LOS ANGELES — “Oh, so now you show up since it’s SC week.”
Those were UCLA head coach DeShaun Foster’s opening remarks as he made his way to the larger-than-usual media scrum after UCLA football practice Wednesday morning.
The crosstown rivalry has been well documented and the history ingrained in the mind of Foster, dating to when he was a player, an assistant coach in recent years and now with his first game against USC on Saturday as a head coach.
On Monday, he spoke about the unique atmosphere and energy at practice and in team meetings leading up to the rivalry game, and reiterated that sentiment Wednesday.
But a win this week would transcend the importance of the annual rivalry.
With just two games left in the season, a win would keep the Bruins in line to qualify for a bowl game, an attainable goal that over a month ago, when the team was 1-5, felt impossible to reach.
“At the halfway point of the year, we really wanted to make it a goal to be bowl eligible and this is just one more bump in the road,” Bruins quarterback Ethan Garbers said. “We got to get over this, we got to get this W and then focus on Fresno State next week. Our goal is still to get bowl eligible and that’s our number one priority.”
UCLA football alumni, including Anthony Barr and Skip Hicks, attended practice this week on their own accord, to share stories from their playing days and what it was like going up against USC.
Hicks spoke to the team before practice Wednesday and told the team about his experience during the 1997 season when the Bruins started 0-2 that year.
UCLA went on to finish 10-2 that season, won the Cotton Bowl Classic and finished as the No. 5-ranked team in the Associated Press poll.
Garbers took that message to heart, saying his team has more to play for than just a win against USC, but a chance to extend their season.
“Skip had a great talk for us today. He was relaying their story, how they started the year 0-2 and then they finished the year … he said they should have won two national championships that year, which is awesome,” Garbers said. “He was just giving us insight and just words into what his experience was like and try to relate it to us.”
UCLA faces former defensive coordinator
D’Anton Lynn spent one year at UCLA as the team’s defensive coordinator before joining USC in the same capacity for the 2024 campaign.
Garbers said he’s excited about the challenge of going up against a former member of the UCLA coaching staff.
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Having practiced against Lynn’s defense last season, Garbers is familiar with a lot of Lynn’s defensive concepts, but knows Lynn’s going to throw some curveballs into the mix that he and his teammates need to be prepared for.
“Coach Lynn over there has done a great job. He did a great job when he was here,” Garbers said. “I remember tendencies and all that. I’m sure he’s going to change some stuff up and have a few nuances like every defense does every week. But principles are still the same, the pressure looks are kind of similar. But he’s going to change it up and throw some stuff we’ve never seen at us, but we’re just excited and ready for the opportunity.”