Bruins take over rivalry with 35-14 win over Trojans

The original version of this article contained an error and has been changed. See the bottom of the article for additional information.

Jim Mora walked briskly over to the southeast corner of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, hat in hand.

He tipped his worn UCLA football cap to a sliver of powder blue in what had once been an ocean of cardinal and gold Saturday evening.

Then, soaking in his team’s 35-14 win over USC, Mora let loose.

At USC’s Conquest rally Monday night, USC interim coach Ed Orgeron provided UCLA with its bulletin board statement of the week, cracking the history book open to the Trojan War.

“Come Saturday night, we’re gonna let those little boys from across town into our stadium and we’re gonna lock the gates,” he said.

In front of UCLA’s fans, Mora unlocked the childhood glee his counterpart predicted. He screamed. He pointed. He bounced up and down on the Coliseum turf and raised the roof.

For the better part of this 2013 season, UCLA’s second-year football coach has had to carry the burden of falling short to Pac-12 giants like Stanford and Oregon – and even rising star Arizona State last week – squarely on his shoulders.

Saturday was his time to shrug off USC. The Bruins will not win the 2013 Pac-12 title but, with their second straight win over the Trojans, the football monopoly in Los Angeles is officially over.

“There’s something growing there that’s pretty special, and to come in here on a Saturday night like this and get a win, I’ll tell you what, it just tells you where this program’s headed,” Mora said. “You get into the old ‘We own this town’ stuff, but we’ve got to play ’em again in 12 months. I’ll tell you what, it’s nice to have it now for two years in a row. I think it shows you what’s going on at UCLA.”

In UCLA’s first offensive series, it appeared the Bruins wouldn’t even be able to own getting across midfield. Redshirt sophomore quarterback Brett Hundley was sacked by Trojan outside linebacker Devon Kennard just two plays into the game. A drive later, freshman right tackle Caleb Benenoch was ejected after punching USC linebacker J.R. Tavai.

In six plays and minus six yards, No. 22 UCLA’s (9-3, 6-3 Pac-12) offense disintegrated into the same flat team that missed out on the national title discussion six weeks ago – a team for which Hundley has taken plenty of blame, be it for his reads, decision-making or accuracy.

By the time the third quarter ticked down to zero, however, Hundley had effectively shaken all doubt. With 3:18 left in the third frame and his team knocking on the No. 23 USC (9-4, 6-3) five-yard line, Hundley faked a handoff to freshman outside linebacker Myles Jack before sprinting to his right and outrunning the same Kennard that made him pay before. The elusive scamper gave Hundley his second rushing touchdown of the night and UCLA a commanding 28-14 lead.

“A lot of players made it happen tonight,” said Hundley, who finished with 80 rushing yards and added 208 more through the air. “The one thing that’s funny is that I never thought this was a battle, I thought this was a takeover.”

After taking over the Coliseum turf and riling up the thousands of Bruin fans that stayed to celebrate the win, it was time for the little boys to go.

Exiting the field, Mora gathered his players in the stadium tunnel. Throwing in an emotional “We own this town,” he talked about class, responsibility and UCLA still needing one bowl game win to make ten.

Two years after leaving the Coliseum dinged up, depressed and devoid of leadership, the Bruins tipped their cap to a changed culture under Mora, on the night UCLA’s football transformation flipped 180 degrees.

“Even when we played (USC) we used to be intimidated by them, but now we’re ready to go toe-to-toe with them any day of the week,” said redshirt senior wide receiver Shaquelle Evans. “He just brought a new mindset. Before we just went out there and played.”

Corrections: UCLA freshman Caleb Benenoch plays right tackle. He was incorrectly described as a right guard.