Trojans come up roses

PASADENA, Calif. – The goal at Southern California is the same every year: Win the Pac-10 championship and play in the Rose Bowl.

The Trojans always aspire to be national champions as well, but for the fourth year in a row, the Rose Bowl will just have to do after beating UCLA 28-7 Saturday.

Mark Sanchez passed for 269 yards and two touchdowns, USC’s hard-hitting defense stuffed UCLA at every turn, and the fifth-ranked Trojans won their ninth in 10 games between the crosstown rivals.

The win assured USC (11-1, 8-1 Pac-10) of an unprecedented seventh consecutive BCS bid. It will make a fourth straight appearance in the Rose Bowl game, against No. 6 Penn State.

The 33-point underdog Bruins (4-8, 3-6) inspired hopes by taking a 7-0 lead in the opening 4 minutes of this game, but they were unable to pose a scoring threat after that, crossing midfield just once.

Arizona 31, Arizona St. 10

At Tucson, Ariz., Mike Thomas broke open the game open with a 52-yard punt return for a score, and the Wildcats (7-5, 5-4) whipped the Sun Devils (5-7, 4-5) to clinch their first winning season since 1998.

Arizona is expected to accept a bid to the Las Vegas Bowl.