCSD, Caltech, and Cal State Fullerton.

Soccer

UCLA women's soccer team has dominated the Women of Troy, 17-3-1. But at the 2007 NCAA College Cup
NCAA Women's Soccer Championship
NCAA Women's Soccer Championships are divided into three divisions. This article lists NCAA Women's soccer championships.-Division I:The NCAA began conducting a Women's Division I Soccer Championship tournament in 1982 with a 12-team tournament...

, USC
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...

 won in the semi-finals, ended UCLA's 8 straight victories over the Trojans. UCLA has outscored USC, 52 to 21, and has never lost to Women of Troy on Bruins' own field. In the 2008 regular season game, a pair of goals by Kristina Larsen gave UCLA a 2-1 win over USC in the Los Angeles Coliseum
Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum is a large outdoor sports stadium in the University Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, at Exposition Park, that is home to the Pacific-12 Conference's University of Southern California Trojans football team...

 before a record crowd of 7,804 fans.

To advance to the NCAA Championship quarterfinals, the Bruins defeated the Women of Troy (1-0) in the round of 16 on Saturday, November 22, 2008 at Drake Stadium
Drake Stadium
Drake Stadium is a stadium in Des Moines, Iowa, United States. It is primarily used for the Drake Relays, and is the home field of the Drake University Bulldogs. It opened in 1925 and underwent a $15 million renovation in 2005. Widening the track reduced the stadium's seating capacity from 18,000...

. It was also a battle between UCLA’s Lauren Cheney
Lauren Cheney
Lauren Nicole Cheney is an American soccer player and member of the United States women's national soccer team. She is currently a forward for Women's Professional Soccer's Boston Breakers.-Career:...

 and Kara Lang
Kara Lang
Kara Elise Lang is a retired Canadian soccer player, who represented her country in two FIFA World Cups and the Olympic Games, and played club soccer for Vancouver Whitecaps Women...

 and USC’s Amy Rodriguez
Amy Rodriguez
Amy Joy Rodriguez is an American soccer forward currently playing for Philadelphia Independence of Women's Professional Soccer and is a member of the United States women's national soccer team....

, all of whom participated in the Beijing Olympic Games—Cheney and Rodriguez for the USA
United States women's national soccer team
The United States women's national soccer team represents the United States in international soccer competition and is controlled by U.S. Soccer. The U.S. team won the first ever Women's World Cup in 1991, and has since been a superpower in women's soccer. It is currently ranked first in the world...

 and Lang for Canada
Canada women's national soccer team
The Canada women's national soccer team is overseen by the Canadian Soccer Association. The team reached its all-time high of 6th in the March 2011 rankings. The team reached international prominence finishing in 4th place at the FIFA Women's World Cup 2003, losing to their archrival American team...

. Cheney and Rodriguez would win gold medals with Team USA, defeating Lang's Canada team in the quarterfinals.

Tennis

As of the 2011 season, USC has won 19 and UCLA has won 16 NCAA Men's Tennis Championship
NCAA Men's Tennis Championship
The NCAA Men's Tennis Championships are held to crown a team, individual, and doubles champion in American college tennis. The first intercollegiate championship was held in 1883, 23 years before the founding of the NCAA, with Harvard's Joseph Clark taking the singles title...

s. UCLA's most recent Championship was in 2005, while USC won in 2011. There was a run from 1960 to 1971 where either UCLA or USC was the champion. In twelve of the tournaments, one team has been runner-up to the other who won the championship, with an even split of six championships for both UCLA and USC.

Volleyball

UCLA has dominated men's volleyball under the coaching of Al Scates
Al Scates
Al Scates is an American former volleyball player and is the current volleyball coach of the UCLA Bruins of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation...

 and as of 2006 has won 19 NCAA Men's Volleyball Championship
NCAA Men's Volleyball Championship
The NCAA Men's Volleyball Championship is the tournament that determines the national championship of American college volleyball.The "Final Four" is a term used exclusively by NCAA Basketball but is commonly used to describe the Men's Volleyball Championship...

s. USC has won six. UCLA and USC have faced each other in the championship game of the NCAA Men's Volleyball Championship
NCAA Men's Volleyball Championship
The NCAA Men's Volleyball Championship is the tournament that determines the national championship of American college volleyball.The "Final Four" is a term used exclusively by NCAA Basketball but is commonly used to describe the Men's Volleyball Championship...

