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Southern California knows how to party — especially when USC and UCLA are playing for a Pac-12 South championship.
Coaches like to say every game is the same, but when the crosstown rivals meet at the Coliseum on Saturday with the division title on the line, it's different. USC interim coach Clay Helton felt the energy at a Monday evening pep rally for the Trojans.
"You can feel the buzz," he said. "It's a special rivalry and a special game."
USC hopes it's special for novelty's sake: The Jim Mora-led Bruins won the game every year of his tenure. Helton will be the fourth USC coach to helm the program for the Victory Bell game.
UCLA is also hot this week, coming off a road win at Utah, while the Trojans are smarting from a loss to Oregon. It sets the tone for a game in which many of the coaches and players on either sideline know each other very well.
Mora said there's no special thread between his three victories, in which both teams have been ranked for each contest. But he does seem to see the same challenge every year: USC's talented roster might be the best overall in the conference, no matter who the coach is.
"They're a tremendously talented team," Mora said. "Really, what we look at is scheme and personnel. They're talented and they've got a good scheme."
Beyond just pride, the winner gets a chance to play against Stanford in the Pac-12 championship game next week in Santa Clara, Calif.
For Helton, the game might be a referendum on whether he can keep his job — or perhaps earn a look at several other open jobs in college football this offseason. But, when asked about it, he took the emphasis off himself, and put it on his team.
"This is a great story for our players and especially our seniors," he said. "You look at the adversity these guys have gone through — not just this year, but throughout their careers. These guys have dealt with a lot. What an unbelievable story it would be, to go win a Pac-12 South championship."
Stanford unconcerned about playoff
A two-point loss to Oregon was considered the end of Stanford's College Football Playoff hopes, but with general chaos ensuing all over the country, including Ohio State going down, and the Big 12 without an undefeated team, who really knows?
David Shaw was reluctant to state his case for the playoff committee.
"We have to play Notre Dame, then we have to play for a Pac-12 championship; I'm going to focus on those things first," he said. "I don't believe in talking before doing. We may be deserving. We may not be deserving. But for us to think about anything but Notre Dame is insanity. They're good enough to get our full attention."
Stanford's home game against the Irish wraps up the regular season, and a win could vault them back in position to secure a berth. Notre Dame is 10-1 and in position to go to the playoff itself, unless it suffers a loss this weekend.
And the belt goes to…
Mike Leach isn't big on talking about injuries — including whether Luke Falk will be healthy enough to play in this weekend's Apple Cup at Husky Stadium — but he's plenty willing to talk about the championship belt one quarterback on his team gets to wear each week.
The belt is a reward for a weekly quarterback competition devised by position coach Graham Harrell. While the rest of the team is doing special-teams work, he gives the quarterbacks challenges: hit a target the most, get the ball into a net, or other contests designed to test their skills. Each week, the winner gets a WWE-style belt to wear, which has become something of a team phenomenon.
"Whoever wins the competition carries around the belt and basically lets all the other quarterbacks know he defeated them that week," Leach said. "It's gotten to be a deal that's sort of caught on to the point where other positions and other guys on the team are asking who won the belt."
Twitter: @kylegoon —
Tribune Power Rankings
The Pac-12
1. Stanford • Christian McCaffrey deserves an invitation to New York
2. Oregon • Swagger on offense has also spread some to the D
3. UCLA • Looking to avoid last season's late stumble
4. Washington State • With Falk's status in question, so is final game
5. USC • Defense needs to step up and stop someone
6. Utah • Offense needs to step up and move the ball
7. Arizona State • Turnover game strong in past two weeks
8. Arizona • Wildcats' secondary struggled all year
9. Cal • From early season darling to almost irrelevant
10. Washington • Need a rivalry win to become bowl-eligible
11. Colorado • Frustration bubbled over after last week's dropped passes
12. Oregon State • There's always next year, Beavers