USC Beats UCLA, Heads to Rose Bowl?

USC beat UCLA today at the Rose Bowl, 28-7, and secured its seventh consecutive Pac-10 title.

Barring unexpected developments, USC will be returning to the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day for the fourth year in a row.

A photo gallery is here.

The game was especially colorful in the visual sense thanks to the agreement between coaches Pete Carroll and Rick Neuheisel that both of their Los Angeles teams will wear home colors when they meet.

When the referee announced the time out penalty for USC not wearing the correct equipment on the field, the crowd cheered, and the cheers grew even louder when he announced the timeout penalty for UCLA. It was a lovely moment for Southern California college football.

Perhaps by next year the NCAA will grant a waiver for UCLA to wear their home uniform to the Coliseum so the teams don't have to give up timeouts again. It's not as though anyone has trouble telling the teams apart wearing these uniforms, after all...quite the contrary.

Fight on!

Previously: USC Rose Bowl Champions! (January 1, 2007), We're Going to the Rose Bowl! (December 1, 2007), and USC Rose Bowl Champions! (January 1, 2008).

Sunday Night Update: It's official, USC is headed to the Rose Bowl to play Penn State on New Year's Day.