PASADENA, Calif. (CNS) — UCLA will host USC Saturday night in the Rose Bowl in a clash of teams looking for a victory over their crosstown rival to highlight a lackluster season.

The 5-5 Trojans need either a win against the Bruins or sixth-ranked Notre Dame next Saturday in their regular-season finale to become bowl eligible for the fifth time in six seasons.

The 4-6 Bruins must beat USC and Fresno State next Saturday in their regular-season finale to become bowl eligible for the fourth straight season.

In their first seasons in the Big Ten Conference, both teams are 3-5 in conference play, tied for 12th in the 18-team conference.

USC is a 4 1/2 to five-point favorite, according to the oddsmaker.

The Bruins won last year’s game, 38-20, with Ethan Garbers throwing three touchdown passes and the UCLA defense, then coached by D’Anton Lynn, sacking the 2022 Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Caleb Williams four times and limiting the Trojans to 3 yards rushing.

Lynn left the Bruins 13 days later to become the Trojans’ defensive coordinator. Cornerback John Humphrey and safety Kamari Ramsey joined Lynn in moving from UCLA to USC after starting in 2023. Ramsey leads the Trojans with five completions and is fourth with 43 tackles.

Jayden Maiava will make his second straight start at quarterback for USC. He threw for 259 yards and three touchdowns in his first start as a Trojan in last Saturday’s 28-20 victory over Nebraska, which ended USC’s five-game losing streak on only one score.

Garbers, a redshirt senior, has thrown multiple touchdowns in each of his last four games, the first time he has accomplished that feat.

Statistically, the Trojans’ strongest facet is their punting game, leading Football Bowl Subdivision teams in net scoring with an average of 46.18 yards. Their second highest ranked area is the passing offense, 13th in FBS, averaging 288 yards.

UCLA is seventh in rushing defense, allowing 100.6 yards per game and 11th in kickoff return defense, allowing 16 yards per return.

USC leads the series 50-34-7, not counting wins in 2004 and 2005 that were vacated as part of NCAA sanctions for improper benefits accepted by 2005 Heisman Trophy-winning running back Reggie Bush and his family. The Bruins have won just seven of the last 25 meetings.

The winner will receive the Victory Bell, a 295-pound bell that originally hung atop a Southern Pacific freight locomotive and was donated to the UCLA Alumni Association in 1939. In 1941, it was taken by a group of USC students who hid it. in various locations for over a year.

Following intervention by school administrators, the presidents of the two schools signed an agreement in 1942 that the winner of the football game would retain possession for the following year, a tradition that has continued , while painting the bell carriage in the school. color of the winner.