Venue: Spieker Field at the Rose Bowl (80,616)
Kickoff Time: 12:30 p.m.
Television: FOX (Joe Davis, Brady Quinn, Bruce Feldman)
Radio (UCLA Sports Network from IMG College): AM 570/1150/ 97.3 FM
Josh Lewin (play-by-play),Matt Stevens (analyst), Wayne Cook (sideline)
Sirius 146/XM 198 /internet Ch. 960
UCLA (2-8, 2-5) will square off against USC (5-5, 4-4) on Spieker Field at the Rose Bowl for a Pac-12 Conference matchup on Saturday, Nov. 17 at 12:30 p.m. PT. The game will be televised by FOX. The Bruin IMG Radio Network will broadcast the contest, which will also be aired over Sirius/XM, 97.3 FM THE FAN, uclabruins.com, tunein.com and TuneIn App.
The Bruins trail in the series 31-47*-7 (*two additional USC wins in '04 and '05 have been vacated due to NCAA penalties). USC has captured the last three meetings to snap a three-game UCLA series win streak (38-20 in 2014 in the Rose Bowl, 35-14 in 2013 at the LA Coliseum and 38-28 at the Rose Bowl in 2012). Both teams will wear their home jerseys, a tradition re-started for the 2008 game. The winner of the game will take home the Victory Bell and earn points in the Crosstown Cup competition (10 points for football win) which is contested in all sports each year in head-to-head Bruin-Trojan battles in all sports.
Last season, Josh Rosen threw for 421 yards, 204 to Jordan Lasley, and the Bruin defense held USC to a season-low 153 yards rushing, but fell short 28-23 in the Los Angeles Coliseum. Mistakes in the red zone left the Bruins empty on some early scoring opportunities and USC opened up a 21-7 lead. Rosen hit Lasley for a 9-yard scoring play late in the third quarter to make it 21-14. A JJ Molson field goal narrowed the gap to 21-17 early in the fourth quarter. USC marched 90 yards in 10 plays to go up 28-17 with 4:53 to go. Rosen then found Lasley again for a 27-yard scoring strike, but a two-point pass went awry with 2:29 to play. USC recovered the onside kick attempt and the Bruins ran out of time to complete the comeback effort.
In 2016, Southern California defeated UCLA in the Rose Bowl (36-14) on a chilly Saturday night, racking up 527 yards of total offense. The Bruins got off to a hot start as Mike Fafaul connected with Jordan Lasley on a 56-yard scoring play less than two minutes into the contest. USC answered right back with a touchdown drive. After the teams traded punts, UCLA moved down into field goal position, but JJ Molson's attempt from 45 yards was blocked. Fabian Moreau then intercepted a Sam Darnold pass to provide another Bruin scoring opportunity and Fafaul hooked up with Lasley on a seven-yard TD pass to push UCLA into a 14-7 lead. USC returned the favor when Ronald Jones broke loose from a scrum at the line and dashed 60-yards for a tying touchdown on the next series. USC forced a Bruin three-and-out after the kickoff and then moved ahead for good on a drive capped off by a Darnold scoring pass.
In UCLA's last victory in the series, QB Brett Hundley threw for 326 yards and three scores and ran for another in the 2014 (38-20) win in Pasadena. UCLA limited the Trojans to 276 total yards, including 62 on the ground, and recorded six sacks. The Bruins broke a 14-all tie on Ka'imi Fairbairn's 32-yard field goal with 5:14 to play in the second quarter. UCLA upped the lead to 24-14 at the break, following an interception by Eric Kendricks and a Hundley to Eldridge Massington scoring pass with 14 seconds to go before the half. The Bruins took the second half kickoff and went 84 yards on nine plays to go up 31-14.
First-year head coach Chip Kelly was named UCLA's head football coach on Nov. 25, 2017. Kelly compiled a 46-7 record in four seasons as the head coach at the University of Oregon (2009-12), including a 3-1 mark vs. USC. During that span, his Duck teams captured first place or a share of first in the North Division of the conference (three outright conference championships 2009-11) and four BCS bowl games. Kelly guided Oregon to appearances in a National Championship Game (2010), two Rose Bowls (after 2011 and 2009 seasons) and the Fiesta Bowl following the 2012 season. He also has served as the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers (2016) and the Philadelphia Eagles (2013-15).
