Why UCLA-USC is the most overrated rivalry

The UCLA-USC rivalry is the most overrated in college football. There is a rivalry. There is some emotion. There is some dislike.

But, c'mon. It's in L.A.

There are the sellout crowds at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and the Rose Bowl. There's the delight the Bruins took in ending the Trojans' national championship hopes in 2006 with a 13-9 upset. There's the 1967 game, in which the No. 4 Trojans and their Heisman Trophy candidate, tailback O.J. Simpson, defeated the No. 1 Bruins and their Heisman Trophy winner, quarterback Gary Beban, 21-20. The game turned on Simpson's 64-yard, gravity-defying touchdown sprint in the fourth quarter. Dan Jenkins, the best college football writer since Grantland Rice, has that '67 game on his short list of all-time greats.

But, c'mon. It's still in L.A.

These people don't know how to hate a college football opponent. The weather's too nice. There's too much else to do. College football is just not important enough.

—Excerpt from Ivan Maisel's new book, "The Maisel Report: College Football's Most Overrated & Underrated." Click here to read more on UCLA-USC. Click here to see the Maisel Report website and read more excerpts.  Click here to buy the book.

Comments

[VA Blueblood]

This is nothing more than typical west coast bashing from an east coast journalist. His argument here is that LA is awesome, and good rivalries can only come from places that suck. So, to be good, you have to suck. Brilliant.

This tool has no idea. And hopefully no readership. What a complete and total hack.