 four times.
  • 1979 UCLA 3-1 USC
  • 1980 USC 3-1 UCLA
  • 1981 UCLA 3-2 USC
  • 1987 UCLA 3-0 USC


In women's volleyball, the schools are even in number of championships. USC and UCLA each have won three NCAA Women's Volleyball Championship
NCAA Women's Volleyball Championship
The NCAA has contested team championships in women's volleyball since 1981. The following is a list of the champions of each division with their record for the year in which they won the championship, and the runner up, city, site and other final four participants for division I...

s in Division I. In addition, USC and UCLA have won three AIAW Women's volleyball championships
AIAW Champions
The Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women was founded in 1971 to govern collegiate women’s athletics and to administer national championships...

.

In 1981 USC defeated UCLA three games to two in the first NCAA Women's Volleyball Championship game. In 1976 USC defeated UCLA to win the AIAW volleyball championship.

Water Polo

The two school compete in Water Polo
Water polo
Water polo is a team water sport. The playing team consists of six field players and one goalkeeper. The winner of the game is the team that scores more goals. Game play involves swimming, treading water , players passing the ball while being defended by opponents, and scoring by throwing into a...

. In the NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship
NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship
The NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship has existed since the 1969 season.No school from outside the state of California has ever surpassed third place...

, UCLA has won the title 8 times and USC has won 4 times. The team went head to head in the 1996 championship where the Bruins defeated the Trojans 8-7. In the NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship
NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship
The NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship has existed since the 2001 season. Three conferences have teams competing in women's water polo, the Collegiate Water Polo Association, the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation and the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference...

, UCLA has dominated, winning 6 of the 8 championships since the inception of the tournament in 2001. In the 2006 championship game, UCLA defeated USC 9–8. In 2008, The UCLA Women's Water Polo team beat USC, 6-3, in the Championship game on May 11, giving UCLA 101 NCAA National Championships. The Bruins' 100th NCAA championship was a Women's water polo victory over Stanford in 2007. UCLA have won four consecutive women's water polo titles (2005–2008).

The Bruins women's team battled the Trojans for the 2009 national championship
NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship
The NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship has existed since the 2001 season. Three conferences have teams competing in women's water polo, the Collegiate Water Polo Association, the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation and the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference...

 on Sunday, May 10, 2009 at College Park, Maryland. With two goals in the first minute of the game, UCLA won a record fifth consecutive crown. It is UCLA's #104 team championship and the team's 11th national title (7th NCAA title).

Head-to-head records by sport

As of the completion of the 2007-08 academic year, USC leads the all-time all-sport record 779-763-9.
However, this number will presumably increase the margin in USC favor since USC won the Lexus Gauntlet in 2009.

Men's
  • Baseball: USC 248-115
  • Basketball: UCLA 126-100
  • Football: USC 42-28-7
  • Tennis: UCLA 96-80
  • Track & Field: USC 41-34
  • Volleyball: UCLA 85-33
  • Water Polo: UCLA 69-60-1


Women's
  • Basketball: USC 41-32
  • Rowing: USC 7-0
  • Soccer: UCLA 16-3-1
  • Swimming: USC 17-14
  • Tennis: USC 43-38
  • Track & Field: UCLA 21-4
  • Volleyball: UCLA 53-48
  • Water Polo: UCLA 36-12

Olympic athletes

Both UCLA and USC send many athletes to the Olympic Games
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...

 during the Olympiad
Olympiad
An Olympiad is a period of four years, associated with the Olympic Games of Classical Greece. In the Hellenistic period, beginning with Ephorus, Olympiads were used as calendar epoch....

. As of the last games, USC athletes account for 258 medals and UCLA athletes account for 236. A USC Trojan has been a Gold medal winner in every summer Olympics since 1912. As of the 2008 Summer Olympics
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...

, UCLA and USC athletes combined account for nearly one fifth of all medals won by the United States of America and their 494 combined medals would rank 9th on the country list.

Rivalry outside sports competition

College Comparison (2011)
Category USC UCLA
Location Los Angeles, CA
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

 
Los Angeles, CA
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

Ownership Private university
Private university
Private universities are universities not operated by governments, although many receive public subsidies, especially in the form of tax breaks and public student loans and grants. Depending on their location, private universities may be subject to government regulation. Private universities are...

 
Public university
University of California
The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...

