UCLA vs. USC College Football Week 12: Storylines to Watch
In this story:
No. 16 UCLA football (8-2, 5-2 Pac-12) is scheduled to kick off its Week 12 game against No. 7 USC (9-1, 7-1 Pac-12) on Saturday just after 5 p.m.
The Bruins complicated their road to the conference title game by losing to Arizona in Week 11, which also costing them a chance at the College Football Playoff. The Trojans, meanwhile, are the last Pac-12 team still in contention for a top-four spot, entering the weekend on a three-game winning streak.
Heading into the Week 12 matchup, here are the most pressing questions we want to have answered by the final whistle.
Are the Trojans out for revenge?
In such a heated rivalry, the safe assumption would be to say that USC is fired up and ready to make up for its crushing 62-33 loss to UCLA in 2022.
That conventional wisdom may not ring true this time around, however, given the state of the program over in South Central.
Coach Lincoln Riley wasn't a Trojan that day, and neither was quarterback Caleb Williams – who seemed passive and disinterested in the crosstown rivalry when asked about it earlier in the week. Travis Dye, Mario Williams, Jordan Addison, Austin Jones, Brenden Rice, Terrell Bynum, Shane Lee, Eric Gentry, Mekhi Blackmon and Solomon Byrd were all playing elsewhere as well, and that accounts for the vast majority of USC's playmakers on both sides of the ball.
With a new staff and a completely overturned roster in place, it doesn't seem like there was a particularly deep scar left by last year's blowout.
Even many USC fans have found ways to dismiss the 2021 result, emphasizing the fact that the team was being led by an interim coach at the tail end of one of its worst years in decades. While the Trojans online will still respond to Bruins poking and prodding them, as is typical in most rivalries, they do have a point.
For as much as UCLA may want to storm into the Rose Bowl rubbing last year's result in USC's face, many Trojans – on the field and off it – have moved on or weren't even in Southern California at the time. That alone should be motivation for the Bruins to welcome the newcomers to the Battle for the Victory Bell the same way they showed the last regime out, but it could also be an opportunity for the fresh-faced Trojans to show that they are more than just mercenaries.
Based on last year's result and the quotes quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson and edge rusher Bo Calvert have given the media in the past, it's clear UCLA is going to bring the smoke. Now it's just a matter of whether or not USC is going to match that and truly buy into the crown jewel of the Los Angeles football scene.
Can the defense manage to get some stops?
A lot of things went wrong on both sides of the ball against Arizona last week, but one of the issues that has been present through most of the Chip Kelly era is the defense's inability to get off the field.
Whether that's failing to get stops on third and fourth down, missing tackles at the line of scrimmage, giving up a 10-yard cushion that leads to a wide open catch or simply getting torched from start to finish, UCLA's defenses have been a near-constant problem from the second Kelly arrived in Westwood. It looked like things had turned around in the first half of the season under new defensive coordinator Bill McGovern, but he has missed the last three games with an illness and the unit's production has regressed in his absence.
McGovern was reportedly not at practice this week, so his status for Saturday is still up in the air. Former USC defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast, who has been an analyst for Kelly the past few years, is taking over as the lead defensive play-caller up in the booth, but he does not interact with the players due to NCAA rules surrounding his role.
The Bruins have been dealt a tough hand, but part of their misfortunes over the last month are their own. Undisciplined pass rushers have given improvisational quarterbacks room to make magic, while veterans who were supposed to anchor the defense have done anything but.
Going against Williams and his stable of high-profile weapons is not exactly an ideal path for UCLA if they want to get back on track. USC has one of the best scoring offenses in the nation, and the analytics back up their dominance. The Trojans rank third in points per play, sixth in estimated points added per pass play and second in estimated points added per run play.
The Bruins haven't looked particularly strong against the run or pass this year, but the pass defense has probably been the more concerning of the two. With Dye out and Williams poised for a big game, UCLA's linebackers and secondaries will be targeted all night long.
Maybe cornerback Devin Kirkwood comes back, or maybe he doesn't. Maybe linebackers JonJon Vaughns and Kain Medrano are playing at 100%, or maybe they're not. Regardless, whoever is out there is going to have to play physical with the USC wideouts, and whoever is calling the plays up in the booth is going to have to get real creative to really throw them off their rhythm at least a couple times throughout the game.
Will DTR come through with one last rivalry gem?
The Bruins and Trojans have traded blows for nearly 100 years, but things have been very tight and unpredictable over the past decade. One of the more reliable aspects of the game nowadays is that Dorian Thompson-Robinson is going to go off.
In 2019, Thompson-Robinson threw for 367 yards and three touchdowns, as well as rushing for 64 yards and a score. In 2020, he threw for 364 yards and four touchdowns, plus 50 rushing yards. In 2021, the star quarterback went for 349 yards and four touchdowns through the air and 46 yards and two touchdowns on the ground.
Those rushing touchdowns were instantly iconic, with Thompson-Robinson signing a fan's hat while celebrating the first one and hurdling a defender to get into the end zone on the second.
Thompson-Robinson owns a 185.3 career passer rating against USC, in addition to a 70.6% completion percentage. His passer rating has gone up in each game versus the Trojans, and he already hit 247.8 last year to set a new career high.
Nobody has been more up front with their anticipation of Saturday's rivalry atmosphere than Thompson-Robinson, and he has typically thrived the most against ranked teams on national TV.
No, Thompson-Robinson will never be able to match Cade McNown's perfect 4-0 record against the Trojans, and he hasn't had the defense to go 3-0 against them like Brett Hundley did.
That shouldn't overshadow just how much success he has had against USC over the years, though, especially if he can come through with another career-defining performance on Saturday night.
Follow Connon on Twitter at @SamConnon
Follow All Bruins on Twitter at @FN_AllBruins
Like All Bruins on Facebook at @FN.AllBruins
Subscribe to All Bruins on YouTube
Read more UCLA stories: UCLA Bruins on Sports Illustrated
Read more UCLA football stories: UCLA Football on Sports Illustrated
