UCLA Week - Saturday, Settings, Video, Weather, Talking Points

It's "Championship Saturday." Game time is almost upon us. We're heading to the Coliseum early. The tailgating begins at 9:00 a.m. and ESPN Game Day started at 7:30 a.m. ABC is in the house. Keith Jackson and Dan Fouts are warming up their voices. Parking might be sixty bucks near the stadium. We'll park early, near Vermont and 39th, and we hope to get in for $50. There will be a pre-game Navy jet flyover. It's Mike Garrett Day, saluting USC's 1965 Heisman Trophy winner and current athletic director.

Up-To-The-Minute Weather: The forecast for this afternoon is clear skies. I'm glad it will be a dry game. After all, the Coliseum is a "dry" stadium. We'll be sneaking our, um, fluids into the stadium by consuming before we reach the gate.

Up-To-The-Minute Recruiting: I stand corrected. Yesterday, I said eleven top recruits would be in the house. Actually, twelve of the best high school players from around the country will be visiting USC this weekend. The so-called 5-star recruits include: WR David Ausberry, LB Allen Bradford, RB Demarco Murray, QB Tim Tebow, and OL Andre Smith; the so-called 4-star recruits include: RB Michael Goodson, DT Derrick Hill, OL Butch Lewis, DB Jonas Mouton, DT Aleric Mullins, LB Marcus Sims, and LB Joshua Tatum.

More Hype: MSNBC calls this the "Game of the Year." And they see 'em like I see 'em. USC and Texas will win, but LSU will fall. They also have a great article about Bush, with links to some of his 2005 highlights. Bush is also the headline story at ESPN and they also featured an online chat with Reggie. USA Today says L.A. is the football capital today.

More Video: Check out USC's publicity video offering Matt Leinart as a Heisman candidate. And the same for Reggie Bush.

More Bulletin Board Material: UCLA's Jarrod Page: "We'll be tearing down their goalposts!"

Talking Points: Here is a list of facts you will probably see on your TV today or tonight if you watch a lot of football.

