USC football owns so many magical and historic moments. It just so happened that one of the school’s greatest football victories was also a landmark for television, as ESPN’s Bill Connelly explained:
“Nov. 18, 1967: No. 4 USC 21, No. 1 UCLA 20. With innovative direction from energetic young executive Roone Arledge, ABC Sports moved into the college football game in the 1960s and brought never-before-seen production value to the table,” Connelly wrote. “That lent a new level of gravitas to big-game broadcasts, and it didn’t get any bigger than this one, a rivalry game between top-five teams — and featuring two future Heisman winners (Gary Beban in 1967, O.J. Simpson in 1968) — played in front of 90,772. Simpson unleashed a weaving, 64-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter to secure a classic win.”
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Some of you might remember that Roone Arledge was the brain behind the creation of Monday Night Football in 1970. Arledge was a genius and pioneer in sports television packaging, a truly revolutionary figure in American television and sports. USC’s epic win over UCLA, the greatest game ever played in the USC-UCLA football series, got the A-list treatment from television, helping the Battle for Los Angeles become a staple of late-November Saturdays. USC-UCLA regularly followed Michigan-Ohio State on national television, establishing itself as an American rivalry, not just a local one.
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This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: ABC Sports magnified USC-UCLA football rivalry at the perfect time
