Pacific life

After down decade, L.A.'s rivalry finally worth watching

More in this column: • Around the rivalries • Flexing their bowl muscle • Worth noting: Beware, the Hogs

It's one of those obscure yet oh-so-telling factoids.

When USC and UCLA stage their annual showdown Saturday at the Rose Bowl, it will mark the first time since 1993 that both participants are ranked.

Excuse moi? Can that be right?

Granted, records and rankings hardly affect the intensity inside college football's only major cross-city rivalry. As UCLA quarterback Drew Olson said, "If we went to Oregon and lost, we wouldn't have to hear about it from them, but down here, if we lose to USC, we hear from them 364 days a year."

For the rest of the country, however, it's been a while since Trojans vs. Bruins truly mattered, a stunning reality for one of the sport's most fabled rivalries. Four times in five games in the late 1960s, both teams were ranked in the top 10. And the winner went to the Rose Bowl 15 times over one 20-year period.

Neither team will be toting roses after this one (they still trail Washington State in the standings), but both remain in the hunt.

More importantly, in the case of two proud programs that have experienced as many "downs" as "ups" over the past decade, they've finally caught an "up" at the same time.

And they couldn't be doing it in more opposite ways.

At the heart of the Trojans' success is a group of fifth-year seniors, guys like QB Carson Palmer, safety Troy Polamalu and running backs Justin Fargas, Sultan McCullough and Malaefou McKenzie, who have endured a 5-7 and two 6-6 seasons (or in Fargas' case, injuries and transferring from Michigan).

Under the guidance of second-year head coach and longtime NFL defensive mind Pete Carroll, USC's defense has blossomed into one of the nation's best, while Palmer, with the help of acclaimed offensive coordinator Norm Chow and stud receiver Mike Williams, has gone from perceived bust to perceived Heisman candidate.

All this despite facing a schedule considered the toughest in the country by the BCS formula.

"The seniors have been working for a long time to put themselves in position to have a real good season and have an opportunity to do some things at the end of the year," Carroll said of the No. 7 Trojans' 8-2 record and highest November ranking in 14 years. "I think they're having about as much fun as you can have in college football."

For Bruins coach Bob Toledo, a 20-game winning streak during his second and third seasons in Westwood has been overshadowed in recent years by late-season collapses and off-field scandals, like the infamous handicap parking fiasco, running back DeShaun Foster's suspension and quarterback Cory Paus' DUI arrest.

After losing Foster and a host of other veterans from a team that slipped from 6-0 to 7-4, expectations were low both coming into 2002 and at midseason when Paus went down with a season-ending ankle injury. All that meant, though, was more playing time for the highly touted Olson, one of 10 freshmen on the Bruins' two-deep, and a three-game winning streak.

"Our team, we're really young, but we knew we had a lot of promise," said running back Tyler Ebell, another freshman whose six straight 100-yard games have lifted No. 25 UCLA to 7-3. "It hurts to be as lowly ranked as we are, I think we should be a little higher."

As the L.A. schools got overshadowed in recent years by their neighbors to the north, so too did their rivalry. In what had to be a first in Pac-10 history, ABC in 2000 aired the Oregon-Oregon State "Civil War" to a national audience while USC-UCLA went untelevised even in its backyard.

But don't think for a second the "University of Spoiled Children" rants went into retirement.

As blase as Los Angeles fans can be about sports most of the year, there's no shortage of passion when it comes to this terminal squabble of schools that splits families, offices and the many area high school friends and teammates who go on to opposite schools.

The Trojans have won the last three meetings after a series-record eight-game skid, the last loss coming during Palmer's first season.