Morning briefing

Some of it is urban legend.

That stuff about clocks in Westwood being permanently set to 8:47 -- you know, last year’s 13 to 9 win over USC -- apparently isn’t true.

But what UCLA alumnus Jim Carmack did is very real. It’s right there on the license plate attached to the trailer he parks outside Gate C at the Rose Bowl before every Bruins home football game.

O.C. fans can read it and weep

The license reads: “13 TO 9”

“I live in a hotbed of Trojans in Orange County and they need to be reminded,” Carmack said. “They don’t have a lot of resiliency to their memories, so I had to poke fun at them.”

Carmack’s father was the captain of UCLA’s soccer team in 1939. The son says, “I was brainwashed from birth.”

As for his license plate, he said: “It had been so long since we last won and my wife said, ‘Shouldn’t there be something on the trailer to remember that?’ ”

So now there is.

As to why it seems he is among few Bruins fans who have commemorated the upset, Carmack said: “Most Bruins fans are superstitious and I think some are convinced we’re going to get beat again [this year].”

Not him.

“I already have my ’15 TO 10’ plates on order for next season,” Carmack said.

Trivia time

USC won the first two football games in its series with UCLA, 76-0 and 52-0, in 1929 and ’30. What has been the biggest point differential since then?

Convenient memory loss

Tennessee Titans Coach Jeff Fisher, a former USC defensive back, was interviewed by former UCLA defensive back James Washington on Thursday on Fox Sports Radio about last year’s USC-UCLA game.

“What happened last year?” Fisher asked.

Washington: “We won.”

Fisher: “Who’s we?”

Washington: “We, UCLA, won.”

Fisher: “Really? I missed that.”

A perfect plan

A few days before the 1973 USC-UCLA game, USC Coach John McKay was joined by several Trojans beat writers, including The Times’ Mal Florence, at Julie’s, the popular restaurant and bar near the Coliseum.

The writers wanted to know how McKay’s team planned to stop UCLA’s vaunted wishbone offense, which that season had led the nation in points per game (45.7) and net yards (415.4), and was powered by running backs James McAlister and Kermit Johnson.

McKay said: “You can’t print this and you can knock me if I’m wrong, but here’s what we’re going to do.”

And on a cocktail napkin, the coach drew up USC’s defense, which was designed to take away the outside and force Johnson and McAlister to run up the middle where they would be met by linebackers Richard Wood, Monte Doris and Dale Mitchell.

The plan worked as the Bruins turned the ball over six times, four on fumbles. Doris made 18 tackles and the Trojans achieved a trip to the Rose Bowl with a 23-13 victory.

A friendly reminder

That season, UCLA had beaten Utah, 66-16, and had scored 61 points against California and 62 against Washington. When Doris stopped McAlister at the line of scrimmage for no gain, Wood helped the UCLA back to his feet and said, “This ain’t Utah, Mac!”

Trivia answer

47 points. USC won in 2005, 66-19.

And finally

HBO plans to make a Barry Bonds film after acquiring the rights to “Game of Shadows,” the book about Bonds and the BALCO steroids scandal. Ron Shelton has been commissioned to direct the film and write the script with “Tin Cup” writing partner, John Norville, as soon as the writers’ strike ends.

Reader Bill Littlejohn suggests this title: “Bang the Bum Slowly.”

larry.stewart@latimes.com