Founded 1880 1919
Students 33,000 35,967
School Colors Cardinal
Cardinal (color)
Cardinal is a vivid red, which gets its name from the cassocks worn by Catholic cardinals...

 & Gold
Gold (color)
Gold, also called golden, is one of a variety of orange-yellow color blends used to give the impression of the color of the element gold....

 
True Blue
True Blue (color)
True Blue is a tone of blue deeper than powder blue and lighter than royal blue that was developed by the UCLA Athletic Department and Adidas to be the color for all of UCLA's athletic teams starting in the 2003–2004 school year. Previously, the football team had worn powder blue while the...

 & Gold
Gold (color)
Gold, also called golden, is one of a variety of orange-yellow color blends used to give the impression of the color of the element gold....

Nickname Trojans
USC Trojans
The USC Trojans are the athletic teams representing the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California. While the men's teams are nicknamed the Trojans, the women's athletic teams are referred to as either the Trojans or Women of Troy...

 
Bruins
UCLA Bruins
The UCLA Bruins are the sports teams for University of California, Los Angeles . The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Pacific-12 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation . For football, they are in the Football Bowl Subdivision of Division I...

Football Stadium LA Coliseum
Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum is a large outdoor sports stadium in the University Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, at Exposition Park, that is home to the Pacific-12 Conference's University of Southern California Trojans football team...

 
Rose Bowl
Rose Bowl (stadium)
The Rose Bowl is an outdoor athletic stadium in Pasadena, California, U.S., in Los Angeles County. The stadium is the site of the annual college football bowl game, the Rose Bowl, held on New Year's Day. In 1982, it became the home field of the UCLA Bruins college football team of the Pac-12...

Basketball Arena Galen Center
Galen Center
The Galen Center is a multipurpose indoor arena and athletic facility owned and operated by the University of Southern California. Located at the southeast corner of Jefferson Boulevard and Figueroa Street in the Exposition Park area of Los Angeles, it is right across the street from the campus and...

 
Pauley Pavilion
Pauley Pavilion
Edwin W. Pauley Pavilion, commonly known as Pauley Pavilion, is an indoor arena located in the Westwood Village district of Los Angeles, California, on the campus of UCLA. It is home to the UCLA Bruins men's and women's basketball teams...

Annual Tuition $42,162 $11,618

The UCLA–USC rivalry is like few other college or university rivalries. Both universities are in the same city. Both universities are at the top in the nation not only for their sports achievements, but also for academic standing. USC currently outranks UCLA in the US News National University rankings, 23rd versus 25th. Graduate schools at both universities are among the top in their fields. Furthermore, graduates from both universities work together all across Southern California. It is not uncommon for married couples or family members to consist of graduates from each school. Undergraduates of one school can be found attending graduate school
Graduate school
A graduate school is a school that awards advanced academic degrees with the general requirement that students must have earned a previous undergraduate degree...

 and/or professional school
Professional school
A professional school is a school type that prepares students for careers in specific fields.Examples of this type of school include:* Architecture school* Business school* Dental school* Education school* Journalism school* Law school* Library school...

 across town. High schools in Southern California send some of their top graduates to both schools every year, as do community colleges around Los Angeles. Students from each school, including athletes, even can be found rooming together in the same house or apartment in Los Angeles.

The rivalry is also a microcosm of a geopolitical
Geopolitics
Geopolitics, from Greek Γη and Πολιτική in broad terms, is a theory that describes the relation between politics and territory whether on local or international scale....

 rivalry based upon the locations of the schools, the cost of attending each school, and the founding and growth patterns of the schools.

Geographic location

USC is located on the Southern fringe of downtown Los Angeles by Exposition Park
Exposition Park (Los Angeles)
Exposition Park is located in University Park, Los Angeles, California, across the street from the University of Southern California. Exposition Park houses the following:* Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum* Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena...

. In the early years of the city, it was a fashionable area, but it began to be rundown as wealthier residents migrated towards other suburban neighborhoods, following the national trend. USC was an isolated enclave for a number of years and the surrounding neighborhood had a bad reputation. Lately, with newer downtown construction, the area is becoming connected with downtown again, although the neighborhood remains marginal. Most of the major LA area public sports facilities are located near campus, including the Los Angeles Coliseum and Staples Center
Staples Center
Staples Center is a multi-purpose sports arena in Downtown Los Angeles. Adjacent to the L.A. Live development, it is located next to the Los Angeles Convention Center complex along Figueroa Street. Opening on October 17, 1999, it is one of the major sporting facilities in the Greater Los Angeles...

