Trojans trounce UCLA for familiar Rose bouquet

LOS ANGELES – Southern California is returning to the Rose Bowl thanks to another late-season surge capped by a convincing victory over its biggest rival.

UCLA (6-6, 5-4), meanwhile, might soon be making a coaching change.

John David Booty passed for 206 yards and one touchdown, USC rushed for another 231 yards, and the eighth-ranked Trojans beat the Bruins 24-7 Saturday to assure themselves a date in Pasadena on New Year’s Day.

“The senior class has been there four of the last five years,” Booty said. “We’re going to prepare just like we always do, practice the same way, hopefully have the same outcome we’ve had the majority of the times we’ve been there.”

The Trojans (10-2, 7-2 Pac-10) won their final four regular-season games to earn an unprecedented sixth consecutive conference championship.

It also gives them a record 32nd appearance in the Rose Bowl as well as a sixth straight BCS bowl berth.

“I don’t think anybody around here was thinking we were going to be champions this year,” USC coach Pete Carroll said, referring to his team’s status four weeks ago after a 24-17 loss at Oregon. “But those guys knew they could be and they understood that and they just did a marvelous job.”

Fifth-year UCLA coach Karl Dorrell’s job appears in jeopardy. The Bruins entered the season with 20 returning starters and high expectations.

The Trojans were a near-unanimous pick as No. 1 entering the season, but a shocking 24-23 loss to 41-point underdog Stanford Oct. 6 and the setback at Oregon three weeks later knocked them out of the national championship race.

While Carroll said he’s fine with playing in the Rose Bowl, his words indicate otherwise.

“We’ll play anybody, anywhere, anytime,” he said. “I know this isn’t the system and we don’t get to. We wish we could keep playing. If there was a way to keep playing games and see who would win and be the last team standing, we’d love to have that opportunity.”

USC has a 25-1 record in regular-season games played in November and December since Carroll was hired in 2001. The only loss was 13-9 to UCLA last year, snapping the Trojans’ seven-game winning streak against their crosstown rivals.