L.A.'s rivalry, Westwood's revelry

When John David Booty’s desperation heave downfield landed on the ground, Matt Slater couldn’t stop running.

His adrenaline wouldn’t let him.

As the redshirt junior cornerback ran past his celebrating teammates who stormed the field, Slater’s legs collapsed beneath him. He lay in the corner of the end zone, facing a sea of UCLA students with arms raised to the sky, crying so hard that his entire upper body shook.

Junior Taylor jumped onto a platform in front of the UCLA bench, stamping his cleats. His voice cracked in competition with the 90,622 in attendance at the Rose Bowl, but Taylor kept repeating “I got me one.”

In his hands was a “Fuck ’SC” shirt that had “MC 15” written over it to commemorate his former teammate Marcus Cassel, who died Nov. 17 from wounds inflicted in a one-car accident.

Chris Markey did laps up and down the sideline, hugging everyone he saw.

Bruce Davis was buried under cameras and microphones when he took a look behind him at the thousands of people in blue.

“I don’t want to walk out of here,” Davis said. “This is the best moment of my life.”

This was the scene following UCLA’s 13-9 upset victory over No. 2 USC at the Rose Bowl on Saturday.

In many ways the final score reflected an end to an unprecedented era.

The Trojans’ seven-game winning streak against their crosstown rivals had ended. Their run at a fourth straight national championship appearance had ended. The Bruins’ fourth-quarter meltdowns against their rivals had ended. UCLA coach Karl Dorrell’s futility against his rival had ended, as had USC coach Pete Carroll’s unbeaten dominance over UCLA.

But players and coaches involved in the win claimed it was all about a new beginning.

“I know how important this is to the Bruin family,” Dorrell said. “It’s been a long time coming. It’s special.”

The Bruins (7-5, 5-4 Pac-10) were able to knock the Trojans (10-2, 7-2) out of the national title game.

For one evening, at least, the Los Angeles football conversation started and ended not with what the Trojans did wrong, but what the Bruins did right.

“The best part about this game is that we went out there and outplayed them,” junior linebacker Christian Taylor said. “They didn’t hand it to us, we just played better.”

What the Bruins did right was put a defensive scheme together that dominated the Trojan offense in a way that no team in the country has been able to do in the last six years.

The nine points their offense managed is the lowest total since the Trojans lost the 2001 Las Vegas Bowl in Carroll’s first season. Taylor led a linebacker corps that held the Trojans to 55 net rushing yards on 29 carries, a 1.9 average.

“We were able to pressure them all day and it got to them,” junior cornerback Rodney Van said. “We would go to the line of scrimmage, look in (John David) Booty’s eyes and see that he was rattled. That’s when we knew it was our day.”

But it would take one jaw-dropping play from an unlikely hero before Van’s words rang true.

The Bruins were nursing a four-point lead after Justin Medlock’s 31-yard field goal with 8:49 left in the fourth quarter when they were tested one last time to end a week full of challenges.

Although the Trojans hadn’t shown the offensive firepower that scored 44 points against Notre Dame the previous week, Booty engineered a comeback drive in which he had the distinct look of a championship-caliber quarterback.

Booty drove his team from the USC 28-yard line down to the UCLA 18-yard line with 1:15 left in the game.

For the first time all day, the Bruin defense seemed tired and vulnerable. But on third-and-four, UCLA was able to make one last stand.

Senior linebacker Eric McNeal blitzed off the right end, timed his jump, deflected Booty’s pass up into the air, and dived to intercept the ball just before it hit the ground.

What happened in the next several minutes was characterized by most of the UCLA football team as a blur.

Sophomore quarterback Pat Cowan led the offense back out onto the field while the Rose Bowl was bubbling with anticipation of what the Bruins hadn’t done in eight years. The Bruins drained the clock down to four seconds before giving it back to the Trojans at their own 12-yard line.

The Rose Bowl had been overflowing with celebration in the stands after McNeal’s interception, but Dorrell’s eyes were following Booty’s last throw until it landed on the ground and his players rushed onto the field.

“I didn’t believe it until the clock went to zero,” Dorrell said. “We’ve been through a tough situation before in Notre Dame, and I wasn’t going to celebrate early.”

While it was the Bruin defense that made the stand in the closing minutes of the game, it was an efficient, although perhaps mild, offense that gave the Bruins their first lead in the crosstown rivalry in Dorrell’s tenure.

Cowan, who was only named the starter three days before the game, led his team on a 12-play, 91-yard drive to start the scoring. On that drive, Cowan scrambled for 55 yards on four carries, including a 1-yard touchdown.

Following a USC safety and a 1-yard touchdown run by C.J. Gable at the end of the second quarter, Cowan led the Bruins on second-half drives that resulted in Medlock field goals of 22 and 31 yards.

“He’s grown as a leader, and now when we look in his eyes, everyone trusts him,” junior guard Shannon Tevaga said.

The Bruins’ win surely cleansed the wounds of the 20-17 loss at Notre Dame earlier in the year, as well as last years’ embarrassing 66-19 loss to the Trojans. Following the chaotic celebration on the field, Dorrell and his players reiterated that the win had less to do with the past and more to do with the future. With high school recruits on official UCLA visits glad-handing coaches and players in the postgame locker room, several members of the team spoke about what this win means to the football program moving forward.

“We know how much this means to the whole UCLA community,” junior cornerback Trey Brown said. “This win is for them and having to wait too long to see this. This is only the start of making UCLA an elite program again.”