The focal point of college football today is in Hollywood -- not in Houston, where Texas plays Colorado; not in Atlanta, where Louisiana State plays Georgia. The center of the college football universe is Los Angeles, where a unique local rivalry between Southern California and UCLA has become a fascinating national game.
The Bruins have won 9 of 10 games this season. If USC is the team of the century, a UCLA victory would be a tremendous upset simply because of what the Trojans have done recently and where the Bruins have come from.
We -- and I'm referring to that monstrous, East Coast bias "we" -- tend to think of big-time college football rivalries blossoming in small towns where college football is effectively pro football. (I realize that this naturally leads into a discussion of the evils of big-time athletics, but I refuse to go there today. Let's celebrate the rivalry and let it go at that.)
It's odd that a big game plays itself out in Tinseltown and not Tuscaloosa, Auburn, Knoxville, Gainesville, Ann Arbor or Columbus.
This is an in-house football squabble between two major institutions that thrive in one of our greatest cities.
"This one's different because your rival is your next-door neighbor," UCLA coach Karl Dorrell said Friday. "It's here, in Los Angeles; it's everywhere you go. There's either USC or UCLA fans."
Dorrell said he dropped off his son at school Friday only to be confronted by a sea of competing colors. "It's USC-UCLA day," he said. "Teachers that are USC fans are wearing their colors and the teachers that are UCLA fans are wearing their colors."
I was raised in the Midwest and remember watching USC-UCLA, but California was so distant, otherworldly. A geographic bias continues.
College football was invented in the Northeast, nurtured in the Midwest perfected in the South, and -- except for a moment here and there -- lost in the West. Even now, despite USC's tremendous three-year run, the West, in many minds, consists of USC and a hazy bunch of others who provide background music.
"That's really the stereotype out here," Dorrell said. "There's one great team on the West Coast and that's it. Our conference doesn't get a lot of respect compared to the SEC, the Big Ten, the ACC."
The Heisman Trophy winner will be named next week, but perhaps the most significant award will be Coach of the Year. If USC's Pete Carroll doesn't win it, Dorrell is my choice. He took over a listing UCLA program and in three seasons has put it in position to at least look USC in the eye.
Monday, Dorrell praised Carroll in front of the annual Rotary Club of Los Angeles USC/UCLA football rally.
"I don't mind telling you this right now," he said, looking at Carroll. "I think the coach of the year is the man I'm playing against tomorrow; that's Pete Carroll."
The audience, with a preponderance of USC supporters, applauded.
"He's won 33-plus games in a row -- that's pretty impressive," Dorrell said. "I won eight in a row this year; that's just a blink for him. That's hard to do in this profession, particularly when you have 11 opponents that gave them their best shot and came up short. And for them to endure and still be undefeated -- and they've been the No. 1-ranked team from the beginning of the season until this point right now -- that says a lot about his staff and his players. And I just want to let you know, Pete, you give me a lot of motivation."
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