Maybe a year without bowl games wasn't such a bad idea for USC and UCLA. There was little the Bruins and Trojans did Saturday night at the Rose Bowl that seemed to scream "encore."
But what an evening of gaffes did was reaffirm the pecking order in the city. USC, as it has done 11 times after the last 12 meetings, will spend the year on top of the L.A. heap following a 28-14 victory over UCLA.
Allen Bradford finished his Trojans' career with a career night, scoring the Trojans final two touchdowns to keep the "victory bell" in South Los Angeles.
Bradford had 212 yards rushing, including a 73-yard touchdown run with 3 minutes 31 seconds left, and also scored 47-yard pass play on which he did most of the work to give USC a 21-7 lead with 11:17 left.
It was a triumphant finish to a career that never seemed to hit full speed.
"It's a nice way to finish up," Bradford said. "Even when times got hard I continued to push through. Every rock thrown in my way became a steppingstone."
A game that was loaded with mistakes remained close until USC quarterback Matt Barkley barely got a short pass over UCLA's Owamagbe Odighizuwa and Akeem Ayers. Bradford caught the ball in the backfield, leaped one UCLA defender and sprinted down the sidelines to put USC up by two touchdowns.
Read More:USC takes this one down Victory Lane against UCLA
