LOS ANGELES -- The UCLA Bruins football team is set to play their second to last game of the season hosting their Los Angeles cross-town rival, the USC Trojans home at the Rose Bowl this Saturday.
This will be the 94th time the two schools have met each other as they will battle for the Victory Bell. USC holds the all-time series lead with a record of 50-34-7.
Despite USC leading the all-time series between the two schools, they have split the series evenly over their last 12 meetings.
UCLA is coming off a tough 31-19 loss to Washington last week. The Bruins never had a lead in that game but came close after halftime when they kicked a 40-yard field goal. Washington would answer UCLA's field goal by putting up 17 unanswered points. The Bruins scored just one more time when quarterback Ethan Garbers threw a 2-yard touchdown pass to Moliki Matavao with 12 seconds remaining of regulation to give the game its final score.
The Bruins will enter Saturday's game with a 4-6 record but have been hot as of late, winning three of their last four games including an impressive road victory over Nebraska three weeks ago.
Coming into this season, the Bruins were looked at as a team that would realistically be looking to be bowl-eligible. With a win this week over USC and one the following week against Fresno State, they'll be in.
However, their opponents across the sideline came into the year with aspirations to win the Big Ten Conference and have the opportunity to play in the College Football playoff in school history.
Unfortunately for them, this season has been quite the complete opposite. The Trojans have a record of 5-5 and have struggled to close out games. They recently had a change at quarterback as well as Miller Moss was benched for UNLV transfer Jayden Maiava.
Maiava made his USC debut last week leading the Trojans to a 28-20 victory where completed 25 of 35 passes, three touchdowns, and 259 yards in the air. On the defensive side, Easton Mascarena-Arnold is leading the Trojans defense in tackles, with 81 on the year. He also is tied for the team lead in interceptions and sacks at two.
UCLA will come into Saturday's game led by Garbers who has turned a rocky start of the season into a solid campaign. Over the last four games, Garbers has had just two interceptions while throwing 10 touchdowns for 1,072 yards.
Garbers has found comfort as of late relying on both his tight ends Matavao and Logan Loya as they both have combined for 670 yards and five touchdowns.
This will be the second straight year the Bruins have been led by Garbers under center as he was the starting quarterback last season when they defeated the Trojans 38-20.
Garbers would go up against reigning Heisman Trophy winner and future number-one pick of the NFL Draft Caleb Williams.
In that game, Garbers threw three touchdowns and had 155 yards.
As of late, the Bruins have started to find their identity on offense by rushing the ball. T.J. Harden has become featured as the lead back in the Bruins offense this season, running the ball over 10 times a game over the last three weeks. Harden has also split time at running back with Jalen Berger and Keegan Jones.
Over the last four weeks, the trio has combined for 368 yards. While also being effective in the passing game, collecting 285 yards.
Defensively, the Bruins have been improving throughout the season. Linebacker Carson Schwesinger was recently named as a semifinalist for the Burlsworth Trophy as the Big Ten Conference leader in total tackles (109).
In last week's loss, he had a career game, logging 17 tackles against the Huskies. The week before, he was awarded Big Ten Conference honors as a defensive player of the week where he had two interceptions against Iowa.
Kickoff for Saturday's against USC is scheduled for 7:30 PM PT. and will broadcast on NBC.