USC Stacks the (Football) Cards Against UCLA, 12-10

A new cross-town rivalry was born at the Coliseum on Wednesday when students from USC’s architectural school were pitted against engineering students from UCLA in a competition to see who could build the best design from football trading cards.

The Trojans won.

USC garnered 12 votes to UCLA’s 10, with the ballots being cast by National Football League rookies who had gathered at the Coliseum to be photographed for their first professional trading cards.

USC students Noel Looney, Susan Melkonians and Abraham Gonzales comprised the winning Trojan team, creating five-foot-tall goal posts separated by the letters “USC.” For their efforts, they were awarded a $2,000 scholarship, which they will split.

In their losing effort, UCLA engineering students Simon Avery, Luan Vui and Ji Choe built a replica of their campus’ most famous landmark, Royce Hall. They will split $1,000.

One of the voting rookie players may have been something less than impartial. Rookie Oakland Raider lineman Darrell Russell, who attended USC, cast the vote that put USC ahead to stay in the competition.

“It’s a library,” Russell said, jokingly mocking the UCLA effort. “Get creative. We’re creating. We’re making something up.”