.

UCLA, by contrast, is located on the Westside of Los Angeles and is nestled between many several of the most affluent and desirable communities in southern California: Brentwood
Brentwood, Los Angeles, California
Brentwood is a district in western Los Angeles, California, United States. The district is located at the base of the Santa Monica Mountains, bounded by the San Diego Freeway on the east, Wilshire Boulevard on the south, the Santa Monica city limits on the southwest, the border of Topanga State...

, Bel-Air
Bel-Air, Los Angeles, California
Bel Air is an affluent residential community in the hills of the Westside of the city of Los Angeles, California. Together with Beverly Hills and Holmby Hills it forms the Platinum Triangle of Los Angeles neighborhoods....

, Beverly Hills
Beverly Hills, California
Beverly Hills is an affluent city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. With a population of 34,109 at the 2010 census, up from 33,784 as of the 2000 census, it is home to numerous Hollywood celebrities. Beverly Hills and the neighboring city of West Hollywood are together...

 and Westwood
Westwood, Los Angeles, California
Westwood is a neighborhood on the Westside of Los Angeles, California, United States. It is the home of the University of California, Los Angeles .-History:...

. Although this area was relatively remote and unsettled at the time of UCLA's founding, decades of growth in the area around campus means that UCLA is hardly the suburban location it once was.

Funding and cost of attendance

The University of California is a public university
Public university
A public university is a university that is predominantly funded by public means through a national or subnational government, as opposed to private universities. A national university may or may not be considered a public university, depending on regions...

, while the University of Southern California is a private university
Private university
Private universities are universities not operated by governments, although many receive public subsidies, especially in the form of tax breaks and public student loans and grants. Depending on their location, private universities may be subject to government regulation. Private universities are...

. As a public university, UCLA offers discounted attendance rates for California residents. For 2009-10 the estimated cost of attendance (tuition, fees, room, board, books, etc.) at UCLA is approximately $30,476 for in-state students living on campus, compared to $53,354 for out-of-state students, also living on campus.

At USC, no differentiation in fees is made between California residents and those coming from out-of-state. USC estimates the cost of attendance for all students living on campus for the 2009-10 school year at about $60,801

The University of California System has raised fees on all its campuses, including at UCLA, over the years to account for declines in state support and to keep pace with inflation
Inflation
In economics, inflation is a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy over a period of time.When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services. Consequently, inflation also reflects an erosion in the purchasing power of money – a...

.

Costs of attendance at both UCLA and USC may be off-set by financial aid, in the form of loans or grants based on merit or need or both. This includes athletic scholarships.

Founding

USC was established in 1880 and UCLA was founded in 1919 when California Gov. William D. Stephens signed California Assembly Bill 626, establishing the Southern Branch of the University of California. UCLA moved to its current location in 1927 when it was renamed the University of California at Los Angeles. USC had been playing football since 1888 and joined the Pacific Coast Conference in 1922. UCLA started playing football in 1919 and joined the PCC in 1928.

UCLA-USC rivalry in popular culture

  • On the Jack Benny
    Jack Benny
    Jack Benny was an American comedian, vaudevillian, and actor for radio, television, and film...

     NBC radio program from November 26, 1950 (the Sunday after that season's UCLA - USC game), the episode was about Jack trying to go to the game with Mary Livingstone
    Mary Livingstone
    Mary Livingstone , was an American radio comedienne and the wife and radio partner of comedy great Jack Benny . Enlisted almost entirely by accident to perform on her husband's popular program, she proved a talented comedienne...

     and Dennis Day
    Dennis Day
    Dennis Day born Owen Patrick Eugene McNulty, was an Irish-American singer and radio, television and film personality.-Early life:...

