I am involved in a good-natured debate with a USC fan about the type of players USC is able to recruit versus the ones our Bruins can pursue due to academic standards.

You all saw the Times article this weekend about Pete Carrol, right? Well, our discussion started out when I questioned (only a tad seriously) the real reason that Pete Carrol trolls the streets of South Central at midnight: he is selling the USC brand and building good will to see that the athletes from L.A. come to USC when that time comes.

I explained that UCLA can't touch many of those players due to our academics and my friend acted like she never heard of such a thing, and accused me of sour grapes (as would I her, if it were the other way around).

She said that it is harder to get into USC than UCLA and that the playing field was surely "even" in regards to admissions for athletes, with both schools having to meet the same standards.  

Now we know that is not true, but how do I prove that to her?  

Other than the anecdotal evidence, I can't think of what sources I have to win this debate. Can any of you help me?