USC vs. UCLA: Bruins recently have dominated football rivalry

The USC-UCLA football rivalry goes beyond Xs and O’s, and the 85th meeting between the Trojans and the Bruins has plenty of subplots. Times staff writer Gary Klein examines some of the story lines:

Nice to meet you

Excuse UCLA Coach Jim Mora if he needs help finding — and recognizing — Clay Helton for a pregame handshake on the field at the Coliseum.

Helton will be the fourth USC coach Mora has faced in four seasons.

It did not work out well for Helton’s predecessors.

In 2012, a year after Lane Kiffin directed USC to a 50-0 victory over the Bruins, Mora changed the attitude in Westwood, and UCLA ended its five-game losing streak against the Trojans with a 38-28 victory at the Rose Bowl.

In 2013, with Kiffin fired and interim coach Ed Orgeron leading the Trojans, Mora came to the Coliseum for the first time and guided his team to a 35-14 victory.

Last season, Mora showed first-year USC coach Steve Sarkisian that the Trojans were still chasing the Bruins in a 38-20 victory at the Rose Bowl.

The Trojans are 4-2 since Helton replaced Sarkisian in October.

Victory-starved

USC has several fifth-year seniors who were part of the program when the Trojans defeated the Bruins in 2011.

But Saturday’s game is the final chance for three fourth-year seniors — cornerback Kevon Seymour, fullback Jahleel Pinner and injured center Max Tuerk — to make sure they do not complete their careers without a victory over the Bruins.

“It’s going to mean a lot to me,” Seymour said. “We need to execute and do our job and come out with a W.”

Pinner said there was “definitely extra motivation” this season. “It’s my last year,” he said, “and on top of that it’s UCLA.”

UCLA has five scholarship players from the 2012 recruiting class who will be playing in their last USC game, and could go undefeated against the Trojans.

Streaking

UCLA’s current three-game winning streak against the Trojans is modest for a series that dates to 1929.

Neither school won more than three in a row until USC won four straight in 1976-1979.

UCLA ran off a series-record eight victories in a row in 1991-98.

USC won seven straight from 1999-2005 before the Bruins ended the streak with Eric McNeal’s tipped pass and interception in a 13-9 victory.

The Trojans’ five-game winning streak from 2007-2011 ended in the first year of the Mora era.

Damage control

Both schools annually take precautions to prevent rivalry-driven damage to campus landmarks.

USC’s Tommy Trojan statue was duct-taped last week and was protected by the Trojan Knights, who kept 24-hour watch. The George Tirebiter statue was covered in a dog house and the John McKay statue in front of the McKay Center also was wrapped in tape.

The Bruin Bear is annually encased in a box and watched over by the Bruin Bear Security Force. A statue of John Wooden also is protected in a box.

They’ll manage

UCLA defeated USC, 46-34, on Wednesday night in the annual game between football managers.

The Bruins managers extended their winning streak to five with the victory at USC’s Howard Jones-Brian Kennedy Field.

Colorful tribute

For the last three years, and six of the last seven, USC has worn home Cardinal jerseys and UCLA has worn home blue for the rivalry game.

The Bruins wore all-white jerseys in 2011.

The tradition of both teams wearing home jerseys began in 1949 and continued to 1951, and then was practiced from 1957 through 1982 before an NCAA football rule change required the visiting team to wear white, according to USC.

Former USC coach Pete Carroll and former UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel restored the tradition in 2008. USC was charged with a timeout for not wearing NCAA-mandated white as visitors at the Rose Bowl. UCLA immediately called time out so that there was no advantage.

The NCAA rule was changed before the 2009 season.

gary.klein@latimes.com

Twitter: @latimesklein