College Football Rewind: 5 most important games from 2006 season

2. UCLA 13, (2) USC 9

By the final week of the regular season, most everyone in the country was already thinking about the Ohio State versus USC national championship that looked certain to occur.

Ohio State had already wrapped up its regular season and finished 12-0 and had a spot in the national championship locked in. USC came into this week ranked No. 2 and needed a victory over its arch rivals, the UCLA Bruins, who came into the game 6-5 and never played very well against Pete Carroll and the Trojans, to seal a spot versus the Buckeyes in the championship game.

UCLA’s defense played a terrific game and picked off USC when the Trojans were driving deep into Bruins territory with a little over a minute left.

The Bruins had not beaten USC since 1998 and were huge underdogs coming into the game. This game denied the Trojans a third straight appearance in the BCS championship game and chance for Carroll to further cement his legacy as one of the greatest college coaches of all time.