    . http://otr.net/?p=jbny Jack also had the USC and UCLA coaches as guests on his television show.
  • The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue
    Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue
    The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue is published annually by Sports Illustrated. It features fashion models wearing swimwear in exotic locales. According to some, the magazine is the arbiter of supermodel succession. In addition, the issue is a media nexus that in 2005 carried in advertising....

     in 1989 is the magazine's top-selling issue of all-time. On page 225 is a photo of a UCLA student posing in a bikini in her bedroom, while in the background are a Bruin bear wearing a button with a four-letter expletive directed at USC and a poster underneath that says "My Two Favorite Teams are the BRUINS and Whoever Is Playing USC." The St. Petersburg Times
    St. Petersburg Times
    The St. Petersburg Times is a United States newspaper. It is one of two major publications serving the Tampa Bay Area, the other being The Tampa Tribune, which the Times tops in both circulation and readership. Based in St...

    brought the picture to the magazine's attention. Sports Illustrated managing editor
    Managing editor
    A managing editor is a senior member of a publication's management team.In the United States, a managing editor oversees and coordinates the publication's editorial activities...

     Mark Mulvoy responded, "You're the first person to tell me this. Twenty million people have read that issue and no one noticed it. We did not do it on purpose. This was not an attempt to sneak the word into Sports Illustrated. I regret it." The The Register-Guard
    The Register-Guard
    The Register-Guard is a daily newspaper published in Eugene, Oregon, United States. It was formed in a 1930 merger of two Eugene papers, the Eugene Daily Guard and the Morning Register. The paper serves the Eugene-Springfield area, as well as the Oregon Coast, Umpqua River Valley, and surrounding...

    wrote that the magazine was accustomed to criticism for Swimsuit Issue photos being too revealing. The newspaper published an accompanying photo of the magazine cover with the caption, "The SI cover was OK, but page 225 wasn't".
  • In a 2005 ESPN
    ESPN
    Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....

     commercial, a man wearing a UCLA sweatshirt opens his door on Halloween
    Halloween
    Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...

     to find a young Trick-or-treater
    Trick-or-treating
    Trick-or-treating or "Guising", is a customary practice for children on Halloween in many countries. Children in costumes travel from house to house in order to ask for treats such as candy with the question "Trick or treat?"...

     dressed in a Trojan outfit. He closes his door in disgust without handing out any candy. (The commercial's comedy lies in the fact that UCLA and USC fans retain a lifetime rivalry with each other, while still living side-by-side.)
  • In a 2006 episode of The New Adventures of Old Christine
    The New Adventures of Old Christine
    The New Adventures of Old Christine is an American comedy series starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus which ran for five seasons on CBS from March 13, 2006, to May 12, 2010...

    , Old Christine's ex husband, Richard, takes their son Richie to the UCLA-USC game at the Coliseum.

Other rivalries

Because of their dominance of their respective sports, other schools in the Pacific 10 conference regard a basketball game with UCLA or a football game with USC as one of their top games of the year, no matter what the current standings.

USC vs Notre Dame football

USC also has a football-only rivalry with the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Notre Dame's nickname is inherited from Irish immigrant soldiers who fought in the Civil War with the Union's Irish Brigade, , recollected among other places in the poetry of Joyce Kilmer who served with one of the Irish Brigade regiments during World War I...

, which many Trojan fans regard as a greater football rivalry. This predates the UCLA–USC rivalry by three years. Although a conference championship is never at stake, both schools have the college football national championship as their ultimate goal. And the game is usually used as a measuring stick to compare not just those two programs, but also the relative performance of many of the top teams in college football. The schools play for the Jeweled Shillelagh
Jeweled Shillelagh
The Jeweled Shillelagh is passed between the annual winner of the college football game between the University of Southern California Trojans and the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The shillelagh, an Irish war club, is made of oak or blackthorn saplings from Ireland...

.

UCLA's basketball: Notre Dame and Arizona

UCLA had a basketball rivalry with Notre Dame
Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's basketball
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's basketball team is the intercollegiate men's basketball program representing the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. The program competes in the Big East Conference of NCAA Division I. The school holds two national championships in...

 that started when Digger Phelps
Digger Phelps
Richard "Digger" Phelps is a former American college basketball coach, most notably of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's basketball team from 1971 to 1991. Since 1993, he has served as an analyst on ESPN.-Career:...

 was the Notre Dame coach and John Wooden
John Wooden
John Robert Wooden was an American basketball player and coach. Nicknamed the "Wizard of Westwood", he won ten NCAA national championships in a 12-year period — seven in a row — as head coach at UCLA, an unprecedented feat. Within this period, his teams won a record 88 consecutive games...

