USC-UCLA actually means something, for better and worse; who's Johns Hopkins? | KEN WILLIS
Well, might as well credit the new ways when they deliver us something worthwhile.
The current free-for-all within college football might’ve been what the disrupters had in mind all along, though some of the upheaval must fall into their unintended consequences category.
But for a little while Saturday evening, we get a glimpse of yesteryear, specifically that particular Saturday where the unmatched physical surroundings would combine with sparkling, blue-blood football programs, led by coaching giants, butting heads in a game that truly meant something.
That’s right, USC vs. UCLA, from UCLA’s home ballpark, the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, where a 5 p.m. local kickoff guarantees both golden glows and purple majesty flowing from the San Gabriel Mountains — It’s almost enough to make you realize why folks still want to live there.
If only we could bring back Keith Jackson.
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These two historic football factories, with 56 conference championships between them and, in USC’s case, a bucket of national championships and Heisman winners, are suddenly relevant again.
Suddenly? How else to describe it, considering these two programs, over the past five seasons, were a combined 57-56.
But along came legalized pay-for-play (the Name-Image-Likeness opportunities) and de facto free-agency (the transfer portal). And at Southern Cal, along came Lincoln Riley from Oklahoma, a head coach who would’ve made the Trojans a popular transfer option even without the NIL opportunities afforded by such a mammoth market.
UCLA took a wee bit of shine off this one by losing last week to Arizona. But the Bruins are 8-2 and 16th in the latest College Football Playoff rankings. It’s a decent shock to the system for a program — and flagging fan base — that’s finished inside the season-ending Top 25 just three times the past 23 years.
USC, however, is 9-1 and ranked seventh. It’s not a clear path to a possible top-four ranking and a berth in the playoffs, but with a modest amount of under-brushing, the Trojans can get there and boy oh boy, would a bunch of network marketing folks start tossing around the high-fives.
As big as this game is, for the first time in a long time, it’s not the last rivalry game for either team. Next week, UCLA faces Cal, while the Trojans play Notre Dame at the L.A. Coliseum — not bad visuals right there, either.
A lot of us aren’t exactly thrilled with how UCLA and USC got to this point so quickly, and in many ways we miss the good ol’ days — you know, two or three years ago.
But for a while Saturday evening, we get a packed Rose Bowl stadium, long-familiar uniforms, amazing backdrop, and a rivalry that once again means something.
Grab these little moments, because who knows how long they’ll last.
The Picks: TCU falls; Trojans handle Bruins
Remember how we talked about the under-brushing USC needs in order to reach the top four? Two hackings are a given, since Ohio State-Michigan and Georgia-LSU will bring a loss to two of the six teams ahead of the Trojans.
And you figure USC would leapfrog both if they beat UCLA and Notre Dame. But if the Trojans are currently seventh, and two ahead of them lose, that likely makes them No. 5, right?
Nope. Break out the bush-hog and the potato rakes, we’re clearing some more path Saturday — Baylor over TCU in overtime.
• Elsewhere: USC by 10 over UCLA; UCF big over Navy; Illinois scares Michigan but loses; FSU by 20 over Louisiana; Florida by 18 over Vandy; Notre Dame beats Boston College; Georgia by just 24 over Kentucky; Ohio State big over Maryland; Clemson beats Miami; Tennessee over S. Carolina; Oklahoma State by a bunch over Oklahoma; Utah beats Oregon; FAMU over B-CU; and in the yearly battle among Baltimore neighbors, the Blue Jays of Johns Hopkins by 6 over the Stevenson Mustangs.
BTW: Why the S? Can’t say, but it probably should’ve been an $. Johns Hopkins was a quaker philanthropist in the 1800s who made his money through banking and investing in the real-life version of that Monopoly square, B&O Railroad.
Not sure if he ever met Rogers Hornsby.
Hopkins funded the university with a gift of $7 million in the mid-1870s, back when 7 mill could buy you something. The school became internationally known for its revolutionary combination of teaching and research, and remains so today — it's also a national lacrosse power, for what it's worth.
Alums include Wolf Blitzer, Michael Bloomberg and Gertrude Stein, but for my money, the school’s alumni fundraising department should hang its hat on 1952 grad John Astin. That’s right, Gomez Addams.
— Reach Ken Willis at ken.willis@news-jrnl.com
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: USC-UCLA important again; Trojans chase Buckeyes, Dawgs and others
