For a number of years, the schools shared the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum as their home stadium until UCLA moved to the
Rose Bowl for the 1982 season. Each school alternated as the "home" team for the game, with home fans on North side of the Coliseum and visitor fans on the South (press box) side. Until 1983, players on both teams wore their home football jerseys for the game. Since the 1984 season, when the game was played at the Rose Bowl for the second time, the visiting fans sit in the visitor section of each respective stadium, and the visiting team wears their white jerseys. Because UCLA called the Coliseum home and USC won a number of Rose Bowl games, each school has a lifetime winning record in the others' current home stadium.
Starting in 2006, the coaches at the time, USC coach Pete Carroll and UCLA coach
Karl Dorrell expressed an interest in restarting the tradition of both teams wearing home jerseys. At the time, the NCAA football rules
ARTICLE 3. a. stated, "Players of opposing teams shall wear jerseys of contrasting colors, and the visiting team shall wear white jerseys."[SUP]
[17][/SUP] USC coach Pete Carroll said he would be willing to lose two timeouts during the game so that the USC team could wear their red jerseys for the UCLA-USC football game on December 6, 2008.[SUP]
[18][/SUP] It was determined before the 2008 game that the visiting school would only lose one timeout for incorrect equipment. Coach Carroll agreed to forfeit a timeout to satisfy the ruling and Coach
Rick Neuheisel agreed to forfeit one, in return (even though, as the coach of the home team, he was not required to do so by the ruling) to get back this tradition, and it was renewed in the 2008 game.[SUP]
[19][/SUP]
In the wake of the coaches' decisions, the NCAA decided to amend their rules regarding away teams' uniforms (which were originally put into place to provide more contrast for Black & White photography and television broadcasts), changing the rule to state that the teams must agree on the decision for both teams to wear their colored jerseys before the game and that the uniforms must be of easily contrasted colors.[SUP]
[20][/SUP] Since the home team is already required to wear its colored home jerseys and would not be in violation of any equipment rules, this essentially leaves the decision up to them as to whether or not to allow the visiting team is to wear their home uniforms.