IMHO Sunday: The countdown is on, USC vs UCLA Week

In my humble opinion, cardinal and gold thoughts on what I see, what I hear, and what I think from Los Angeles. The countdown: It’s on. The wait is practically over if you can withstand the next nerve-building days. Although they took different routes to get to next Saturday night, No. 7 USC and No. 16 UCLA are set to explode like two high-speed meteors ready to collide in Pasadena’s Rose Bowl this Saturday at 5 p.m. PT. The only question for the fan bases is can they be patient enough leading up to the moment of gridiron impact? Oh, and by the way, what happened in the Pac-12 over the weekend means if USC beats UCLA, they punch their ticket into the Pac-12 title game on Dec. 2 in Vegas. Simple? Maybe not. The countdown – Part 2: The “moment” means advancement to the Pac-12 title game, enhanced College Football Playoff implications for USC after UCLA stubbed its toe with Arizona on Saturday night in the Rose Bowl (34-28), recruiting nirvana, and bragging rights equivalent to Christmas every day for a year. The Trojans rest upon the top of the Pac-12 standings with just one conference game to go at UCLA. Don’t be misled that UCLA’s loss will mean the Trojans will cakewalk past the Bruins. For UCLA, beating or upsetting USC has always been their main goal and a win over the Men of Troy would send the Pac-12 race for Las Vegas into a real mess and just delight Bruins fan everywhere and anywhere.