UCLA/USC THE RIVALRY

Students at the USC campus will be camping out with Tommy Trojan tonight as the annual ritual of guarding the university’s most famous landmark during Rivalry Week begins.

“We don’t want anything happening to the pride of our campus,” said Eric Bell, president of the Trojan Knights who are in charge of protecting the bronze statue from pranksters.

“At UCLA there’s just a guard guarding [the Bruin]--no one really cares, but we take pride here,” Bell said.

The Knights will take night-watch turns until Friday to ensure the statue is protected at all times.

Maybe they also should look into getting some protection for Carson Palmer.

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USC Coach Paul Hackett could head down to Alumni Park at noon today and scout for backup talent at the Carson Palmer Challenge, where students are planning to test their passing skills.

No word on whether Athletic Director Mike Garrett will be having a Paul Hackett Challenge to find a new coach.

WOUNDED WARRIOR

Students on each campus always try to outdo each other with pranks. It wasn’t pretty for Tommy Trojan in 1981, when his left arm, including his sword, was cut off.

You were right when you said they couldn’t score: When USC and UCLA played in 1939 the game ended in a 0-0 tie. Jackie Robinson put on pads for the Bruins that year.

The first rivalry game was played in 1929 with USC winning, 76-0, at the Coliseum. UCLA’s first victory came in 1942, when it won 14-7.

Gary Beban, who won the Heisman Trophy in 1967, is UCLA’s only Heisman winner. The Trojans boast four--Mike Garrett (1965), O.J. Simpson (1968), Charles White (1979) and Marcus Allen (1981).

MEMORABLE GAME

The highest-scoring game came in 1990 when USC quarterback Todd Marinovich threw a game-winning 23-yard touchdown pass to Johnnie Morton with 16 seconds left to lift the Trojans to a 45-42 victory. The teams scored a combined 42 points in the fourth quarter--with three touchdowns in the final three minutes and four lead changes. Morton also caught a 21-yard touchdown pass from Marinovich with 3:09 to play to give USC a short-lived 38-35 lead, then UCLA’s Kevin Smith rushed one yard for a touchdown with 1:19 to go to put the Bruins ahead, 42-38, until Marinovich’s heroics.

ALUMNI

ANTHONY MUNOZ

NFL Hall of Famer

USC Offensive Tackle

Class of ’80

When USC loses:

“Bob Toledo recruited me to go to USC when he was an assistant there, so it stings that my former coach is beating my alma mater. . . . When I was working at ESPN there was a group of us who went to USC and we all got the abuse when ‘SC lost.”

CASEY WASSERMAN

Owner, Los Angeles Avengers

UCLA Class of ’96

On the rivalry:

“The rivalry is great, and it gets more intense leading up to the game. You watch each other’s games all season and [that week] I get a ton of e-mail from all my friends who went to USC and more after if we lost. . . . For those who didn’t go to the schools, you can’t understand what the [USC-UCLA] rivalry and the game is about until you’ve been to a game.”

NOW YOU KNOW

The first rivalry game was played in 1929 with USC winning 76-0, at the Coliseum. UCLA’s first victory came in 1942, when it won 14-7.

Gary Beban, who won the Heisman Trophy in 1967, is UCLA’s only Heisman winner. The Trojans boast four-- Mike Garrett (1965), O.J. Simpson (1968), Charles White (1979) and Marcus Allen (1981).