SP_D_1_D1_LA_1_12-04-05_su_2_CMYK
2005:12:03:23:29:39_vseper
D
CC
SPORTS
Sunday, December 4, 2005
/ SF / VN / OC Q Q
latimes.com/sports
T H E R I VA L R Y
NO. 1 USC 66, NO. 11 UCLA 19
Trojans Go on a Tear
Emotional Leinart weeps before game, but Bush and Co. make Bruins feel like crying
Wally Skalij L os Angeles Times
S T R I N G I N G T H E M A L O N G : Reggie Bush, who burnished his Heisman Trophy candidacy with a 260-yard, two-touchdown day, seems to be dragging much of UCLA’s defense behind him in third quarter.
C HRIS D UFRESNE
Symphony
for BCS: a 1
and a 2 . . .
A look at the probable bowl championship series lineup and where
UCLA is expected to play. The official announcement will be today:
Tailback’s 260 yards help 12-0 USC clinch
its berth in Rose Bowl, the BCS title game
BOWL
Date/Time
By Gary Klein
FIESTA
Jan. 2, 1:30 p.m. Tempe, Ariz. Notre Dame vs. Ohio State
SUGAR
Jan. 2, 5 p.m.
Atlanta
Georgia vs. West Virginia
ORANGE
Jan. 3, 5 p.m.
Miami
Penn State vs. Florida State
H
ROSE
Jan. 4, 5 p.m.
Pasadena
USC vs. Texas
ON
COLLEGE
FOOTBALL
OUSTON — So it’s all
set.
The champion of the
Big 12 Conference will
play USC for the national championship in one of the most anticipated matchups in years.
The Big 12 champion will be
talked about as possibly one of
the greatest teams in the history
of college football.
Just like last season.
Well, Texas hopes not.
Last season, Oklahoma won
the Big 12 but lost the Big
Orange, 55-19.
To paraphrase Texan Lloyd
Bentsen, though, “We’ve seen
Texas, Texas is a friend of ours.
Oklahoma, you are no Texas.”
Proving anything can go right
every once in a while, even in the
befuddling bowl championship
series, the two best teams are
meeting for this year’s national
title game.
It’s No. 1 USC against No. 2
[See Dufresne, Page D13]
IN S I D E
Newswire .....................D3
Horse racing .......D4, 17
Hockey .........................D4
Pro football .................D5
J.A. Adande ................D7
Col. basketball ......D8-9
College footballD10-15
Day in Sports...........D15
High schools ............D16
Surfing .......................D16
Breaking down the bowls
Site
Matchup
OTHER
SUN
Dec. 30, 11 a.m.
El Paso
UCLA vs. Northwestern
Los Angeles Times
A R O U N D T H E N AT I O N
Texas Makes It
Look Too Easy
Georgia Grabs
SEC Crown
Florida State
Wins ACC Title
Vince Young leads
No. 2 Longhorns to a
70-3 rout of Colorado
and into BCS title
game. D14
D.J. Shockley has
two scoring passes
and No. 13 Bulldogs
stop No. 3 Louisiana
State, 34-14. D14
Seminoles beat No. 5
Virginia Tech, 27-22,
to end three-game
losing streak and
earn BCS bid. D14
USC VS. UCLA
No argument: USC
shows why it’s No. 1
by dominating rival
despite hype. A1
Run amok: Bruins
weren’t able to keep
opponents from
rushing by. D11
Battered up: USC
defense easily shuts
down vaunted
UCLA offense. D13
Dull moment: Dorrell had his chance
but he blew it, T.J.
Simers writes. D2
Bruin blues: Rout is
so thorough it elicits
some sympathy, Bill
Dwyre writes. D12
Carroll’s concern:
He hurries to see
son’s high school
playoff game. D13
Times Staff Writer
Their Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback was out of
sync, his timing and mechanics
lost in a flood of pregame tears.
USC had anticipated that
Matt Leinart would be emotional
in his final game at the Coliseum,
but not overcome as he was at
the start of Saturday’s game
against rival UCLA.
No problem for the topranked Trojans.
They did what any college
football team would love to do.
They turned to this year’s
probable Heisman winner.
In what might have been his
last game at the Coliseum, junior
tailback Reggie Bush rushed for
260 yards and two touchdowns
as the Trojans ran over, around
and through 11th-ranked UCLA
in the 75th edition of the crosstown rivalry, winning, 66-19, before a sellout crowd of 92,000.
On a spectacularly clear and
breezy day, USC blew out the
Bruins for the fourth time in five
years and completed its second
straight perfect regular season.
[See Game, Page D10]
BILL PLASCHKE
In Run-Up to a Vote, Bush
Surely Makes His Case
T
he Hollywood sign looming beyond one end zone,
the downtown skyline
shimmering above the
other, the players stepped into a
perfect afternoon in a city up for
grabs.
Then Reggie Bush took it.
He faked it into the deep
green grass, juked it across the
fresh white chalk, sprinted past
it, ducked under it, somersaulted over it, and took it.
Made a deposit with a gumby
dash that caused pokey defenders to bang their heads together
like three stooges. Closed with
an Olympic-style sprint that included a high hurdle and a
three-meter dive.
Gained 100 yards in the first
11 minutes. Gained 260 total
yards despite carrying only six
times in the second half.
Signed it with two touchdowns. Sealed it with USC’s 6619 victory over UCLA.
And, now, today, Reggie Bush
owns Los Angeles, the way Shaq
and Gibby and the Great One
once owned it, with power and
grace and ahhhhs.
The only difference being,
none of those guys ever finished
a game directing a marching
band while holding a rose between his teeth.
“This is everything someone
could dream of,” Bush said Saturday after leading the USC musicians in serenading thousands
of Trojan fans in the Coliseum’s
early evening chill.
It’s certainly everything a city
could dream of, serving as a
[See Plaschke, Page D12]
BASEBALL
BOXING
NHL
NBA
SOCCER
Dodgers Win
Bidding War
for Furcal
It’s Another
Close Call
for Taylor
King Slump
Continues
in Montreal
Clippers Hold
Off James,
Cavaliers
Thousands
Say Goodbye
to George Best
Free-agent shortstop
and leadoff man is Colletti’s first big acquisition as he agrees to a
three-year deal worth
about $40 million. D3
He beats Hopkins by
decision in a fight that
is strikingly similar to
the first middleweight
title bout between the
two in July. D3
L.A. suffers its fourth
consecutive loss, and
fifth in six games, after
giving up a tiebreaking,
short-handed goal in
the third period. D4
Brand and Maggette
take care of the scoring
and Kaman is in charge
of the rebounds in a
102-90 victory over
Cleveland. D7
His casket draped in a
Northern Ireland soccer flag, the legendary
player receives a farewell from more than
100,000 in Belfast. A14
Rafael Furcal
George Best