He draws little attention to himself, publicly, at 35 years old now, on a headset for USC. His return to the Rose Bowl, on Saturday, was one of little personal fanfare. It was simply “ball,” at the end of the day, as he put it this week. But this was the same kid, once, who’d beg best-of-three and best-of-five of his family if they beat him in childhood games. This was the same kid, once, who froze out best friend and high school teammate Breck Holman on the bus on the way to a state championship game because he’d beat him in a Madden game two days before.

And the same man who took this cross-town job when Lincoln Riley came calling in the offseason, the shift that altered trajectories of not one but two programs in Los Angeles, pumped his fist and roared as his unit shut the door on UCLA in a 19-13 win Saturday night.

As USC’s offense had faltered, for much of a chilly night at the Rose Bowl, it was Lynn’s unit who picked up the slack. First came a fourth-and-one stop with five minutes left, the kind of fourth-and-one stop that USC had been missing all season, stuffing an Ethan Garbers keeper into the turf. Second, came a last-gasp heave from Garbers on a fourth down, the Bruins trailing by six with one last play and two minutes left, only for his pass to skip across the turf as Lynn smacked safety Akili Arnold’s chest in glee.

Expectations for USC had deflated, immensely, since a July in which head coach Riley strode to a podium in Indianapolis and declared USC’s intent to compete for Big Ten championships. Their season had slipped, behind a bevy of fourth-quarter collapses. All that was left, as Riley preached, was a three-game season at the end of USC’s slate: Nebraska, UCLA, Notre Dame.

And these Trojans (6-5, 4-5 Big Ten) clinched bowl eligibility Saturday, a still-meaningful consolation prize, as the Bruins (4-6, 3-6 Big Ten) fell short themselves of a bowl game in head coach DeShaun Foster’s first year. Trojans quarterback Jayden Maiava finished 19-of-35 for 221 yards and a touchdown in an uneven performance, while Bruins veteran Ethan Garbers played his heart out, going 20-of-29 for 265 yards and a score.

UCLA QB Ethan Garbers passes in front of DE Braylan Shelby.

(Gina Ferazzi / LAT)

Neither program scored a first-half touchdown, as a 9-3 halftime USC advantage carried a stink of disappointment. UCLA couldn’t finish a drive, coming away with a simple first-drive field goal, wasting a pair of 40-yard and 26-yard explosive runs by back T.J. Harden.

USC couldn’t finish a drive as Lincoln Riley broke out some baffling red-zone play-calling: three first-and-goal situations ended without a trip to the end zone, with star senior back Woody Marks receiving exactly one handoff in such series and Riley dialing up goal-line fade after goal-line fade that fell incomplete.

UCLA’s Garbers made a handful of admirable play-action throws.

USC’s Maiava threw for 164 first-half yards and darted around pockets like a bug trapped under a glass cup. But both were held in check, in enemy territory, by defensive coordinators D’Anton Lynn and Ikaika Malloe, and the rivalry had become a snoozefest.

And then, red-and-blue tensions coming to a head, excitement burst post-first-half buzzer.

As teams slowly made their way to locker rooms, USC linebacker Anthony Beavers Jr. started jawing at a handful of UCLA players. Other Trojans joined in. Staffers, desperately attempting to avoid an all-out skirmish, slowly diverted USC’s players into the visiting tunnel as a growing gaggle of Bruins assembled and waved their hands to the home Rose Bowl crowd – only to be slapped with three unsportsmanlike conduct penalties.

Somehow, USC still came up empty-handed on their first drive of the second half after starting with the ball at their 48-yard-line with those whistles tacked on. And the Bruins came out with sudden life, as Garbers uncorked a 25-yard deep shot to J. Michael Sturdivant on the Bruins’ first drive of the second half and later dumped in a 10-yard screen to tight end Moliki Matavao for the game’s first touchdown.

Lynn’s defense, though, kept UCLA at just a 13-9 advantage as the fourth quarter marched on. And finally, Riley mustered some offensive juice, drawing up a 36-yard bomb from receiver Makai Lemon to Kyron Hudson off a lateral, Maiava maneuvering his way again and finding Ja’Kobi Lane for the go-ahead score that UCLA just couldn’t match, as the Bruins were forced to hand back the Victory Bell to USC.

UCLA would have two minutes to mount its own comeback drive. But as its rival earned bowl eligibility with the victory, the Bruins were bullied out of bowl contention with the loss. The Trojans won the fourth quarter 10-0 and forced two turnovers on downs from the Bruins (4-7, 3-6) in the fourth quarter.

USC safety Akili Arnold celebrates after UCLA turns over the ball late in the fourth quarter Saturday. (Wally Skalij / LAT)

For USC, it was the first true road win of the season. And it certainly didn’t come easy. For the evening Maiava barely completed 50% of his passes and threw for 221 yards and a score, while scrappy Woody Marks had one of his least productive rushing efforts of the season.

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