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Surging Trojans Earn A Berth In Rose Bowl

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By JOHN NADEL, The Associated Press

Published: December 2, 2007

LOS ANGELES - Southern California is returning to the Rose Bowl thanks to another late-season surge capped by a convincing victory against its biggest rival.

UCLA, meanwhile, might soon be making a coaching change.

John David Booty passed for 206 yards and one touchdown, USC rushed for another 231 yards, and the eighth-ranked Trojans beat the Bruins 24-7 Saturday to assure themselves a date in Pasadena on New Year's Day.

"The senior class has been there four of the last five years," Booty said. "We're going to prepare just like we always do, practice the same way, hopefully have the same outcome we've had the majority of the times we've been there."

The Trojans (10-2, 7-2 Pac-10) won their final four regular-season games to earn an unprecedented sixth consecutive conference championship. It also gives them a record 32nd appearance in the Rose Bowl as well as a sixth straight BCS bowl berth.

"I don't think anybody around here was thinking we were going to be champions this year," USC coach Pete Carroll said, referring to his team's status four weeks ago after a 24-17 loss at Oregon. "But those guys knew they could be and they understood that and they just did a marvelous job.

"There's nothing we like more than winning championships. I know everybody talks about all the rest of the stuff, but we don't have control of the other stuff. What we do have control of is this Pac-10, and every chance we get we want to win this thing and get ourselves in that Rose Bowl."

The Trojans were a near-unanimous pick as No. 1 entering the season, but a shocking 24-23 loss to 41-point underdog Stanford on Oct. 6 and the setback at Oregon three weeks later knocked them out of the national championship race.

USC has a 25-1 record in regular-season games played in November and December since Carroll was hired in 2001. The only loss was a 13-9 setback to UCLA last year, snapping the Trojans' seven-game winning streak against their crosstown rivals.

The Trojans certainly gained a measure of revenge in this game - their fifth straight triumph against UCLA at the Los Angeles Coliseum, where they have won 38 of their last 39 games. USC has outscored the Bruins 181-55 in those five games.

This might have been USC's last game at the Coliseum, the Trojans' home since 1923. The university's latest lease has expired, and frustrated by a lack of progress in negotiations for a long-term deal, the school has been negotiating with Rose Bowl officials to play there next season.

Meanwhile, fifth-year UCLA coach Karl Dorrell's job appears in jeopardy. The Bruins (6-6, 5-4) entered the season with 20 returning starters and high expectations. Erratic play caused at least in part by injuries to several key players including quarterbacks Ben Olson and Patrick Cowan short-circuited their hopes.

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