In a season that will soon be forgotten, the USC Trojans came out victorious, 28-14, in the crosstown rivalry football game against the UCLA Bruins at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena Dec. 4.

USC, who finish the 2010 campaign at 8-5 and without a bowl game, fired first with 4:39 left in the first quarter. Freshman tailback Dillon Baxter completed a pass to Rhett Ellison for a five-yard touchdown reception.

The Bruins (4-8), however, knotted the score less than a minute later when running back stud Johnathan Franklin rushed for a 59-yard touchdown at 3:47. UCLA was perhaps on the verge of scoring again with less than three minutes before halftime, but Franklin fumbled around USC’s 34-yard line. Then, Trojan Malcolm Smith returned the recovered fumble 68 yards the other way for the score and lead, which the Trojans never relinquished thereafter.

After a scoreless third quarter, running back Allen Bradford took over the affair. Bradford collected a 47-yard touchdown pass at 11:17 and then carried the ball 73 yards for another score at 3:31. UCLA went on to score with less than a minute left, but it obviously was not enough to overcome the more talented Trojan squad.

“It was a good ride. Times weren’t so bad,” Bradford tells reporters after the contest. “I’m a Trojan for life. Fight on. I couldn’t have even dreamed it. To go down in history like this to top off my career, I couldn’t ask for a better day.”

For the game, Bradford rushed for 212 yards on 28 carries and a total of two touchdowns. Franklin had 109 rushing yards in just 13 carries.

Due to a two-year sanction, the USC Trojans did not receive a bowl bid this year even though they gained eight wins. A minimum of six victories is needed to be bowl eligible in the NCAA.

“We would have gone to the Holiday Bowl,” USC head coach Lane Kiffin says.