Though USC football was not nationally relevant for most of the 12 years preceding Lincoln Riley’s arrival, it’s notable that Clay Helton still had a winning record against UCLA. He wasn’t credited for last year’s 62-33 loss, but even if he was (which is fine if you want to do that), he still ended up with a 5-2 record against the Bruins.
USC won in 2015, when Helton was interim coach and was about to be elevated to permanent head coach. USC won in 2016 and 2017 with Sam Darnold under center. USC won in 2019 and 2020. That’s five wins. Helton lost to UCLA only once as USC’s officially employed head coach, in 2018.
Let’s look back at the most recent period of USC-UCLA football games, part of our series of historical recollections: