USC vs. UCLA: The Coldest Ticket In Town

By KURT HELIN

Updated 8:21 AM PST, Tue, Dec 2, 2008

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Apparently, sending the Christians to the lions doesn’t sell anymore.

When USC and UCLA face off each year on the football field usually tickets are hard to come by, unless you have Lakers courtside ticket money you’re willing to throw around. However, with USC a 32.5 point favorite heading into Saturday’s game against the struggling Bruins (and with the motivation of a Rose Bowl trip on the line to make sure the Trojans are focused) tickets are there for the taking.

<i>As of Monday afternoon, UCLA officials said tickets remained for Saturday's rivalry game between the Bruins and fifth-ranked USC at the Rose Bowl.

UCLA marketing director Scott Mitchell said "less than 1,000 tickets" remain available.

Furthermore, stubhub.com was listing tickets for as little as $25 each and Barry Rudin, who owns Barry's Tickets, and operates Barrystickets.com, said the expectations of a mismatch is lowering interest. </i>

Throw in the fact that the economy is looking a little 1930ish and people everywhere are tightening their belt, and the question becomes: Can you blame UCLA fans for not being pumped for this one. Coach Rick Neuheisel has done a good job of trying to change the culture around the program, of bringing back a real sense of pride. But the best way to do that is talent, and UCLA is still recruiting the kinds of players it needs.

USC, on the other hand, has enough talent stockpiled that they could loan UCLA a good team and still compete for a national championship.

And the pride is there -- expect there to be a lot of red in the Rose Bowl this week. USC was given 25,000 tickets for this game, more than double the normal allotment given out in the rivalry. UCLA’s administration saw the lack of interest coming.

Somehow, I don’t think UCLA is going to have this same problem on Feb. 4, when USC’s basketball team comes to Pauley Pavilion.