Chip Kelly refuses to weigh in on Los Angeles rivalry

The Victory Bell currently resides on the UCLA campus. In 2021, the Bruins took down USC in their annual rivalry game to re-stake their claim as the predominant college football program in the Los Angeles area. So at Pac-12 Media Days this year, UCLA coach Chip Kelly was asked if his team runs the city of angels. He wasn’t ready to agree to such a bold claim, but did acknowledge the strength of the rivalry nowadays.

Here were his comments when asked whether the Bruins own the Trojans:

“I am not going there (laughter). I think it’s an historic rivalry because you have two Power Five schools that are in the same city. There’s not any rivalry where there’s such proximity between the two schools. There’s so many players at SC that played high school with the kids on our team. They played high school ball together, but now they play college ball against each other. I think that’s what makes the rivalry unique. There is such a split and a faction of there may be even families that some are SC, some are UCLA. I think it’s what makes rivalries great.”

Chip Kelly then added, jokingly:

“Who runs the city? Who doesn’t run the city? I’ll leave that up to the voters, I guess.”

USC – UCLA recent history

UCLA clipped the Trojans in last year’s matchup, but the last decade or so heavily favors USC overall. They had won five of six heading into last season’s matchup and still own a 5-2 advantage since 2015, and have been the only team ranked in the game over that span. Just not a great run for UCLA football lately.

Also not a great run for defense in this Los Angeles football rivalry. The winner of the last three games has surpassed 40 points, with UCLA hanging 62 points in their most recent win, blowing out USC by nearly 30 points, 62-33. No wonder the Trojans needed a coaching change.