Los Angeles News

PASADENA (CBS) ― USC plans to clinch a record-tying fourth consecutive Rose Bowl game berth while the reeling UCLA Bruins hope to end their season on a high note when the crosstown rivals hold their annual football clash at the Rose Bowl Saturday.

Pasadena police Chief Bernard Melekian announced before the game that his department will show "zero tolerance" for drunk and disorderly conduct inside and outside the facility.

The Trojans are favored by as much as 33 points, the largest point spread in the series' 78-game history.

Two statistics support the possibility of a rout by USC: The Trojans are allowing the fewest points per game in the Football Bowl Subdivision, 7.82, while the Bruins are scoring 18.64 points per game, putting them 107th among the subdivision's 119 teams.

USC enters the game ranked fifth in The Associated Press poll, with a 10-1 record and an eight-game winning streak, including a 38-3 victory over Notre Dame last Saturday.

A victory Saturday will give the Trojans the Pacific-10 Conference championship, earning them a berth at the Rose Bowl against Big Ten champion Penn State on New Year's Day.

UCLA is 4-7, with losses in three of its last four games, including a 34-9 loss at Arizona State Nov. 28.

Even with a victory, the Bruins are assured of their worst record since 1999, when they were 4-7, the last time before this season that they failed to be eligible for a bowl game. A loss would leave UCLA with its worst record since 1989, when it was 3-7-1.

"We are in the midst of building a program," first-year coach Rick Neuheisel said. "It hasn't gone as well as we've hoped. I see a lot of reason for optimism in the future. I'm just eager to keep building for the future."

Among the wrinkles in this year's game is a renewal of the tradition of both teams wearing their home jerseys when they meet in the Southland, which was last done in 1982.

"It always looked awesome," Trojans coach Pete Carroll said. "It was just a part of the matchup and the spectacle. Hopefully everybody will get something out of it."

Carroll's decision to have USC wear its home cardinal jerseys at UCLA's home field will cost his team a time out in the first half because it violates NCAA rules. However, Neuheisel, who also supports the tradition, has said he will call a time out at the start of the game to equalize things.

The Trojans have won eight of the last nine games in the series, including a 24-7 triumph last season, and leads the series, 42-28-7.

"If history is any indication of what will happen, I believe we can start to turn this thing back," Neuheisel said. "I'm not sure if it will happen this Saturday, but we'll be working and keep chipping away and keep chipping away. We'll get there because this place is too good a foundation not to get there."

The winning team will be awarded the Victory Bell, a 295-pound bell originally hung atop a Southern Pacific freight locomotive.

The bell was given to the UCLA Alumni Association in 1939. In 1941, it was taken by a group of USC students. A year later, the student body presidents of both school signed an agreement providing that the winner of the football game would keep possession for the next year, a tradition that has continued.

Approximately 500 tickets will go on sale at 10:30 a.m. the Rose Bowl's Gate A, Gate B and North Gate.

UCLA officials are encouraging fans to arrive early at the Rose Bowl.

General parking lots will open at 7 a.m. Shuttle bus service from the Parsons Corp. parking lot at the corner of Walnut and Fair Oaks avenues to the Rose Bowl will begin at 8:30 a.m. The return shuttle will run until one hour after the game.

Parking is free at the Parsons Corp. parking lot, while the round-trip shuttle fare is $2.

Fans can take the Metro Gold Line to the Memorial Park Station, then take the shuttle bus from the Parsons Corp. parking lot to the Rose Bowl.

(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)