The Time Is Now, as the billboards around town say – for a college football doubleheader.
With UCLA’s game scheduled to start at 1:15 p.m. at the Rose Bowl and USC’s at 4:30 p.m. at the Coliseum, the clock might become the enemy in trying to see both local teams on the same day.
10:07 a.m. – The GPS says it’s 36 minutes to Rose Bowl Parking Lot K as my car exits the driveway under gloomy skies. A sense of foreboding sets in. Maybe this wasn’t a great idea.
10:40 a.m. – Pull into Lot K. The GPS lied.
10:43 a.m. – A pack of UCLA students crosses a bridge onto Brookside Golf Course carrying a case of Coors Light. You can get into the nation’s top public university but can’t even pick a decent beer?
11:38 a.m. – Bob Chesney Sr., the coach’s father who is every bit as motivational as his son, ambles over to say hello on the field before the Bruins’ game against Nevada. “Isn’t this fun?” he asks amid UCLA’s unbeaten start, unaware of what it’s been like to be around this program for more than a decade.
11:45 a.m. – Running back Wayne Knight, who left the Bruins’ game against Michigan State last weekend with an abdominal injury, lines up at the goal line in warmups and sprints toward midfield. Looks like he’s playing. Nevada has no chance.
12:18 p.m. – Honorary captain Josh Kelley, the former UCLA star who once ran for 289 yards against USC, stops to chat outside the press box elevators. “I think this team can go all the way,” he said, and he wasn’t talking about winning the Big Ten.
1:17: p.m. – Nevada quarterback Luke Duncan – the former Bruin – throws an interception on his first pass in his return to the Rose Bowl. Welcome back!
1:40 p.m. – Derrick Barksdale returns Duncan’s third interception for a 26-yard touchdown and the Bruins take a 10-0 lead. Time to head to the Coliseum?
3:17 p.m. – The Bruins tack on another touchdown to go up 24-0. Consider it payback for Steve Alford, the failed UCLA basketball coach who never should have gotten a job at Nevada.
4:37 p.m. – With UCLA’s 27-0 victory complete, the GPS says it’s 37 minutes to the underground media parking at the Coliseum. If that’s true, we’ll get there well before halftime!
5:11 p.m. – The gates are down at the parking lot and it’s time to pivot. Once again, the GPS can’t be trusted.
5:13 p.m. – A free parking spot materializes a few blocks away on a side street. And they say parking around the Coliseum is an expensive nightmare.
5:17 p.m. – An attendant at one gate of the Lucas Narrative Museum of Art won’t let a straggler to USC’s game against second-ranked Ohio State cut through a walkway to the Coliseum. Tempted to tell him that the last six Star Wars movies stank.
5:30 p.m. – Settling into my seat in the press box, the Trojans are kicking off with a 17-6 lead early in the second quarter. Where have these guys been all season?
5:42 p.m. – USC running back King Miller fumbles. Never mind.
5:45 p.m. – Ohio State’s Bo Jackson drops a pass that might have gone for a touchdown. Maybe the Buckeyes want the Trojans’ Lincoln Riley to keep his job.
6:50 p.m. – USC tight end Mark Bowman makes a catch, hurdles a defender and breaks a few tackles, wriggling free for a spectacular 70-yard gain. Did he learn that move from watching UCLA’s Dorian Thompson-Robinson do that to the Trojans on this same field?
8:07 p.m. – Fans storm the wet field after USC closes out the 30-18 upset in a scene reminiscent of a similar mob after the Trojans upset No. 5 Stanford in 2013 under interim coach Ed Orgeron. Of course, after two more games, Orgeron was gone.
8:53 p.m. – In a bizarre ending to his postgame media availability after his most significant victory with the Trojans, Riley reads some prepared notes, reiterating that he’s “the right person for this job.” He didn’t think we heard him the first time?
11:26 p.m. – Final story of the day complete, it’s back to the car with a soaked jacket after another ridiculously long loop around the Lucas museum. Who ever liked Jar-Jar Binks, anyway?
11:27 p.m. – The GPS says it’s 17 minutes home. Will it be possible to stay awake?
11:46 p.m. – Home after an exhilarating and exhausting day. The clock didn’t strike midnight on either the Bruins or the Trojans. But you still can’t trust the GPS.
