This post was updated Nov. 26 at 3:05 p.m.
After four consecutive losses, UCLA football (3-8, 3-5 Big Ten) will conclude its 2025 campaign with a crosstown contest against No. 19 USC (8-3, 6-2) Saturday evening at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in the 95th iteration of the Battle of LA. Here are UCLA’s final predictions from Sports editor Connor Dullinger and Sports senior staffer Kai Dizon – along with guest predictions from assistant Photo editor Aidan Sun, managing editor Shiv Patel, editor-in-chief Dylan Winward and digital managing editor Zimo Li.
Connor Dullinger
Sports editor
Prediction: UCLA 17, USC 31
Sell the team.
Get rid of the program.
Forget about the Rose Bowl. Forget about the move to SoFi Stadium.
And while you are at it, make sure Martin Jarmond does not touch any other program at UCLA. The Bruin athletic director has single-handedly pushed the football program into the abyss and the Big Ten’s cellar while making the Bruins the embarrassment of college football.
I don’t see any world where UCLA leaves LA Memorial Coliseum with a win. There’s no doubt the Bruins could emerge victorious, but only because of the rivalry that exists between the two schools – the same way a 0-15 Cleveland Browns squad always has a chance to beat a 15-0 Pittsburgh Steelers squad just because it’s a fierce divisional rivalry.
But I don’t see that happening.
UCLA has lost four in a row. The offense can’t move the ball downfield, let alone put points on the board, even when redshirt sophomore quarterback Nico Iamaleava is playing. The offensive line couldn’t stop a parked car. The running backs can’t make it past the line of scrimmage, and the wide receivers couldn’t catch a cold.
And the defense is somehow even worse.
The front seven is essentially nonexistent. Broken tackles are littered across the gridiron. Yellow flags adorn the turf. And opposing players always seem to be dancing in the UCLA end zone.
Some may call me pessimistic.
But I’m just realistic.
There is nothing positive about this football team, and I don’t know what can save the program from its already sealed fate.
It pains me more than anything to say it, but give me the Trojans, by a large margin.
Kai Dizon
Daily Bruin senior staff
Prediction: UCLA 23, USC 21
Even in a losing season.
Even in a season where UCLA loses its head coach, offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator.
Even in a season where the Bruins averaged their worst Rose Bowl attendance since moving into the Pasadena venue in 1982.
There is still one game that matters – UCLA vs. USC.
If the Bruins lose Saturday, no one really cares. The narrative, more or less, stays the same.
But a win over the Trojans would be about as close to a winning season as you can get without actually winning a bowl game.
The Bruins aren’t better than the Trojans.
UCLA is playing for pride, but so is USC.
The only thing UCLA has going for it is that the away team has won the past five rivalry games, and the Bruins have come away with wins against arguably better Trojan teams.
UCLA is probably going to look very different come August – it needs to fill its coaching vacancies, possibly find a new starting quarterback and may be calling SoFi Stadium its home.
And that’s besides all the typical transfer portal and recruiting cycle madness.
Just don’t let this era of UCLA football go out so sad.
Aidan Sun
Assistant Photo editor
Prediction: UCLA 42, USC 38
The season resets when UCLA and USC line up across from each other.
Records, momentum, statistics and narratives all go out the window.
The crosstown rivalry exists in its own universe – one where decades of pride, spite, history and hatred come to bear in 60 scriptless minutes.
For every blowout, there’s a final-drive stunner.
For every “better team,” there’s an underdog ready to flip the city on its head.
For every team on the cusp of postseason aspirations, there is a team with nothing left to lose.
I would be lying if I said I know exactly what will happen this year.
But when it comes to playing the team from the other side of town, I will never bet against the Bruins.
It has been a meaningless season at best and a miserable one at worst – but beating up your most hated of rivals has a way of rewriting the story.
The glory of ringing the Victory Bell is enough to wipe out most of the season’s wounds, and I would happily forgive 2025 for the agony it induced in myself and the Bruin faithful.
That is why I am picking chaos.
I am picking the fight.
I am picking UCLA.
In a game where logic dies and legends are born, the Bruins will find one last spark, one last punch, one last moment to drive the Trojans back into the ground and paint the bell blue.
Shiv Patel
Managing editor
Prediction: UCLA 31, USC 10
I’m not much of a college football fan.
I said 15 months ago that I had only been to one UCLA football game. The Bruins have pretty consistently failed to make the trek to Pasadena worth it for me, so that fact has still not changed.
However, if there’s one week each year you can catch me watching football, it’s Thanksgiving week. Whenever my family gathers for the holiday, it’s a pretty safe bet the Chicago Bears game is on the TV.
It’s typically not a very optimistic point in the season. By this time most years, my local team has found itself out of – or very close to being out of – playoff contention.
But this year is different.
The Bears are 8-3 and lead the NFC North. They seem to have alleviated the fourth-quarter issues that plagued them last Thanksgiving.
Yes, a 3-8 UCLA team is facing a USC squad that was in the playoff hunt until Saturday.
Yes, the Bruins are on a four-game losing streak.
But, you know what, the Bears have put me in a hopeful mood.
So I’m not feeling bearish about my other favorite ursine team’s chances this weekend.
Dylan Winward
Editor in chief
Prediction: UCLA 7, USC 28
It’s the hope that kills you.
Traipsing out on the rooter bus to Pasadena to watch the Bruins lose is not an unfamiliar sensation.
Many Bruins would have been willing to write off UCLA’s football season – saving themselves potential anguish after the team’s early-season losses to Utah, UNLV and New Mexico.
But after former Bruin coach DeShaun Foster got the boot, things started to look up.
UCLA’s wins over Penn State, Michigan State and Maryland gave the fans hope, with Iamaleava lighting up the Big Ten with his rushing ability.
There were even calls for assistant head coach and tight ends coach Jerry Neuheisel or interim head coach Tim Skipper to stick around.
“It’s a great day to be alive and be a Bruin,” Neuheisel said in a viral TikTok video.
Unfortunately for the Bruins, the fairy tale seems to be over.
Reality has come crashing down – UCLA has lost four straight. Speculation surrounding the Bruins’ coaching vacancy has returned to the usual suspects, with Skipper’s name barely bandied about anymore.
And amid that backdrop of negativity, I can’t see UCLA coming out of the LA Memorial Coliseum with anything less than a drubbing.
But hey, at least it might trigger the comprehensive rebuild the team really needs.
Zimo Li
Digital managing editor
Prediction: UCLA 21, USC 24
More than 173,000 students applied to UCLA in the 2024-25 admissions cycle.
I am willing to bet none of those students applied because of our football program.
To recap the year: UCLA football flailed against Utah.
The team crumbled against UNLV.
UCLA disintegrated when faced with New Mexico.
And the squad stayed winless through the game with Northwestern. And despite some brief moments of hope, Indiana, Nebraska, Ohio State and Washington proved why pessimism is the way to go when writing predictions.
I used to believe UCLA could conquer all.
A 56-6 loss to Indiana later, I have decided reality is the way to go.
Sitting behind the end zone and listening to the roar of Hoosier fans humbled me fast.
I walked away from that sports photoshoot with a meager few frames of the UCLA offense, a couple of photos highlighting Neuheisel’s frowns and a memory card full of the Hoosier offense pummeling the Bruins.
So forgive me for being a pessimist.
UCLA has a lot to offer.
The sunny Southern California weather, a reputation for academic excellence, a beautiful campus and the amazing West LA food.
I plan to spend my Sunday morning enjoying all of the above, because I will need it to remind myself why I want to remain a Bruin after Saturday night.
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