This is anything but your typical UCLA-USC matchup.
A bid to the Rose Bowl for each team is in the balance. Karl Dorrell’s job may hinge on these 60 minutes of football. Twenty-five Bruin seniors will be playing their final regular-season game, led by junior quarterback Pat Cowan.
This one’s big and everybody knows it.
“The week has been, you know, intense,” wide receiver Terrence Austin said. “It’s ‘SC Week, you know what I mean? That’s enough said.”
The consequences of Saturday’s matchup are tantalizing as both the Bruins and the Trojans could make the Rose Bowl with a win. The Bruins would need the help of an Arizona State loss, while USC would clinch simply with a victory. Needless to say, the Bruins have a lot to think about.
“It’s always that battle for L.A.,” Austin said. “It’s going to make everybody come to and forget about all the past games that we’ve gone through, whether we won or lost. It’s do or die this week. It’s hard to explain why that happens and it’s not like that every other week. It’s just embedded on us when you step on this campus.
“No setbacks, no flinching, we’re going to be ready to play this game.”
For redshirt senior Matt Slater, in his last crosstown shakedown, the journey might not have been what he expected, but the end result of a January bowl game is still very possible. “As seniors, we wanted to be in this position,” Slater said. “We didn’t think we’d be 6-5 in this position, but we’re still right where we wanted to be ““ at the end of the year with a chance to go to the Rose Bowl. But at the end of the day, it comes down to just playing football and doing what we love.”
The 25 seniors on the Bruins’ roster will have one final regular season game to make their mark, and they’ve been getting the younger players ready for an atmosphere unlike any they’ve seen this season.
“I’ve told them to be ready,” Slater said. “It’s going to be a hostile environment. You’re going to be getting cursed out. You’re going to have some things said to you. But you’ve got to enjoy that. It’s part of college football, and that’s what makes it fun.”
But for some of the younger players, advice from the seniors is just frosting on the cake. “If we got the speech from the seniors or not, it wouldn’t matter,” Austin said. “We’re all ready for this game.”
Although last year’s 13-9 victory at the Rose Bowl was his first UCLA-USC matchup as a player, Austin was at the Coliseum as a USC recruit two years ago when the Bruins were sent home embarrassed 66-19.
“It’s going to be hostile,” Austin said. “They’re loud and it’s going to be tough. I’m expecting it to be tough. Considering the situation ““ Rose Bowl hopes for both teams ““ and considering the situation last year when we beat them and spoiled their championship hopes. … It’s going to be the toughest game that anyone could probably play. It’s going to be the toughest game I’ve played in yet.”
As tough a game as it will be, the Bruins could have other potential distractions on their minds, as coach Dorrell’s job could very well depend on Saturday’s outcome.
“Regardless of what’s going in regards to coach Dorrell, we just have to take care of our business and play football the way we’re capable of playing,” Slater said. “We have to come out and execute like we’ve done when we’ve played well and won.”
This means Aaron Perez, he of the 63-yard Punt-Heard-‘Round-the-World in the waning seconds of last season’s upset, will be bringing whatever it was he brought one year ago this Saturday.
“It was just confidence,” Perez said. “I love this game, and everyone’s a little different this week. There’s a different vibe in the air. I wouldn’t mind if I had mediocre games all season, if I did good this game. I’m just ready, man.”
For Austin, a sophomore, this game will give him a chance to extend what the Bruins started last year.
“I definitely want to be undefeated against the Trojans when I’m here,” Austin said. “Everytime I think about the game (against USC last season), I remember as soon as the clock struck zero, I looked up into the stands and saw everybody going crazy. They all wanted to hop the fence and come onto the field.
“There’s no feeling better than that. You get the bragging rights for the whole year, being the king of L.A. I can’t forget that feeling.”
And for the reigning kings of L.A., a quick refresher on Saturday afternoon certainly wouldn’t hurt.