After the first chorus of “Beat ‘SC” died down and the second evaporated as quickly as it began, Paul Petrie chimed in. Sitting in the third row near the southeast corner of the Rose Bowl, rock-throwing distance from the Arizona State sideline, Petrie in all his boundless enthusiasm thought he could rouse one more chant.
“Beat ‘SC!” he screamed.
“Beat ‘SC!” he shouted.
“Beat ‘SC!” he gasped.
“Beat ‘SC!” he said mostly to himself.
No one ended up joining in, so by his fifth try, Petrie was silent.
But the 22-year-old wasn’t deterred. Minutes later, he was still on his feet with a wide grin on his face.
He’s not a UCLA student himself, but boy ““ he wants nothing more than for the Bruins to beat ‘SC.
“(USC is) severely damaged,” he said. “You see their game last week? It was horrible. If USC has a shot at a bowl game, we clearly have a shot at a bowl game.
“There’s no-,” he said, then paused, “there’s nothing that USC can accomplish that we can’t. We can totally blow them out of the water this season.”
Petrie is more than a little biased. He’s been sitting in that third-row seat since he was 11, surrounded by 25 other season-ticket holders like himself. There are three alumni among the group and at least one woman wearing a wig of Bruin Blue hair.
But as hyperbolic as his statements might be, his words capture the sentiment of the UCLA faithful.
USC is 7-3, will not win the Pac-10 Championship and is coming off one of its worst losses ever, a 55-21 home thrashing courtesy of Stanford.
For once, the Trojans’ armor is dented. For once, the Bruins really have a chance.
“(USC is) not having as good a season as people thought or hoped,” senior cornerback Alterraun Verner said.
And while the Trojans are still stinging from their one-game slide, UCLA appears to be peaking. After losing five games straight, the Bruins have managed to stay undefeated in the month of November, winners of their last three games.
“It certainly sets us up well emotionally for our biggest game of the year,” coach Rick Neuheisel said.
At 6-5, the Bruins even statistically look like they have begun to close the gap between the two programs.
But UCLA’s record coming into the Coliseum adds yet another new facet to Saturday’s game: This year’s game will actually mean something.
If the Bruins are to accomplish their preseason goal of going to a bowl game, a win on Saturday would all but guarantee them a spot in the postseason. A win over the Trojans would also help UCLA’s chances of getting an invitation to one of the Pac-10’s six bowls.
On the other hand, a loss would leave the Bruins’ postseason hopes in the hands of selection committees ““ a tenuous situation for a 6-6 team whose fans are not necessarily known for traveling well. A loss would also mathematically eliminate UCLA from any of the conference’s bowl games.
Fans like Petrie are aware of all this. And so too, of course, are the players.
“We have a lot to fight for,” Verner said. “Even (USC), they want to get to the best bowl game they can too. Them beating us can take us technically out of a bowl appearance, so they have a lot to fight for too. That means that this game will be even bigger and even more special when it comes time.”
After the Arizona State game, players said that they heard the chants of “Beat ‘SC” that rang through the Rose Bowl. They may not have heard Petrie, his solo voice blending into the rest of the noise.
Either way, they know who they are playing for: themselves, the program, the coaches, the recruits and most importantly all the fans, especially the ones like Petrie who have been there to watch the losses pile up over the last 11 years.
“We have fans out there,” junior defensive tackle Brian Price said. “They’re loyal. We’re going to do it for them.”