Seattle and Los Angeles are two Western cities whose sports teams have regularly clashed over the years. The Sonics played the Lakers in multiple NBA Western Conference finals series in the 1980s. The Seahawks played the Los Angeles Raiders in the 1983 AFC Championship Game. The Raiders won and went to Super Bowl XVIII.
The Mariners play the Angels. Now the NHL Kraken face the Kings and the Anaheim Ducks. Washington would be in the Pac-12 Championship Game, not Utah, if it had beaten UCLA this season.
Yet, as much as Seattleites might want to beat L.A., the residents of that city will be pulling hard for USC this Friday night.
Husky fans will be shouting "Fight On!" when the Trojans face Utah in Allegiant Stadium. A USC win not only sends the Men of Troy to the College Football Playoff; it would send Washington to the Rose Bowl.
Washington needing a late-season USC win to go to the Granddaddy is not a new thing. This scenario has existed multiple times before.
Let's dig into the historical archive:
1977
Washington went 6-1 in the 1977 Pac-8 football season, but its one loss was to UCLA. Therefore, when the Bruins - 5-1 in the conference - met USC, the Huskies needed a Trojan win to head to Pasadena.
USC PLAYS SPOILER
We recalled the backdrop to the 1977 USC-UCLA game:
FRANK JORDAN
USC's clutch kicker came through:
SLOWING TERRY DONAHUE'S RISE AS UCLA HEAD COACH
Terry Donahue eventually thrived at UCLA, but this win slowed his ascent in Westwood.
If the Bruins had won:
BEFORE JORDAN'S KICK
UCLA's coach, Terry Donohue embraces a sideline companion and Brian Baggott (8) smile broadly as they watch UCLA make their last touchdown and conversion points putting them a point ahead of USC in the last minutes of the game on Friday, Nov. 25, 1977 in Los Angeles, left. Donohue, right, has just shaken the wining USC coach's hand, John Robinson, after USC's Frank Jordan kicked a 38 yard field goal with 2 seconds remaining in the game beating UCLA 29-27. (AP Photo/George Brich)
CHARLES WHITE
University of Sothern California's Charles White is tackled by University of California Los Angeles' Levi Armstrong in UCLA-USC football action Friday November 25, 1977 in Los Angeles. USC went on to win 29-27 by a field goal in the last two seconds of the game. (AP Photo/George Brich)
1981
WASHINGTON BEAT WASHINGTON STATE, WHICH MEANT USC-UCLA WOULD DECIDE THE PAC-10 CHAMPION
The New York Times:
GEORGE ACHICA
USC's brilliant interior defensive lineman blocked UCLA's winning 46-yard field goal attempt at the end of regulation.
You can watch the game and that blocked field goal:
USC 22, UCLA 21 -- NOVEMBER 21, 1981
USC HEISMAN SEASON
Marcus Allen of the USC Trojans, poses with the coveted Heisman Trophy awarded to him at the Downtown Athletic Club in New York, Dec. 6, 1981. Allen, 21, who traversed more football turf than any other player in college football history, was the 47th winner of the Heisman Memorial Trophy. (AP Photo/Ron Frehm)
2022 PAC-12 RANKINGS ENTERING CHAMPIONSHIP WEEKEND
THE BOTTOM LINE: PAC-12 NEW YEAR'S SIX BOWL SCENARIOS
If Utah beats USC, the Utes go back to the Rose Bowl and the Trojans go to the Cotton Bowl.
If USC beats Utah, the Trojans go to the playoff - probably the Peach Bowl against Georgia, possibly the Fiesta Bowl against Michigan - and Washington goes to the Rose Bowl.
Story originally appeared on Trojans Wire
