USC, UCLA set to clash in Pasadena as teams seek bowl eligibility

PASADENA, Calif. (CNS) -- UCLA will play host to USC Saturday evening at the Rose Bowl in a matchup of teams seeking a victory over their crosstown rival to provide a highlight to a lackluster season.

The 5-5 Trojans need either a victory over the Bruins or sixth-ranked Notre Dame next Saturday in their regular-season finale to become bowl eligible for the fifth time in six seasons.

The 4-6 Bruins need to both beat USC and Fresno State next Saturday in their regular-season finale to become bowl eligible for the fourth consecutive season.

In their first seasons in the Big Ten Conference, both teams are 3-5 in conference play, tied for 12th in the 18-team conference.

USC is a 4 1/2- to five-point favorite, depending on the oddsmaker.

The Bruins won last year's game, 38-20, with Ethan Garbers throwing three touchdown passes and UCLA's defense, then coached by D'Anton Lynn, sacking 2022 Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Caleb Williams four times and limiting the Trojans to 3 rushing yards.

Lynn left the Bruins 13 days later to become the Trojans' defensive coordinator. Cornerback John Humphrey and safety Kamari Ramsey joined Lynn in making the move from UCLA to USC after being starters in 2023. Ramsey leads the Trojans with five pass breakups and is fourth with 43 tackles.

Jayden Maiava will be making his second consecutive start at quarterback for USC. He threw for 259 yards and three touchdowns in his first start as a Trojan in last Saturday's 28-20 victory over Nebraska, which ended USC's five-game losing streak in one-score games.

Garbers, a redshirt senior, has thrown for multiple touchdowns in each of his past four games, the first time he has accomplished that feat.

Statistically, the Trojans' strongest facet is their punting game, leading Football Bowl Subdivision teams in net punting with a 46.18-yard average. Their next-highest ranked area is passing offense, 13th in FBS, averaging 288 yards.

UCLA is seventh in rushing defense, allowing 100.6 yards per game and 11th in kickoff return defense, allowing 16 yards per return.

USC leads the series 50-34-7, not including victories in 2004 and 2005 that were vacated as part of the penalties issued by the NCAA for improper benefits accepted by 2005 Heisman Trophy-winning running back Reggie Bush and his family. The Bruins have won just seven of the past 25 meetings.

The winner will get possession of the Victory Bell, a 295-pound bell that originally hung atop a Southern Pacific freight locomotive and was given to the UCLA Alumni Association in 1939. In 1941, it was taken by a group of USC students who hid it in a variety of locations for more than a year.

Following an intervention by school administrators, the student body presidents of both schools signed an agreement in 1942 providing that the winner of the football game would keep possession for the next year, a tradition that has continued, along with painting the bell's carriage in the school color of the winner.