Saturday will feature two of the most historical teams in the Pac-12 with the UCLA Bruins facing off against rival USC Trojans. The two teams will be facing off for the right to win the Victory Bell.
While other rivalries will opt for a trophy, this rivalry does a bell, but why? We’ll take a deeper look into the rivalry, the reasoning for the bell, and who has had the advantage in the series.
Everything To Know About the Victory Bell for USC vs. UCLA
The two teams started playing each other in 1929 with USC winning the first game in style 76-0. The Trojans dominated the series at the beginning, allowing just 46 points from UCLA in the first eight games. USC won five of those games with three ties. The Bruins wouldn’t pick up a win until 1942, when they finally got a win over USC, 17-14.
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As for the Victory Bell, that didn’t come into the picture until 1939 when the UCLA Alumni Association gifted the bell to the students. It became a staple for the Bruins and they would ring the bell after every score.
That all changed in 1942 when USC stole the bell from UCLA. Now, it is a tradition that whoever wins the game gets to have the bell and paint it their team’s color.
Going back to the rivalry’s results, the Trojans dominated the series for the first 20 years with the Bruins only beating them twice in that span. UCLA owned the 50s, winning seven of the ten games during the decade. The upper hand would go back and forth between the Los Angeles schools. USC dominated the 60s and 70s and UCLA took back control in the 80s and 90s.
In recent memory, USC has won six of the last eight matchups against UCLA. When the teams last played last season, the Trojans came out on top of the Bruins in a close 48-45 contest.
USC currently owns the series 52-33-7 overall against UCLA. The Trojans do have two other wins against the Bruins that are not included as they had to forfeit games in 2004 and 2005 due to the NCAA penalizing USC.
The two teams will face off once again for the 95th time on Saturday. UCLA is going into the contest at 6-4, while USC is 7-4. They will play at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum at 12:30 p.m. PT on ABC.