Silas Redd has become well-versed in the USC-UCLA rivalry (Scott Enyeart/Neon Tommy)

And if you think Trojan football players haven’t noticed, well, think again.

“We don’t have that at Penn State,” joked running back Silas Redd after Tuesday’s practice. “We have trophies between Michigan State and Minnesota, but we won’t go so far as to boarding up because we’re not around any of those schools. They’re not going to get on a plane and come vandalize our stuff.”

The former Nittany Lion is new to the cross-town rivalry after transferring to USC this offseason, and is learning quickly what kind of enmity can build when the two schools sit just twelve miles apart. Yet as Marqise Lee explains, the passion doesn’t come from where the schools are, but who’s involved.

“The main part about this game is you know have of the people on their team, so you're going up against the people you grew up with throughout your life,” said the newly-named Biletnikoff semi-finalist. “It's the mindset that I'm playing against someone I've played with before, so this time I want to go hard so I can talk smack back and forth.”

Ah, smack talk. Lee was quick to mention that, for him, the back-and-forth chatter only comes after the game, but other players aren’t so lucky – and some can’t even escape it from within their own families.

“My older sister just graduated from UCLA, she’s going to be there,” laughed wide receiver George Farmer. “So you know how that goes. [I hear it] all the time.”

The stakes are even higher than usual this year, as either school would win the Pac-12 south and clinch a spot in the conference championship game with a win. It’s not surprising, then, to hear the Trojans speak of just how much added meaning this game has in their eyes.

“It's awesome, it's cool,” said center Khaled Holmes “There's a lot of meaning to this Battle of L.A. type deal going on here. It makes the game a lot more fun for us - the players, the fans, everyone involved.”

Or, as Robert Woods put it succinctly when asked to describe what’s on the line: “We're playing for the win. We're playing for the Rose Bowl. We're playing for L.A.”

And its core, it’s that last thing that’s most on the line Saturday. 

“It means a lot,” said Farmer, who grew up a Trojan fan in Los Angeles. “I've been growing up watching the UCLA-USC rivalry, so growing as a little kid I would [pretend] it was me out there. It's reality now. It's a great thing.

As for Redd, he doesn’t have as much history with the Bruins and their players as many of his other teammates, but they’re making sure he gets caught up to speed quickly.

“They've explained to me their feelings on the rivalry and I understand now how big of a deal it is,” he said. “I'm their teammate, I'm their brother now, so I feel the same way.”

Quick Hits

-- Redd, who was unavailable against Arizona State, said he expects to be ready to play against UCLA

-- Those expecting to see Lee play more on defense should be prepare to be disappointed. Lee, who lined up on defense for one 4th down play before the Sun Devils called a timeout, laughed when asked if the coaches will give him another shot this weekend. “No way, it’s not going to happen," he said.

-- One place where Lee has been getting some run in recent weeks is at Wildcat, both as a decoy and as a runner. What the staff hasn’t tried yet is letting him throw the ball, a task Lee feels he’s more than capable of. "I think I've got an arm," he boasted, "but I don't think the coaches believe in it."

-- Lane Kiffin on the turnover battle: "We're working on [limiting turnovers]. The other side of that, there’s a positive side too. We’re creating more turnovers than we’ve been back here, by far... We’ve got one thing fixed, now we’re screwing up on the other one.” 

Reach Staff Writer Mike Piellucci hereand follow him on Twitter here.