Despite USC leading the crosstown rivalry by an all-time score
of 38-27-7, UCLA has been able to call the Los Angeles Memorial
Coliseum home more than people with a short memory may expect.
In the literal sense, UCLA did call the famed stadium home,
playing there from 1929 through 1981 before moving to the Rose Bowl
for home games in the 1982 season.
The fact that both teams played home games at the Coliseum made
for an interesting on-field spectacle. Back then, they took turns
wearing their home uniforms, alternating year-to-year.
When the Bruins travel to the Coliseum for their road game
against the Trojans, they will be playing in a college football
stadium that may arguably be second only to the Rose Bowl in terms
of fame.
The Coliseum took almost two years to build and was completed in
1923 at a cost of $800,000.
USC has played there since it opened. City boosters funded the
construction of the stadium, and it was built as a memorial to
veterans of the Great War. The Coliseum now holds 92,000, and it
will be filled to capacity this Saturday.
“It will be a packed stadium, and it will be loud,”
UCLA coach Karl Dorrell said. “It comes down to playing your
guts out. The USC people will be loud, and the UCLA contingent will
do the same for us. It’s a great football game.”
Secure in the underdog role for Saturday’s contest, the
Bruins are prepared for a boisterous USC crowd to dominate.
But that doesn’t bother them.
“It’s going to be real hostile, and we take that as
a motivating factor,” junior free safety Ben Emanuel II said.
“It is just us against the world. Hopefully it will be loud
and crazy.”
Even beyond using a hostile crowd as a motivating factor, some
Bruins prefer to play on the road ““ plain and simple.
“I would rather play all the games on the road ““ the
Rose Bowl doesn’t get loud,” senior wide receiver Ryan
Smith said. “I like the fan support ““ football is life.
I like that adversity. I like playing on the road. The Coliseum is
definitely louder (than the Rose Bowl).”
So much lore surrounds the storied rivalry, and in recent years
another rumor has UCLA fans hollering. It has been said that USC
pumps artificial noise into the Coliseum to make the stadium louder
in an effort to distract opposing teams.
But after talking to players who said they feed off of a hostile
environment, it does not seem to matter much.
“I could play with earmuffs on. The louder it is, the more
pumped up I get,” senior defensive tackle Ryan Boschetti
said.
Most players said they have never noticed any artificial noise
at the Coliseum ““ but during the game they probably
aren’t focusing on it either.
“(If they use artificial noise), it is just kind of unfair
if it’s obscenely loud,” senior defensive end Dave Ball
said.