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UCLA Athletics has announced that the Bruins have clinched the SoCal BMW Crosstown Cup competition. At the moment, UCLA leads USC in the 2014-15 Crosstown Cup by a score of 95-85.
However, technically, the competition isn't over because the points awarded for baseball could change if the Bruins and Trojans meet in the postseason. In that scenario, if the Trojans were to beat the Bruins to claim all ten points for baseball, the final score would be 90-90. Nevertheless, the Bruins would win the competition according to the tiebreaker rules. The first tiebreaker is based on regular season record in head-to-head competition; in 2014-15, the Bruins hold a 16-12 advantage over the Trojans in regular season competition.
While the official announcement describes the Crosstown Cup as a "season-long head-to-head battle with its crosstown rival across all sports," there were two instances (men's and women's golf) where there were no head-to-head competitions and the points for those sports were awarded based on which university finished higher in the conference tournament. No points were awarded this year for Sand Volleyball as there was neither a head-to-head competition nor a conference tournament. Also, points are only awarded for sports in which both schools field teams. Therefore, UCLA gets no points for softball or gymnastics since USC doesn't field teams in those sports, and no points are awarded for men's swimming & diving or women's lacrosse since UCLA doesn't field teams in either sport.
According to the Crosstown Cup rules, competition in each sport is worth ten points, with the series winner receiving all ten points. If the head-to-head competition results in a series tie, each school is awarded five points.
With those clarifications, the table below shows how points have been awarded in 2014-15 by sport:
| Sport | UCLA | USC |
|---|---|---|
| Men's Water Polo | 10 | 0 |
| Women's Volleyball | 10 | 0 |
| Women's Cross Country | 0 | 10 |
| Women's Soccer | 10 | 0 |
| Football | 10 | 0 |
| Women's Basketball | 10 | 0 |
| Men's Basketball | 10 | 0 |
| Swimming & Diving | 0 | 10 |
| Women's Water Polo | 10 | 0 |
| Men's Volleyball | 5 | 5 |
| Women's Tennis | 5 | 5 |
| Baseball | 5 | 5 |
| Men's Tennis | 0 | 10 |
| Rowing | 0 | 10 |
| Women's Golf | 10 | 0 |
| Men's Golf | 0 | 10 |
| Men's Track & Field | 0 | 10 |
| Women's Track & Field | 0 | 10 |
| Sand Volleyball | - | - |
| Total (as of May 21) | 95 | 85 |
As you can see from the table, UCLA built a sizeable lead based on results from fall and winter sports, and just a few months ago led by 60 points at 80-20. Furthermore, as the table below shows, UCLA's Crosstown Cup victory this year was powered by the results of our women's teams in 2014-15:
| UCLA | USC | |
|---|---|---|
| Xtown Cup | 95 | 85 |
| XXtown Cup | 55 | 45 |
| XYtown Cup | 40 | 40 |
While it's always fun to beat USC, I hate to think that any Bruin would use competition against USC to gauge the state of UCLA Athletics or to promote the idea that beating USC is indicative of achieving "excellence."
Dan Guerrero shared his thoughts on the Crosstown Cup victory in the official announcement:
Achieving head-to-head excellence over our crosstown rival is what this friendly yet competitive endeavor is all about. I am extremely proud of our UCLA student-athletes and coaches for the hard work and dedication it took to help us capture the SoCal BMW Crosstown Cup. Congratulations to all on a job well-done, and Go Bruins!
Go BRUINS!