More than bragging rights are at stake this time around as the Trojans prepare to host the UCLA Bruins on Saturday night.

After Colorado upset Utah on Friday, UCLA found themselves having clinched a spot in the Pac-12 Championship Game before taking the field for their final game.

But before the Bruins face off against Oregon in the inaugural title game, there are still some details to be sorted out.

While UCLA is already the Pac-12 South's representative in the Championship, it can only claim the title of "Pac-12 South Champion" if it beats USC Saturday night.

A win would also guarantee the Bruins a bowl game, as losses to USC and Oregon would make them 6-7, and could prevent them from going to a bowl.

Winning will be easier said than done, however, against USC, a team that has risen to No. 10 in the AP poll after halting Oregon’s 21-game home winning streak last Saturday.

Meanwhile for the Trojans, there is no postseason play at stake, and this will surely be the team’s final game. 

Even so, by winning the final game, the Trojans hope to put an exclamation mark on what has already been an exemplary season, in which the Trojans nearly upset two Top 5 opponents.

If USC is able to hold serve at home and defeat its crosstown rivals, it will finish the season with an overall record of 10-2 and an outright Pac-12 South title. 

If a 10-2 season, in which the Trojans won in Eugene and South Bend and nearly beat Stanford, doesn’t emphatically exclaim, "USC is back," it’s unclear that anything could.  

As strange as it may sound, all this success could hurt the Trojans heading into next year should the team’s star quarterback elect to go pro after the season. If Barkley does decide to forgo his senior season, Saturday’s rivalry game would be Matt Barkley’s final intercollegiate game. 

Barkley’s decision will become known in the coming months, but USC’s season is not yet over until Saturday’s game is played. 

The Trojans are the clear favorite. They have won four straight meetings against the Bruins and 11 of their last 12 head-to-head encounters.

With that said, talent on paper along with past trends does not determine the outcome of a game. The game must still be played. That’s the beauty of competitive sports.  

Despite USC’s average 18.3-point margin of victory against the Bruins over the last four meetings, Peter Yoon of ESPNLA.com believes the game will be a lot closer than a cursory review of the numbers would suggest.

In this final 2011 edition of USC Football Behind Enemy Lines, Yoon helps us break down the game. Thanks to Yoon for contributing and to all our readers for keeping up with the segment all season long. 

1. In what has been a rollercoaster of a season for the UCLA Bruins, please briefly highlight the team’s best and worst moments of the season.

Peter Yoon: The worst moment is easy. It was the loss at Arizona on a Thursday night on ESPN. The teams engaged in a bench-clearing brawl and UCLA was blown out, 48-12, by a team that had just fired its coach and hasn't done much else all season. It was a major black eye on the program and everyone thought Rick Neuheisel wouldn't survive that weekend, but he did.

The best moment was probably the win over Arizona State. That was an entirely unexpected victory, and it put UCLA in control of the Pac-12 South. It was also the only time UCLA won back-to-back games this season as it came after a pretty good game against Cal.

2. To what extent are you surprised by how this season has gone for the Bruins? 

PY: I'm not surprised at all about how the season has gone. This is a team that is still trying to find its footing and a program trying to grow. As a result, you are going to have growing pains and those have manifested in the form of inconsistency. If I remember correctly, I think I picked them to finish second in the Pac-12 South with an 8-4 record so they aren't quite as good as what I thought they'd be. I thought they would beat Houston, so that was one game I missed. I also had them winning at Arizona, I believe. So, they lost by three at Houston and were shell-shocked at Arizona. Otherwise, things have gone pretty much the way I figured.

3. Coach Rick Neuheisel has been on the proverbial hot seat virtually all year. In your opinion, what are Neuheisel’s chances of retaining his position beyond the season? 

PY: I think a lot is riding on the game Saturday against USC. Not just because it's USC, but because there are so many stakes involved. If UCLA wins, they'll be tied with USC in conference and will hold the tiebreaker, so in UCLA's mind that means they finished ahead of USC. Then they will go to the Pac-12 title game. How can you fire a guy who beats USC, finishes a head of USC and goes to the Pac-12 title game?

If UCLA loses, they'll just be 6-6, and everyone will be left with a sour taste and the chances of him sticking around are then going to be greatly diminished.

[Editor's Note: Peter submitted his responses prior to UCLA clinching a spot in the Pac-12 title game.]

4. Running backs Johnathan Franklin and Derrick Coleman lead a two-pronged rushing attack for the Bruins. Boasting very different running styles, how do the two complement each other?

PY: They are the proverbial Thunder and Lightning combination. Coleman is the bruiser who gets the tough yards inside, and Franklin is the speedy breakaway threat who likes to get outside. UCLA likes to get Franklin going early and then bring in Coleman to finish off the job, because he's more effective against a tired defense.

5. The inconsistency of quarterback Kevin Prince has been well documented. How can Prince parlay last week’s standout performance into another quality outing this Saturday? 

PY: Well, it's tough to compare playing against Colorado's defense with playing against USC, so I wouldn't count on him having that kind of game again. But Prince is definitely playing with a lot more confidence than he was earlier in the season. He gets in trouble when UCLA gets into obvious passing situations, so the key is for UCLA to stay out of those by gaining four or five yards on first down. The other thing that affects Prince is his running ability. He's a legitimate threat in the run game, and when he gets that going, he seems to pass better, too.

6. The Bruins’ defense has struggled against the run, allowing more than 180 rushing yards per game. What are the main reasons for the defense’s all-too-common inability to stop the run?

PY: As simple as it sounds, it's tackling issues. UCLA misses more tackles than a college team should. They take bad angles, and they fail to wrap up. The defensive line has had trouble penetrating, but has been better at that in recent weeks. The linebackers are slow, so if you get them in the open field, it’s a problem. Defensive coordinator Joe Tresey has designed some schemes and personnel to try and cover up some of those weaknesses, and UCLA has been better against the run. However, two weeks ago against Utah, John White showed that they are still vulnerable.

7. In what very well could be Matt Barkley’s final collegiate game, what would it mean for the Bruins to upset the heavily favored Trojans in front of their home crowd? 

PY: It would mean the Bruins have gotten over a pretty big hump. Beating a good USC team with conference implications at stake would be the biggest win for UCLA in quite some time. It would be absolutely huge for the program and Neuheisel if UCLA pulled off the upset. Given the state of the two programs, this is about much more than bragging rights this year.

8. From UCLA’s perspective, what must the team do in order to pull off a huge upset of its crosstown rivals?

PY: UCLA must run the ball effectively to win. That is the key for them in every game. If they start breaking off five, six yards at a time, that will open up the play-action pass and enable the Bruins to hit some big plays down field. That's how they have been doing it all season. When the run game is working, they control time of possession and keep opponents from getting too far ahead. If UCLA falls behind by more than two touchdowns, the game is pretty much over because they are not built to overcome big deficits. They are built to keep games close and try to steal the game at the end.

9. Here's the part where we go out on a limb: What is your prediction for Saturday's game?

PY: The game is almost always closer than expected and this year will probably be no different. USC is favored by two touchdowns, but it will be closer than that. I have USC winning, 31-30, as UCLA can't pull out a fourth-quarter miracle comeback.

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Thanks again to Peter Yoon. Follow him on Twitter at @PeterYoonESPN.

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