The USC Trojans and UCLA Bruins have played football games against one another 87 times. They first met in 1929. The winner gets the Victory Bell trophy. Their campuses are a mere 13 miles apart (just a five hour drive in L.A. traffic).
That, ladies and gentlemen, is a rivalry.
The Los Angeles Rams and Chargers have played 11 football games against one another. Only six of those games involved a team that actually had L.A. in its name and the last one really took place in Orange County in 1994.
That, folks is not a rivalry.
And yet after their 31-20 win over the Bills in Buffalo the Bolts were posed with questions about playing their “cross-town rivals” when the Chargers play a road game in L.A. … this time at the Los Angeles Coliseum instead of the StubHub Center … against the Rams.
“It’ll be interesting to see how that is,” said Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers, who grew up in Alabama in the shadow of The Iron Bowl, arguably the greatest rivalry in all of American football. “We had preseason last year (the Chargers and Rams played in the 3rd exhibition week at the Coliseum in 2017). I didn’t get a real cross-town rival feel in the pre-season bit I imagine it’ll be pretty cranked up. It’ll be a heck of a challenge. They’ve got a heck of a defense. We know what we’ve got over there going against Wade’s (Rams defensive coordinator Wade Phillips) scheme and all those Pro Bowlers on the defensive side.”
If there is any kind of rivalry it exists in individual matchups. Rivers and Antonio Gates and Keenan Allen have had several run-ins with Marcus Peters and Aqib Talib, a pair of defensive backs now with the Rams who spent substantial time with the Chiefs and Broncos. Both corners are notorious trash talkers … just like Rivers. It’s always a little livelier when guys like that square off.
“I’m just going to enjoy this win tonight,” said Talib. “We’ll get to Philip about on Tuesday morning.”
A rivalry needs history. That Iron Bowl between Auburn and Alabama has roots back to the Civil War and started with political resentment that transferred to the football field.
The Rams and Chargers only play a meaningful game once every four years. They’re in different conferences. There is exactly zero history here. Heck, they're even going to be roommates in the new stadium Rams owner Stan Kroenke is building.
It's awfully hard to fight for something against someone you're paying rent to.
In reality Sunday's meeting is just another game on the schedule, just like it will be every time these teams meet.