 was the UCLA coach. UCLA and Notre Dame played a home-and-home meeting for several seasons, which is otherwise uncommon outside conference play. This rivalry existed from the desire of the Notre Dame athletic department to schedule the top schools for intersectional competition. UCLA and Notre Dame played 42 times between 1966 and 1995, and the height of the rivalry was when Notre Dame ended UCLA's consecutive game winning streak at 88 on January 19, 1974. UCLA also broke a 60-game Notre Dame winning streak in South Bend. Current UCLA head coach Ben Howland
Ben Howland
Ben Howland is an American college head coach of men's basketball.He has been the head coach of the University of California, Los Angeles since 2003, and in 2008 signed an extension of his contract to run through 2015. Aggressive man-to-man defense is the trademark of Ben Howland-coached...

 has since scheduled Notre Dame four times: in 2004, 2005, 2008, and 2009. After UCLA's victory on February 7, 2009, UCLA leads the all-time series 28-19.
In the 1990s, UCLA also had a basketball rivalry with Arizona
Arizona Wildcats men's basketball
The Arizona Wildcats basketball team is the intercollegiate men's basketball program representing the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The team competes in the Pacific-12 Conference of NCAA Division I. They are currently coached by Sean Miller.Arizona has a long and rich...

 under coach Lute Olson
Lute Olson
Robert Luther "Lute" Olson is a retired American men's basketball coach. He was most recently head coach at the University of Arizona for a period of 25 years. He was also head coach at the University of Iowa for 9 years and California State University, Long Beach for one season...

, as the two schools competed for the Pac-10 Championship every year.

Cal and Stanford

UCLA and USC have rivalries with the Bay Area Pacific 12 schools, Cal (the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...

) and Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...

. These rivalries extend to all sports within the conference, and stem from the Northern California vs. Southern California dynamic. There also exists the commonality of UCLA and Cal as public institutions against Stanford and USC as private institutions. Also, due to their positions as the most prestigious in the University of California system
University of California
The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...

, there is also rivalry between UCLA and Cal. Stanford and USC are also long-time rivals as two prestigious private universities in California.

See also

  • UCLA Bruins
    UCLA Bruins
    The UCLA Bruins are the sports teams for University of California, Los Angeles . The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Pacific-12 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation . For football, they are in the Football Bowl Subdivision of Division I...

     athletics
  • USC Trojans
    USC Trojans
    The USC Trojans are the athletic teams representing the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California. While the men's teams are nicknamed the Trojans, the women's athletic teams are referred to as either the Trojans or Women of Troy...

     athletics
  • 1967 USC vs. UCLA football game
    1967 USC vs. UCLA football game
    The 1967 USC vs. UCLA football game was an American College Football game played in the 1967 College Football Season on November 18, 1967. The University of California at Los Angeles, 7–0–1 and ranked Number 1, with senior quarterback Gary Beban as a Heisman Trophy candidate, played the University...

  • Game of the Century (college football)
    Game of the Century (college football)
    The phrase "Game of the Century" is a superlative that has been applied to several college football contests played in the 20th century, the first full century of college football in the United States...

  • Lexus Gauntlet
    Lexus Gauntlet
    The Lexus Gauntlet was a year-long all-sports competitions between two pairs of rival Pacific-12 Conference universities in California. The original Southern version, now known as the Crosstown Gauntlet, is held between between UCLA and USC; a Northern version between Stanford University and...


Other Pac-12 football rivalries

  • Apple Cup
    Apple Cup
    The Apple Cup is the trophy awarded to the winner of an American college football rivalry game played annually by the teams of the two largest universities in the U.S. state of Washington: the University of Washington Huskies and the Washington State University Cougars...

     - Trophy for the Washington / Washington State football game
  • Civil War
    Civil War (college football game)
    The Civil War is the colloquial name for an American college football rivalry game played annually by the Oregon Ducks football team of the University of Oregon and the Oregon State Beavers football team of the Oregon State University...

     - Oregon / Oregon State football game
  • Big Game
    Big Game (football)
    The Big Game is an American college football rivalry game played by the California Golden Bears football team of the University of California, Berkeley and the Stanford Cardinal football team of Stanford University. It is typically played in late November or early December...

     - Stanford / California football game
  • Territorial Cup
    Territorial Cup
    The Territorial Cup is a trophy that is awarded to the winner of an American college football rivalry game, commonly referred to as "The Duel in the Desert," played annually between the Arizona State Sun Devils football team of Arizona State University and the Arizona Wildcats football team of the...

    - Trophy for the Arizona / Arizona State football game

External links


Further reading

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