Troy Week 2011 Friday - USC-UCLA Talking Points and Memories

Here is a list of facts you might see on your TV tomorrow during the big crosstown game:

• This is their 81st game. USC leads the series 45-28-7.
• USC won the first two games, in 1929 and 1930, by lopsided scores of 76-0 and 52-0.
• The teams did not play again for the next five seasons. Since 1936, the teams have met at least once each year.
• When a ranked USC team has played an unranked UCLA squad, the Trojans are 13-6-2.
• USC is 25-12-5 overall against unranked UCLA teams
• At the Coliseum, USC holds a 38-20-7 edge, with wins in the last 6 Coliseum games.
• USC has won 11 of the last 12 meetings.
• A win would give USC is 25th ten-win season, and its 8th in 10 years.
• USC is 6-2 in conference and in first place in the Pac-12 South.
• UCLA is 5-3 in conference and would take tie USC for first place in the Pac-12 South with a win
• Due to USC's postseason badm UCLA has clinched a spot in the Pac-12 Championship game
• UCLA will travel to Stanford or Oregon for that conference title game
• Until 1982, the Bruins shared the Coliseum with USC.
• Both teams are permitted to wear their home jerseys
• UCLA is opting for an alternate jersey
• UCLA is 5-8-1 in the Coliseum since leaving in 1982 for the Rose Bowl.
• The Coliseum has hosted this game 65 times. USC and UCLA used to share a home stadium, so each team would play in their home jerseys
• No team has beaten UCLA more times than USC.
• No team has beaten USC more times than ... Notre Dame.
• UCLA's first mascot was a dog named "Rags".
• USC's first mascot was a dog named George Tirebiter.
• Tirebiter's sculpture on the USC campus is covered with a dog house this week to thwart would-be vandals.
• Both Tommy Trojan and the Bruin Bear have been covered all week, too.
• This is the third-latest start time for the Bruins and Trojans
• Only 1945’s 8:30 p.m. kickoff and last year's 7:30 kickoff were later
• This is only the seventh night game in the series
• USC leads the Bruins 5-2 in night games
• This is the second time in the past 30 years that the teams have met on Thanksgiving weekend
• Last game: USC 28 @ UCLA 14
• Last game at the Coliseum: USC 28 UCLA 7 (2009)
• Last UCLA win in the Coliseum: 1997 (31-24)
• The winner of the annual USC-UCLA football game gets year-long possession of the Victory Bell
• Ten Crosstown Gauntlet points will be awarded to the winner
• USC has defeated both UCLA and Notre Dame in the same season 18 times
• USC, UCLA and Notre Dame are the only teams in the divisional era who haven't played an FCS school.
• This is UCLA's 13th season since its last Rose Bowl bid - the Bruins' longest drought ever
• The Bruins won all four of their Pac-12 conference home games this season
• UCLA's 5-1 home record is tied for best in the Pac-12
• USC is also 5-1 at home this season
• UCLA's win over then 20th ranked Arizona State was its first over a ranked conference opponent
  since 2007
• UCLA has won 21 straight games in which it has rushed for at least 250 yards
• UCLA is 4-5 against top ten teams since 2006.
• UCLA is 1-2 against top ten USC teams
• UCLA's last road win against a top ten team: Sept. 25, 2010 at #7 Texas.
• USC has 40 players who saw their first action in 2011.
• First time Trojans this season included 9 true freshmen and 14 redshirt freshmen.
• USC has started 4 of those true freshmen and 7 of those redshirt freshmen
• UCLA has played just one first year player in 2011 - TE Raymond Nelson
• Despite 6 wins, UCLA is not yet bowl-eligible.
• If it is 6-7 after the conference championship, UCLa would need a waiver to play in a bowl.
• USC is 66-41-11 (.606) in all season finales
• Last time USC's season ended before November 26: 2000
• The earliest USC's season has ever ended: November 13 (1909)
• Matt Barkley is 273-of-404 for 67.6%. The USC record is 68.6% (Rob Johnson, 1993)
• Barkley's 33-7 TD to INT ratio is among the best in the country
• Barkley's 273 completions in 2011 is fourth on the USC season list
• Barkley needs: 45 yards of total offense to pass Rodney Peete for 3rd on USC's career list
• 103 yards of total offense to pass Mark Sanchez for 7th on USC's single season list
• 218 yards of total offense to pass J.D. Booty for 6th on USC's single season list
• 243 yards of total offense to pass Matt Leinart for 5th on USC's single season list
• 11 completions to pass Matt Leinart for third on USC's single season list
• 36 completions to pass Rob Johnson for second on USC's single season list
• Robert Woods needs one catch to reach 100 on the season
• The USC and Pac-12 record is 102, held by Keyshaun Johnson
• Woods is 5th in the country in receptions with 9 per game 
• Woods needs 5 catches to pass Johnson for 7th on USC's career list
• He needs 13 to pass Mike Williams for 6th place on USC's career list
• USC's offensive line leads the Pac-12 in sacks allowed (7)
• USC is 16th in the nation in rushing defense
• Kevin Prince’s 390 rushing yards are the most by a Bruin QB since Jeff Dankworth in 1976 (815)
• Nelson Rosario is UCLA’s 10th 2,000-yard receiver (2,091 career yards)
• Derrick Coleman’s 11 rushing TDs is the most by a Bruin since Maurice Jones-Drew in 2005)
• Coleman is deaf

