Taken from the LAT blogs:

Tommy Trojan feeling blue -- victim of classic prank

While the cat's away the mice will play.

With thousands of USC students on their annual Bay Area pilgrimage (the football team is playing Stanford this weekend), pranksters doused the school's iconic Tommy Trojan in blue paint.

Formally known as the Trojan Shrine, the lifesize bronze statue has previously fallen victim to paint (and worse) during the week prior to the football game against crosstown rival UCLA. In response, Tommy is traditionally wrapped in duct tape several days prior to that game and an organization called Trojan Knights stands vigil.

There was no 24-hour guard this weekend. Tommy was pretty lonely, but he wasn't blue util he had an unexpected visitor.

Few details are known at this time. It appears the incident occurred late Friday night or early Saturday morning. Considering the colors, suspicion will immediately point to Westwood. USC plays UCLA in the Rose Bowl on December 6.

School officials rushed to have Tommy cleaned up on Saturday morning. They can't be too pleased, but a good prank can always help keep the rivalry spirited. At least once in a blue moon.

-- Adam Rose
Photo by Lauren

On the webcam, from 4:00 to 4:03 am you can see someone run up and douse Tommy.