In this century, UCLA has only won the Battle of LA seven times. This begs the question: is there even a rivalry anymore?
On Saturday, the Trojans took down the Bruins 29-10, claiming the Victory Bell for the second year in a row. The overall record for the series is 53-37-7, including the two USC wins vacated due to NCAA penalties.
UCLA’s preparation for the game started on Sunday, according to UCLA interim head coach Tim Skipper.
“We watched a documentary, and then we had guest speakers all throughout the week, so we did everything possible to get set for it,” Skipper said.
Per the LA Times, UCLA’s team creative content producer had to create a five-minute video on the historic rivalry to show the team “what the rivalry is really about.” If a video is needed to show how important the game is the week before, it doesn’t seem so important.
UCLA freshman linebacker Scott Taylor grew up around the LA area and said the video was crucial to show “how big a deal this is to LA and how special this win can be.”
Scott understood the gravity of this game, so much so that he blocked redshirt freshman kicker Ryan Sayeri’s field goal attempt that would have extended the Trojans lead to 10 in the first quarter.
Sayeri, a California native, missed two field goals on Saturday after only missing two field goals all season. He was blocked by Taylor then had a straight up miss, perhaps he was feeling the rivalry pressure as well. His only other missed kicks were on the road against Purdue and Oregon, two other big time games.
USC won the game after multiple strong performances and a rally in the second half, scoring 22 points and keeping UCLA to zero. Redshirt junior quarterback Jayden Maiava finished the game going 21-for-29 with 257 yards and two touchdowns. Freshman running back King Miller had two touchdowns for 124 rushing yards and 42 receiving. Behind him was junior wide receivers Ja’Kobi Lane and Makai Lemon who sat out the first quarter due to disciplinary reasons, but still made an impact. Lane had 52 receiving yards while Lemon’s only touch was a 32-yard touchdown.
The USC dominance over UCLA has been exactly that, dominance. Especially considering the state that both programs are in right now, USC (9-3, 7-2) was one game from the College Football Playoff while UCLA (3-9, 3-6) had its first nine loss season since 2018. Unless UCLA has a major overhaul, USC looks to be in the position to keep the victory bell for years to come.
Still, the Coliseum was rocking with excitement on Saturday as if the Trojans hadn’t won for years and weren’t the clear favorites. Cheers of “Beat UCLA” were shouted all around the Coli and it even got chippy on the field. At both half time and at the end of the game, players had to be separated. Players from both teams were signaling “fours down” or “victory down,” making fun of the schools’ respective hand gestures – four’s up and the victory sign – throughout the game, especially after big plays.
USC head coach Lincoln Riley thanked fans for the home atmosphere during the postgame press conference.
“One of the things we talked about earlier in the season with this team was protecting our home, and there’s two parts of that. It’s one, that us as a program, playing well at home. And then the flip side of that is the Coliseum lit up like it was tonight. There was a major factor in the game,” Riley said. “Rivalry games are always tough, and just a great way to end the season.”
While UCLA lost the game, Skipper was still proud of his team.
“We wanted to win this battle for LA,” Skipper said. “We attacked the moment. We had good practices all week, and I really feel like they gave their all, so I’m proud of that.”
The apparent softness of the game questions the rivalry’s legitimacy. Former UCLA head coach Henry “Red” Sanders, who was the coach from 1949-1957, was famously quoted about the stakes of the game. He said, “Beating ’SC is not a matter of life or death, it’s more important than that.” With that mentality, Sanders led the Bruins to a 6-2 dominance against the Trojans. Now, the same stakes don’t seem to be evident after USC consistently beats down UCLA.
Even Skipper said that a lot of his team didn’t know much about it, which is why they made the five-minute video, but it doesn’t instill the same hunger to win when Sanders was coach.
UCLA sophomore quarterback Nico Iamaleava grew up in Long Beach, so he understood the importance of the game heading into it.
“It meant a lot. You grow up seeing the rivalry as a young kid, I’ve always seen it,” Iamaleava said. “I actually came to the Coliseum for one of them and seeing the game, I always wanted to be a part of it being a kid from Long Beach. It was a great experience and hopefully we come out with the win next year.”
King, a Calabasas native discussed what the win meant to him.
“Man, that victory bell is something special,” King said. I mean it’s kind of addicting to win.”
One thing is clear, for those who were Southern California born and raised, this rivalry is important for them. For others, it doesn’t seem to mean so much. With UCLA losing 72% of the games in the 2000s, the rivalry isn’t that unpredictable. In comparison to other historic rivalries like Michigan and Ohio State, it doesn’t matter where the players are from, they understand the importance. The series in “The Game” is much closer, 62-52-6, with each team having its moments of dominance.
USC and UCLA have historically recruited top-tier California talent, but in recent years they have failed to do so and have consequently lost some significance of the rivalry.
Last year, eight of USC’s 28 recruits were from California. Next year, USC’s No.1 recruiting class has 19 of 36 recruits from California. In 2025 UCLA’s 14 of its 36 recruits were from California compared to their 2026 class with 10 out of its 18 recruits.
In order for this rivalry to stay strong, UCLA needs to make more of a competition and both teams need to go back to its roots of recruiting homegrown talent who understand the stakes of the Battle of LA.