After picking up a 28-20 victory over Nebraska in redshirt sophomore Jayden Maiava’s first start at quarterback for USC football (5-5, 3-5), the Trojans look to keep the momentum rolling as they find themselves one win away from securing a bowl berth. The first opportunity the Trojans have to achieve that is against UCLA (4-6, 3-5) on Saturday at the Rose Bowl.
This will be the first time that USC and UCLA will play each other as Big Ten members. USC leads the series 50-34-7 (which does not include vacated wins in 2004 or 2005). Last year, UCLA beat USC 38-20 at the Coliseum. USC’s last win against UCLA was in 2022, when the Trojans won a 48-45 thriller in the Rose Bowl.
Redshirt senior wide receiver Kyle Ford spent four years at USC and then transferred to UCLA for the 2023 season before coming back to USC in April for his final year of eligibility. As a player who’s been on both sides of the rivalry, he is looking forward to the opportunity to take part in one more Crosstown Showdown.
“I want to win,” Ford said on Wednesday. “That’s the number one thing is I want to win, regardless of any personal things I feel, that doesn’t really matter because I would never put myself in front of the team.”
The Bruins are led by first-year head coach DeShaun Foster, who was promoted from running backs coach after former head coach Chip Kelly left to become the offensive coordinator at Ohio State in February. Under Foster’s leadership, UCLA started out 1-5, but since then, the Bruins have won three of their last four, the lone loss in that stretch coming last weekend at Washington.
While Foster is a Bruin through and through and has been part of the Crosstown Showdown in various roles over the years, Riley and his staff are relatively new to it. Despite this, Riley knows how to motivate his players because of how unique the Crosstown Showdown is.
“Most schools have rivalries, but if you’re lucky enough to be at a school and coach or play at a place that has these intense of rivalries, this is a unique game,” Riley said on Thursday. “This is a unique game of the proximity and the history behind it, and you play it in two iconic venues. I mean, this is a really, really cool game.”
UCLA’s offense is led by redshirt senior quarterback Ethan Garbers, who has had a very streaky season under center in 2024. In the first six games, Garbers only threw four touchdown passes to nine interceptions. In the last four games, however, Garbers has played much better, as he has 10 touchdown passes and has only been picked off twice. Because of Garbers’ performance of late, USC’s defense will need to suffocate the pass game in order to contain him, while also shutting down the Bruins’ run game.
Redshirt sophomore safety Kamari Ramsey, who will be playing at the Rose Bowl for the first time since transferring to USC from UCLA last December, reflected on how the Bruins’ offense will be different because of the change in play caller from Kelly to current offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy.
“Chip Kelly did some good things, Bieniemy is doing some great things,” Ramsey said on Wednesday. “And Bieniemy has this NFL kind of style to the game with big personnels. That’s kind of similar to Coach Kelly.”
One thing that will benefit the Trojans on offense is that UCLA runs a scheme that is very similar to the one that USC defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn implemented when he held the same position with the Bruins last year. As a result, Maiava and the offense should be able to effectively scheme against UCLA, since they will see something similar to what they see in practice when they train against the Trojans’ defense.
Despite having made the move across town, Lynn is not worried about his return to the Rose Bowl being awkward, and he reflected on the fluctuous nature of how coaches move around in the NFL.
“I think just from being in the NFL, I’ve bounced around so many times, played former coworkers and players I’ve coached, that it’s just something I’m used to,” Lynn said on Tuesday.
The Trojans look to bring home the Victory Bell and become bowl eligible for the third season in a row under Riley when they visit UCLA at the Rose Bowl at 7:30 p.m. Saturday night. The game will be broadcast on NBC.