• Over the past four years, USC's average margin of victory over UCLA was 22 points.
• The cheapest seats in the house have a face-value of $65. Those are selling for $250-to-$300. Good midfield seats are selling for as much as $4,150 for four seats.
• No one on the current Trojan roster has felt the pain of losing to UCLA.
• Both Tommy Trojan and the Bruin Bear have been covered all week to thwart any potential attacks.
• The Trojans are looking to be the first USC team to defeat both Notre Dame and UCLA in four consecutive seasons.
• At halftime, USC wants to enter the tunnel first, but Pacific-10 Conference rules require the visiting team to give its approval. UCLA hadn't consented as of Thursday night.
• USC needs 3 touchdowns to break the Pac-10 record of 72 in a season.
• USC is 90 points shy of Nebraska's NCAA scoring record of 624, set in 1983.
• A win would give UCLA its best start since 1998. It would give USC its best start since last year.
• UCLA is 13-0 in games in which it has won the turnover battle under head coach Karl Dorrell, including 5-0 this season (SDSU, Rice, Oklahoma, Oregon State, Arizona State).
• The only USC player, other than Matt Leinart, to be named a first team All-American three times was Richard Wood.
• This was only the second year in which USC put four offensive players on the first team All-American list.
• There are just six teams that started the season as the AP No. 1 team, and ended it in the same position. Only USC has done it twice. The six were: Notre Dame, 1943; Army, 1945; Nebraska, 1971; USC, 1972; Florida State, 1999; and USC, 2004.
• Consider this: under the old overtimeless system that called games a tie if the score was even at the end of 60 minutes, USC, whose last two losses came in overtime, would be working on a 47 game unbeaten streak right now (45-0-2).
• You can buy a game used football from the USC Notre Dame game earlier this year. If you are willing to beat the current bid of more than $2,500.
• According to cumulative won-loss records, USC's schedule is rated 23rd toughest in the nation. UCLA's is 76th. However, the Trojans are the only team to notch wins against two of the current top-ten teams (Oregon and Notre Dame). The Trojans have also beaten ranked Fresno State and will face another ranked team in UCLA today.
• Reggie Bush has more than 1,000 rushing. So does Trojan tailback LenDale White. Matt Leinart is well over 3,000 yards passing. Dwayne Jarrett has over 1,000 yards receiving. Steve Smith needs 100 yards to do the same.
• The Coliseum has hosted this game 62 times. From 1929 to 1981, it was UCLA's home field, too.
• Matt Leinart's 2005 stats are better than his 2004 Heisman-winning numbers. He has completed more passes, with a higher completion rate, higher rating, and more than 500 more yards than he had after 11 games in 2004. He has twice as many rushing TDs as last year.
• Matt Leinart's 6 rushing TDs are just two less than Vince Young's total of 8.
• Reggie Bush's 513 all-purpose yards against Fresno State were the most ever by a Pac-10 player, and the second most ever by anyone.
• The Sagarin computer ratings have USC second to Texas, with UCLA at #17.
• The last Los Angeles team to win 33 straight games lost its 34th. And it was a Bruin (well, a former Bruin) who ended the streak when the Milwaukee Bucks, led by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar defeated the Los Angeles Lakers in 1972.
• USC is 61-4-2 in games played when it is ranked No. 1 in the AP poll.
• No top-ranked Trojan team has ever lost to UCLA.
• The only time UCLA has ever handed the Trojans their first loss of the season was in 1959.
• UCLA has given up first downs on 14 of 19 fourth down plays this season.
• Chuck O'Donnell will be making his last ride on USC's mascot, Traveler
• Like Fresno State two weeks ago, UCLA once scored 42 points against USC and still lost. That's the most a USC defense ever surrendered without losing the game. For the Bruins, they did it in that 45-42 loss in 1990 (The Todd Marinovich, Tommy Maddox shootout).
• Matt Leinart is 36-1 as USC's starting quarterback.
• Pete Carroll's record at USC is 53-9. Karl Dorrell's record at UCLA is 21-14.
• UCLA quarterback Drew Olson was sitting in the Fresno State section two weeks ago for the USC-FSU game.
• USC has scored 40 points or more in its past seven home games.
• USC and UCLA used to share a home stadium, so each team would play in their home jerseys. Karl Dorrell would like the Bruins in their home jerseys today, but showing up in colored jerseys would be a penalty at the start of each half, resulting in 15 yards and a loss of time out.
• USC's last opponent was UCLA's opponent in its bowl game last year. The Bruins lost to Fresno State in the 2004 Silicon Valley Classic Bowl.

Now, when those facts come onto your TV screen today, you can now lean over and say "I knew that." I'd love to talk and type some more, but I have a tailgate party to catch. Wish me luck, and keep an eye out for me in ABC. I'll be the dude in the crimson USC shirt.

Oh, and when the talking heads point out that a USC win means Notre Dame will definitely be in the Fiesta Bowl because of its superior TV draw, lean over and mention to your buddies Penn State has averaged a 15.3 rating in six Fiesta Bowl appearances and Notre Dame has averaged 11.2 in three appearances.

Rivalry Joke of the Day:

A fellow walks into a bar, orders a drink, and asks the bartender if he'd like to hear a good UCLA joke. "Listen buddy," he growled. "See those 2 big guys on your left? They were both offensive linemen on the UCLA football team. And that huge fellow on your right used to be a defensive tackle for the Bruins. That guy in the corner was a two-year starter on UCLA's baseball team. And I lettered in 3 sports at UCLA. Now, are you absolutely positive you want to go ahead and tell your joke here?"

"Nah, guess not," the man replied. "I wouldn't want to have to explain it 5 times."

Bonus Joke: How come the Bruins haven't dumped ice on their coach this century? Because the guy who knew the recipe graduated.

Comments

[Brian]

I went out on a limb and hyped Maurice Jones-Drew and UCLA over USC leading up to this weeks game. Boy am I an idiot.

The thing is, looking over my pre-game analysis on my blog at brianbeerpong.blogspot.com, I still think my points were right on the ball. Which seems weird since they got crushed.

I must be a huge moron or something.

[Elliot Lee]

Heh, good stuff.