Rivalries are always circled on the calendar. Whether a program wins or loses all of its games, how a team performs against its most bitter rivals is the memory that lasts forever.
Dan Lanning isn't treating a Week 4 road matchup against a rival as a game of the same caliber as the one the Oregon Ducks play every Saturday. With an ugly loss already on their record, the Ducks are facing a sink-or-swim situation much earlier in the season than anyone anticipated.
The USC Trojans are an established rival that the Ducks once looked up to as the Goliath on the West Coast. However, Oregon's shadow has grown as the Ducks' success on the field has continued, and now it's the Trojans looking to step out of the shadow and back into the spotlight.
"This is a
game that doesn't take anything for our guys to get excited for," Lanning said on Monday. "We've got several guys that are from the area getting to go back home. This is a significant game against a really good team, an undefeated team. So that challenge in itself, I think, is going to lend toward really good practices and making sure that we do a good job as coaches of putting together a good plan."
The rivalry extends beyond the field as well. For years, recruits from the Pacific Northwest chose Oregon or Washington, while players from California often wound up at USC or UCLA. The Ducks fought against the grain, pulling elite talent from Southern California to Eugene and overtaking USC in recent years as a result. The Trojans have started to reclaim the territory on the recruiting trail, but Oregon's impact has already been made.
Several Oregon commits and targets will be in attendance at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Saturday, many of whom are targets for USC as well. It's a pendulum game for both programs; one that could sway recruits to one program or another.
And, of course, the impacts for this season are clear. USC still hasn't made the College Football Playoff with Lincoln Riley running the show. If the Ducks have two losses in September, their postseason outlook is murky at best. Saturday is the perfect time to make a statement.
"It's certainly not just another game," Lanning said. "We don't talk about all the scenarios that play out. We worry about the things that we can control. How can we go out here and perform the best that we want to be able to perform? But do we think this is a big game? Absolutely. Do our players realize that? Absolutely. It's Big Ten play. That's different, right? All that matters. We don't go through all the what-if scenarios. We go through, OK, how do we prepare to be the best version of us for this game?"
Matayo Uiagalelei is well-versed in the rivalry between the Ducks and Trojans. Both programs recruited him out of St. John Bosco High School in California, and Uiagalelei has already been a part of two wins for Oregon against USC. He had a strip sack on USC quarterback Jayden Maiava in last year's game in Eugene.
Uiagalelei hasn't played at the Coliseum yet, but the senior pass rusher will get a chance to play in front of friends and family this weekend while leading the Ducks in a game with everything on the line.
"For me, this is definitely something I had on my bucket list, just in my career, playing back at the Coliseum," Uiagalelei said. "I’ve played in the Rose Bowl already, but you know, I think my family — I’m not even lying, I was really an Oregon fan growing up, and most of my family pretty much was all USC fans. But you know, it's just a blessing to get to play in that kind of environment. I'm just excited."
As long as the Ducks don't have a national championship to counter USC's 11 titles, there will be plenty of debate about the two programs and who owns the coast. Oregon has trumped USC in recent matchups, but the Trojans have the history to back it up, something Lanning wasn't afraid to point out after the teams met on Oregon senior day last season.
"They're living off their history," Lanning told the Ducks in the locker room during the "Ducks vs. Them" cinematic recap of last season's win over USC. "Matt Leinart, he ain't walking through there. Reggie Bush ain't going to show up."
Lanning has fueled the flames for Oregon in the rivalry, and USC hasn't shied away either. After the Trojans secured a commitment over the Ducks, the Trojans took to social media and mocked Lanning's infamous phrase, "The grass is damn green in Eugene." On social media, USC's football account posted a video spraying green grass red with the caption, "The grass wasn't greener."
For so much back-and-forth between the programs, Saturday's game will finally bring all of it to a collision point. A loss could knock Oregon out of the national picture. A loss for USC could put Riley on the hot seat. Tempers will be high, but the Ducks know what needs to be done to come out on top once again.
"It's as intense as it gets, right?" Lanning said. "We talk about two teams that are competitive, that want to be really good, that have great talent. It means a ton to the fan base. I think it's only grown, like you said, in my time since I've been here, that it means a lot to our team. The biggest thing is: can you focus on the game and not the occasion? Try to be in the moment and focus on your preparation, your execution. But this is certainly a big game."
Oregon and USC will renew the rivalry and get a chance to settle the feud on the field on Saturday, with kickoff set for 4:30 p.m. PT.
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This article originally appeared on Ducks Wire: Dan Lanning doesn't downplay stakes of Oregon-USC: 'Not just another game'
