A Rivalry Reborn

USC had been playing football for more than three decades before an upstart school across town, UCLA, fielded its first team in 1919. By the time they agreed to play each other, 10 years later, the Trojans had already won a Rose Bowl and a national championship.

So it wasn’t much of a rivalry at first.

In fact, when USC suggested the matchup, the Bruins were skeptical and with good reason. Howard Jones’ “Thundering Herd” stampeded UCLA, 76-0, in the inaugural meeting. USC won the following season, 52-0.

“After those first two lopsided defeats, wise heads called the whole thing off,” said Braven Dyer, a former Times sportswriter, in the book “Pac-10 Football” by John D. McCallum. “That was no way to start what was to develop into a great natural rivalry.”

But by 1936, the UCLA program had matured and USC had fallen on hard times, suffering through two losing seasons. So the game was revived and this time fans took it seriously. UCLA students splashed blue and gold paint on the statue of Tommy Trojan. At UCLA, the letters “SC” were mysteriously burned into a lawn at the center of campus.

Before a crowd of 85,000, the Bruins played the mistake-prone Trojans to a 7-7 tie. Administrators from the schools decided to have the game ball bronzed for a trophy. The rivalry was on.

By most standards, the 1941 game was unremarkable.

The legendary Jones had died of a heart attack two months before the season and the Trojans were struggling at 2-6 under a new coach, Sam Barry. UCLA was nearing the end of its schedule with a mediocre 4-5 record. Only about 60,000 fans watched the teams play to a 7-7 tie.

So the most noteworthy aspect of that afternoon was the date: Dec. 6.

The following morning, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, plunging the United States into World War II. The rivalry continued, but under markedly different conditions.

Some of the best players from both teams were drafted into military service, which meant freshmen were permitted to play, and travel restrictions limited schools to scheduling opponents from their own area. While that put the USC-Notre Dame rivalry on hold, it meant the Trojans and Bruins met twice each season, in the opener and the finale.

With Bob Waterfield at the helm, the Bruins scored their first victory over USC in nine tries, winning the 1942 game by a score of 14-7. That was the first year the teams played for the Victory Bell. After that defeat, the Trojans went 5-0-1 through the remainder of the war years.