Now, when those facts come onto your TV screen tomorrow, you can now lean over and say "I knew that."

And here are some memorable anniversaries of previous years' games:

Memorable Anniversaries - 5 years (2006, UCLA 13 USC 9): Five years ago, UCLA knocked USC out of the BCS Championship with a 13-9 victory over the Trojans at the Rose Bowl. UCLA fans still use 13-9 as a rallying cry. I've seen it on billboards, license plates and screen names. It's the only win UCLA has had in the series since 1998 and it is the Bruins' favorite moment in the rivalry.

Memorable Anniversaries - 10 years (2001, USC 27, UCLA 0): Ten years ago, the Trojans won the first shutout in the series since 1954, defeating the 20th ranked Bruins 27-0 at the Coliseum to become bowl eligible for the first time in three years. Trojan fans remember this as the game in which Antuan Simmons intercepted a pass between his legs and returned it 36 yards for a touchdown.

Memorable Anniversaries - 15 years (1996, UCLA 48, USC 41 2OT): Fifteen years ago, in the only overtime contest ever between the Bruins and Trojans, UCLA made the most remarkable comeback in the history of the series. For the first time in 13 years, neither team was ranked. UCLA trailed by 17 points with seven minutes to play. With three minutes left, UCLA trimmed the lead to 7, but failed to recover the onside kick. USC tried to run out the clock, but Lavale Woods fumbled and UCLA went on to score and send the game into overtime when USC's last second field goal attempt was blocked. UCLA outscored USC 10-3 in overtime to win.

Memorable Anniversaries - 25 years (1986, UCLA 45 USC 25): Twenty-five years ago, with a 24 point lead and just seconds to play in the first half, UCLA used a trick play -- faking the QB taking a knee to end the half -- to score on a touchdown pass from Matt Stevens to Karl Dorrell. The Bruins held on for a 20 point victory. Trojan fans hated Dorrell for years, until he became UCLA's head coach and led the Bruins to just one win over USC. Then USC fans loved him.

Memorable Anniversaries - 30 years (1981, USC 22 UCLA 21): Thirty years ago, USC won 22-21 when George Atica blocked Norm Johnson's 46-yard field goal attempt with four seconds to play. The field goal would have sent UCLA to the Rose Bowl. With the win, USC earned a trip to the Fiesta Bowl, the Bruins went to the Bluebonnet Bowl, where they lost to Michigan, and Washington ended up in the Rose Bowl, where they shut out the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Hopefully, tomorrow will be another memorable one.