It wasn’t a pretty 2010 football season for the University of Southern California Trojans, for us alumni, or for the rest of the USC fans. We lost some games we shouldn’t have, including one against long-time rival Notre Dame.
But last night, we beat UCLA for the fourth year in a row. We claimed possession of the Victory Bell, a 285-pound trophy that’s been given to the winner of the USC-UCLA cross-town rivalry game since 1942.
There wasn’t a lot at stake for either school last night, one of the few times in 80 meetings that neither school was ranked, and neither school was going on to a post-season bowl game. UCLA’s final record of 4-8 did not get them bowl-eligible, and USC’s 8-5 record was for the books only because we’ve been banned from post-season play this year.
But what was at stake in this, the greatest collegiate cross-town rivalry, was ownership of Los Angeles. For another year, USC has earned bragging rights to claim Los Angeles as its own. It’s a good feeling, one that I experienced as an outsider when I first arrived in LA back in 1964 and was invited to my first USC-Notre Dame game. It became most meaningful when I got my graduate degree from USC.
The two schools are only 11 miles apart, separated by the Santa Monica (10) Freeway. That’s pretty close, although it often takes an hour and half to negotiate that short distance during LA’s infamous rush hour traffic.
Last night’s game was one for history books. It was the last Pac-10 football game ever. In 2011, the Pac-10 becomes the Pac-12, and quite ironically, USC will play in the very first Pac-12 game when we face newcomer Utah on September 10.
One final note: Congratulations to senior tailback Allen Bradford, who had his best game of the season, carrying the ball 28 times for 212 yards (a 7.5 yard average), and scoring two TDs – one on long run, and one on a long pass reception.
We own Los Angeles. Fight on!
Congrats are in order!
ReplyDelete