Entering his first USC-UCLA football game, graduating cornerback
Ricky Manning couldn’t have foreseen this.
Not after eight straight wins.
Not after going for “nine in ’99.”
Not after the Trojans were seemingly in shambles.
And yet, Manning played through each and every game ““ and
lo and behold, four straight losses to crosstown rival USC.
“Never did I ever think we’d lose four in a row to
them,” said Manning, who recently signed a contract with the
Carolina Panthers. “Never in my wildest dreams did I think
this could happen.”
Over the past four years, the Bruins have been outscored,
134-63. There was the obligatory blown call by the referee on
Kareem Kelly’s touchdown in the endzone (1999), the one that
got away (2000), the one where UCLA never showed up (2001) and the
standard blow-out (2002).
With that, the title and momentum for crosstown king has swung
decidedly away from Westwood and into South Central.
“If I had a dollar for every time people said, “˜I
don’t care what you do, but beat UCLA,’ I’d be
rich,” former USC head coach Paul Hackett said after the 1999
win. “I think the tide has turned, and I expect the tide to
be turned for quite some time.”
The statement proved to be an ominous harbinger of things to
come. Hackett himself was axed two victories into the current
four-game streak, but current Trojan head coach Pete Carroll is
riding USC’s newfound success in the rivalry to win
recruiting wars and push the Trojans to the top of the football
rankings.
On the flip side, UCLA’s stock has dropped. The Bruins
were last in a national title hunt in 1998 ““ the last year
that UCLA won the crosstown game. New head coach Karl Dorrell has
been brought in to plug up the dam, but even he is not lost on the
importance of the rivalry game.
“Winning the Pac-10 title and beating your crosstown rival
are the biggest issues in my mind,” said Dorrell at the press
conference to announce his hiring. “(Beating USC) is
something that is very important to me. My players will understand
how important it is.”
Dorrell might not have to do much to instill that sense of
importance. The sight of seniors who never won a game against USC
has already brought forth vows from the current underclassmen.
“Watching (the seniors) after the last USC game was
hard,” sophomore linebacker Justin London said. “We
definitely don’t want to have anything to do with that. I
don’t want to go about the town hearing about USC. I
don’t plan on losing to ‘SC anymore.”
But the seniors this year will move on without ever having
experienced the thrill of defeating the Trojans. Manning will move
on to the NFL, where he says he’s sure to meet USC players
who will remind him of the past four years.
“They have bragging rights,” Manning said.
“Anywhere I go, I’ll have to deal with it. But
I’m a cornerback, so I have to have a short memory anyway.
Unfortunately, we never got the chance to beat USC, but it’s
nothing to harp over for the rest of my life. This is always going
to be something that I wish we got done, but I had four great years
here.”
Indeed, the past four years are something to forget. But the
USC-UCLA rivalry game has always transcended that of any other game
during the season. To be sure, the game is still just one win or
loss in the final standings. But for those involved, much more is
at stake.
“It’s a town divided,” Manning said. “No
matter the records, no matter the talent level, every year, both
teams went into the game thinking they were going to win. They
always got up for us, and we always got up for them.
“In Los Angeles, nothing else matters. It’s just the
rivalry, straight up.”