More than just bragging rights at stake in L.A. battle
USC has already wrapped up the Pac12 South, and its national championship hopes are faint. After a grinding regular season, the 12th-ranked Trojans have a bye before the conference title game.
Every ingredient is in place for a trap game for the Trojans (9-2, 7-1 Pac-12) on Saturday night at the L.A. Coliseum.
If their opponent were anyone except their neighbors and rivals from UCLA (55, 3-4), that is.
“You don’t need to worry about motivation in this one,” USC quarterback Sam Darnold said.
“Nobody on either team does.” The Bruins’ motivation is clear. Along with securing bowl eligibility, winning the Victory Bell would be an enormous achievement to close a second straight upand-down season under coach Jim Mora.
But the Trojans have won three straight after their blowout loss to Notre Dame, and they’re undefeated at the Coliseum in 15 consecutive games since mid-2015.
Although USC’s two road losses have left it on the fringes of contention for a spot in the four-team playoff, Darnold and his teammates haven’t given up.
“Our chances of making the playoff, they’re slim, but they’re still there,” Darnold said. “Obviously, to do that, we’ve got to win out. But right now, we’re just focused on winning this game.”
Ducks QB Herbert returning?
Quarterback Justin Herbert appears poised to return from a broken collarbone, but so far there’s no definitive word from Oregon.
The Ducks (5-5, 2-5 Pac-12) host the Arizona Wildcats and their star QB Khalil Tate on Saturday, with Herbert’s status in the air. Will he start? Will he be available? The Ducks aren’t saying on the record.
Herbert, who fractured his collarbone against Cal on Sept. 30, has been practicing, and some say he appears ready to come back. There was a report he will start today.
Ivy League showdown
Yale coach Tony Reno says his team is approaching Saturday’s meeting with Harvard as if it were any other game. Clearly, it is not.
The Bulldogs (8-1, 5-1 Ivy) will be playing in front well over 50,000 fans at the Yale Bowl with a chance to secure the program’s first outright Ivy League championship in 37 years.
The team also can win back-to-back games against the Crimson for the first time since winning three in a row from 1998 to 2000.
“We don’t look at things that way,” Reno said. “We just look at things in the context of continuing to improve.”
A loss to Penn last week ended the Crimson’s chance to capture a share of this year’s league crown. So Harvard (5-4, 3-3), comes into the game hoping to turn the tables on Yale.
UNLV wins wild one UNLV 38, NEW MEXICO 35 >>
UNLV’s Armani Rogers set a school rushing record for quarterbacks with 193 yards and completed two big passes in the final minute to lift the Rebels in Albuquerque.
UNLV improved to 5-6, 4-3 in the Mountain West. The Lobos dropped to 3-8, 1-6.