The battle for the Victory Bell is only half the story of the
rivalry between USC and UCLA in football. Long before Matt Leinart
and Drew Olson face off on the field, the students of UCLA and USC
will face off in far more bloodthirsty competition: flag
football.
Among the most competitive games that won’t be taking
place at the Rose Bowl is the annual competition between the staffs
of the Daily Trojan and the Daily Bruin.
“[The newspaper rivalry] is probably the most
hardcore,” said Dr. Jennifer Judkins, assistant director of
the UCLA Marching Band.
Indeed, in the so-called “Blood Bowl,” the Daily
Trojan and the Daily Bruin face off in an epic clash that, like the
actual football teams, has also ended in nothing but USC victories
the past few years. Looking to reverse the trend, The Bruin’s
team began holding practices almost two months ago to prepare for
its game this afternoon at the North Athletic Field.
But it is not just journalists and trumpet players who compete
against their USC counterparts. The ROTC has their very own
“Blood Bowl,” held the morning before each USC-UCLA
game, and it has tended to have wider-reaching implications.
“As far as we can go back, our victories and defeats have
pretty much followed along with the [UCLA’s] victories and
defeats,” Sergeant Detty said. “So if we win on
Saturday morning, I like our chances Saturday afternoon.”
The UCLA Marching Band used to have a flag football game, not
unlike the ROTC and newspaper games. But it has been canceled in
recent years after some of the USC band members stole instruments
from UCLA’s squad in the last game they played.
“Eventually, most of the instruments were recovered, but
we don’t play in that game,” Judkins said. “We
actually don’t have much contact with the ‘SC band at
all this week, the way we used to.”
Though there is still obvious competition between the two
schools beyond the actual football game, the recent dominance of
USC in the big game has created some apathy on UCLA’s
campus.
“The rivalry just isn’t the same compared to a few
years ago when UCLA was on top in football,” first-year
student Chris Leal said. “There just doesn’t seem to be
as much life to it.”
However, Keith Brant, the head of the UCLA Alumni Association,
doesn’t feel there is any less of a rivalry feeling.
“I wouldn’t say it has diminished at all,”
Brant said. “I think it will always be the same. There will
always be a rivalry. There are only rare instances where you get
such big schools that are such athletic powerhouses in such close
proximity.”
And if students wake up to see the ROTC play at 9 a.m., it would
be as good an indication as any that the rivalry hasn’t
diminished at all.