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On Saturday night, the Pac-12 announced the game times and TV network information for next weekend's conference matchups on Saturday, November 22. The Trojans' short road trip up to Pasadena to play UCLA in the Rose Bowl was selected by ABC for the national primetime game and could also bring a certain Saturday morning ESPN show to town.
The USC Trojans will take on the Bruins in a mid-day contest at 5:00 p.m. PT on ABC.
The 5:00 p.m. matchup should make for a ton of tailgating fun and hopefully there won't be rain like there was two years ago at the Rose Bowl. There is rain predicted for the middle of next week, but the precipitation forecast hasn't been set for that far out. The weather is predicted be much like today with a high of 72 and a low of 50 degrees Fahrenheit, according to weather.com.
The UCLA Bruins (8-2, 5-2) will be trying to continue their recent success against USC. With Brett Hundley at quarterback, the Bruins are 2-0 in the Crosstown Showdown while the Trojans' last win was the 50-0 thumping in the Coliseum that effectively sealed Rick Neuheisel's fate as the Bruins head coach.
To open up the year, the Bruins were a top 10 squad and some people thought they had national championship potential. That UCLA love died pretty quick after the baby bears struggled to wins over Virginia, Memphis and Texas all by one score. They then demolished Arizona State, 62-27, in the desert making many believe UCLA was back on the right track, but that was followed by back-to-back losses to Oregon and Utah.
The Bruins barely escaped with wins over Cal and Colorado (needing overtime to beat the Buffaloes), but had strong games against No. 12 Arizona (17-7) and Washington (44-30). Like every other Pac-12 South opponent, UCLA is getting extra time to prepare for the Trojans. UCLA is off this weekend while the Trojans take on Cal on Thursday night.
The Trojans lead the all-time series 46-30-7 and had won 12 of the last 13 before losing the last two. Though the series has produced some remarkable finishes, there have only been two games decided by less than 10 points since 2001: USC's 29-24 win in 2004 and UCLA's 13-9 victory in 2006.
ABC chose the USC/UCLA game for its nationally televised 5:00 p.m. PT matchup over Stanford/Cal, Arizona/Utah, Colorado/Oregon and Oregon State/Washington. The Arizona/Utah Pac-12 South matchup will be played at 12:30 p.m. PT on ESPN while The Big Game will be aired by FOX Sports 1, starting at 1 p.m. PT. Colorado/Oregon gets Pac-12 Networks treatment at 1:30 p.m. and Oregon State/Washington is a fitting #Pac12AfterDark matchup on the Pac-12 Networks at 7:30 p.m.