Saturday's USC-UCLA game will revisit an old tradition, with the Trojans planning on wearing cardinal jerseys
By Ben Malcolmson
USCRipsIt
PeteCarroll.com
The USC-UCLA rivalry is about to get a little more colorful.
Saturday’s game at the Rose Bowl will revive a classic tradition between the cross-town rivals, with the Trojans planning to wear their home cardinal jerseys instead of the road whites, Coach Pete Carroll announced today.
It’s a flashback to the days when USC and UCLA shared the Coliseum as their home field and both donned home jerseys for the annual rivalry matchup. The tradition stopped in 1982 but will resume Saturday when the Trojans emerge from the Rose Bowl locker room in cardinal instead of white.
“It’s something we’ve been thinking about for a while,” Carroll said Monday. “From talking to coaches at UCLA over the years and seeing the teams wear their home jerseys growing up, it’s something we’re going to start up again this weekend.
“This has always been a colorful matchup and we hope everyone enjoys this recognition of both the past and the present state of the rivalry.”
Carroll and his assistants officially decided on Monday morning to go with the home jerseys on Saturday, meaning the Trojans will be in violation of NCAA rule 1-4-3-a, which states, “the visiting team shall wear white jerseys.”
By wearing cardinal home jerseys during Saturday's road game, USC will then be assessed a penalty — a loss of one timeout per half — for breaking the rule.
• Ben Malcolmson is the Director of Online Media for USCRipsIt/PeteCarroll.com. You can contact him at Ben@PeteCarroll.com.
