Pac-12 hopes at stake in UCLA game

As Head Coach Lincoln Riley’s first season at USC nears its close, there is only one team standing between the Trojans and their first shot at a Pac-12 Championship since 2020: the UCLA Bruins.

With a 7-1 record in the Pac-12, a win against UCLA Saturday would send the Trojans to Las Vegas for a chance to face either Washington, Oregon or Utah depending on the way things shake out in their respective matchups.

UCLA did not look like a team that would be competing for a Pac-12 title to start the season. The Bruins needed a game-winning field goal to avoid an upset from South Alabama — not exactly an FBS powerhouse. But the Bruins flipped the narrative after handily defeating Utah 42-32 — a team that beat USC 43-42 in Salt Lake City in early October.

The Bruins climbed to a No. 9 ranking in the AP Poll at one point in the season, but losses to Oregon and Arizona bumped UCLA down to No. 16 in the College Football Playoff committee’s latest rankings.

The loss to Arizona, a team that USC beat by just 8 points earlier this season, came as a surprise to many. The Bruins were a 19.5-point favorite over Arizona, but their defense which has allowed an average of 30.7 points per game could not keep the Wildcats out of the end zone. 

With the high stakes of the Pac-12 season coming to a close at an intersection with a historic rivalry, Riley’s Trojans are looking to stay focused on their gameplan.

“There’s a lot of emotion and intensity and excitement in these games and that’s what makes them fun… for the players, makes them fun for the fans, people across the country to watch,” Riley said. “You have to balance that with playing great football… you have to have poise but you also have to have the intensity too.” 

Sophomore quarterback Caleb Williams has experience playing in rivalry games with title implications, losing 37-33 to Oklahoma State last season and missing the Big 12 Championship game when the quarterback was a freshman at Oklahoma. 

“Caleb’s played in a lot of, not only rivalry games, but games with title implications — and those get different this time of year,” Riley said. “I like where our guy’s been… I think it will help him play well.” 

Williams has had an excellent season thus far, throwing for over 3,000 yards and 31 touchdowns while adding 6 scores on the ground. 

“I’ve been in other big rivalry games so far in my career, so I’m treating it like another game,” Williams said. “We start trying to do things that you haven’t normally done… one of the first things that we talked about as a group and as a team is focusing on us… playing our game and going out there and trying to help the Trojans go 1-0.”

On the other side, redshirt senior Dorian Thompson-Robinson is quite familiar with the Crosstown Showdown, as this will be the quarterback’s fourth time facing the Trojans as a starter.

Thompson-Robinson, who has faced Riley’s Oklahoma Sooners twice, is a dual-threat quarterback who can advance the ball through the air or using his legs.

“He was impressive from the jump. He’s a really good player… when you watch him you see a guy that has played a lot of ball,” Riley said. “He’s obviously had a phenomenal year… I’m always a fan of guys that lead and play the game at a high level.”

For Thompson-Robinson, the rivalry runs deep. 

“Obviously we hate those guys across town,” Thompson-Robinson said before asserting that the Bruins wanted to, again, score more than 60 points against the Trojans on Saturday.

USC’s defense hasn’t allowed over 60 points this season, but it has allowed an average of 31.8 points per game, struggling to prevent big plays. Dual-threat quarterbacks, like junior Cameron Rising of Utah and sophomore Jayden de Laura of Arizona, have given the Trojan defense trouble. 

UCLA’s senior running back Zach Charbonnet, who has managed over 1,100 yards and 13 touchdowns on the ground this season, will only add to the defense’s list of concerns.

“A lot of it is just disciplined football. There is not a good defense that does not involve that word,” Defensive Coordinator Alex Grinch said on defending against Charbonnet. “You’re talking about probably the best tailback certainly that I think we’ve faced this year, the ability to run through tackles, to run hard.”

After going down with an injury against Utah, sophomore linebacker Eric Gentry’s absence has certainly been felt by the Trojan defense. Gentry has a chance to play in Saturday’s game, along with injured sophomore receiver Mario Williams.

“They’re doing well. They’re practicing, progressing. It’s an exact science… we’re hopeful we’ll be able to rep some of them both in the game,” Riley said.

The Trojans will take on the Bruins in the Rose Bowl Saturday at 5 p.m.