VICTORY BELL — The winner of the UCLA-USC football game is awarded the Victory Bell. The 295-pound bell originally hung atop a Southern Pacific freight locomotive. It was given to the UCLA Alumni Association in 1939 and then, in 1941, it was taken by a group of USC students. A year later, the student body presidents of both schools signed an agreement that the winner of the football game would keep possession for the next year.
CROSSTOWN CUP —Points are awarded to the winner of each Trojan-Bruin head-to-head contest in all sports and the Crosstown Cup will be awarded to the school with the most points at year's end. There will be 10 points at stake in football on Saturday. UCLA currently leads the race for the Cup 20-15.
WATCH LIST
• UCLA has played 20 true freshmen this season to set a new school record - the old mark was 18 in 2013...True freshmen played: 2018: 20, 2017: 8, 2016: 11, 2015: 10, 2014: 9, 2013: 18, 2012:12 --- RB Kazmeir Allen, RB Martell Irby, QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson, WR Kyle Philips, OL Christaphany Murray, WR Chase Cota, DL Atonio Mafi, DL Tyler Manoa, DB Stephan Blaylock, DB Rayshad Williams, DL Otito Ogbonnia and DB Elisha Guidry saw action vs. Cincinnati. WR Michael Ezeike at Oklahoma;. WR Delon Hurt and LB Bo Calvert vs. Fresno State. LB Elijah Wade saw his first action at Colorado. DB Alex Johnson saw action at Oregon ... WR Greg Dulcich, TE David Priebe and OL Alec Anderson played at ASU.
• UCLA is plus-seven in turnovers in its two wins (5 Cal-0 UCLA turnovers/3 Arizona-1 UCLA) ... UCLA is -6 in turnover margin in losses (Oppt. 7, UCLA 13 turnovers) ... The last time the Bruins forced more than the five turnovers at Cal was in 2013 at Utah (six interceptions).
• UCLA racked up a season-high of 335 yards passing and 439 yards of total offense last week at Arizona State. Wilton Speight's 335 yards passing was most by a Bruin since Josh Rosen threw for 421 last season vs. USC. The previous week, UCLA had totaled a season-best 496 yards of offense at Oregon (199 rush, 297 pass). The Bruins have averaged 467.5 yards of offense the last two weeks, almost 100 yards over its season mark of 370.4 yds/g.
• RB Joshua Kelley, a transfer from UC Davis, has rushed for a touchdown in each of the last six games - the last Bruin to tally a rushing TD in six straight was Maurice Jones-Drew in 2005 (Skip Hicks had rushing TDs in 14 straight games over two seasons [last 8 in 1996 and first 6 in 1997]) ... Kelley has 899 yards rushing -- Paul Perkins is the last Bruin 1,000-yard rusher (1,343 in 2015)... Kelley has five 100-yard rushing games in 2018, the most since Perkins had six in 2014....Kelley produced a career-high for receptions at Oregon (6), the fifth time he has grabbed at least three passes in a game this season.
• The Bruins non-conference opponents this season currently own a 26-4 record (87%) [Cincinnati (9-1), Oklahoma (9-1), Fresno St. (8-2)], whereas all teams the Bruins have lost to own a record of 57-23 [adding in ASU (6-4), Utah (7-3), Colorado (5-5), Washington (7-3), Oregon (6-4)]. No opponent on this year's schedule currently owns a sub-.500 overall record.
• WR Theo Howard has caught a pass in each of his last 26 straight games. With 109 catches, Howard moved into top 20 at the school for receptions (T18th) last week at ASU ... Against Utah, he became the 25th 100-catch receiver in UCLA history. He hauled in a season-best total of nine catches vs. UW and went over 1,000-yards for his career vs. Arizona.
• UCLA has forced 15 turnovers for the year which is more than the total for the entire 2017 season (13) ... Points have been scored after 8 of the 15.
• TE Caleb Wilson, who has totaled 37 catches for 577 yards (15.6 avg.) over last 6 games (6.2 catch/g), went over the 1,000-yard receiving mark for his career at Cal ... Wilson had his fourth career 100-yard receiving game last week at ASU (164 on season-high 11 catches) and his third earlier in '18 (102) against UW ... He is 7th in the Pac-12 in receiving yards per game (71.8) ... Wilson set a school record with 15 catches vs. Texas A&M last season.