UCLA football to face a rising USC squad at the Coliseum

When Jim Mora looks across town at USC, he sees a team enjoying football. Moreover, Mora sees a squad led by the man with the best coaching performance in the Pac-12 this year.

The UCLA coach told reporters Tuesday that he selected USC’s interim coach Ed Orgeron as his choice for Pac-12 Coach of the Year on Monday night. This Saturday, Mora’s No. 22 Bruins (8-3) will play Orgeron’s No. 23 Trojans (9-3) in the latest installment of the crosstown rivalry game.

Under Orgeron, USC crawled its way out of a 3-2 start that got former coach Lane Kiffin fired after a 61-42 drubbing at the hands of Arizona State. Kiffin’s seat was already hot coming into the season, as USC lost five of its last six games in 2012.

Mora said he feels that the Trojans, who have enjoyed a 6-1 turnaround since Orgeron’s promotion from defensive line coach, have been infected with the enthusiasm and passion for their current coach.

“He gave them a real spark,” said Mora.

The jolt provided by Orgeron nearly earned the Trojans an appearance in the Pac-12 title game. Had UCLA beaten Arizona State and prevented the Sun Devils from claiming the Pac-12 South championship last weekend, this game would feature two teams with a shot at a Rose Bowl berth on Saturday.

While USC returned to national prominence in just two months under Orgeron, Mora’s Bruins will have to settle for incremental progress this season. UCLA entered the season tabbed by many media outlets to win the South division a year after coming within four points short of reaching the Rose Bowl game.

Despite the absence of progress in his team’s on-paper results, Mora said he feels that his team is very close to taking the proverbial next step to being a great program, and has opportunities to grow this year moving forward even without any BCS hopes.

“We are an incredibly young football team. Every time that we fight, fight our butts off and get a win, we learn something,” Mora said. “Every time we get in a battle like we did on Saturday, and we fight back, we come up short, we learn something about ourselves. … We’re moving up the mountain. We’ve just got to get older, more mature.”

Sophomore cornerback Ishmael Adams said he feels that the USC game provides his team with an opportunity to reinforce the strides made by a program fresh off what he called a heartbreaking loss.

“We can’t feel bad for ourselves. … And like any other year, we have to show that this is a different team and that we can bounce back from losses. We’ve been doing it all season,” Adams said.

With perhaps an Orgeron promotion on the line, USC appears to enter its home game against UCLA in prime condition to avenge last year’s 38-28 loss. Redshirt sophomore wide receiver Devin Lucien prefers to play a team on such a hot streak.

“We want them to be at their best when we play them, because we don’t want any excuses if … we did win.”