2010 National Signing Day: Did UCLA Beat USC Head-to-Head?

UCLA football coach Rick Neuheisel was interviewed yesterday, National Signing Day, by Los Angeles' sports talk show hosts Steve Mason and John Ireland on 710 AM's show Mason and Ireland.

During the interview, Neuheisel was asked who won on letters of intent for players where he went head-to-head with USC coach Lane Kiffin.

Neuheisel responded by saying, "I would have to say that we did."

Now, while I would not expect Neuheisel to say anything different, do the facts bear out his statement?

The answer is a resounding "No."

Before explain why Neuheisel is wrong in his statement let me say this: The class put together by Rick Neuheisel and staff is an outstanding recruiting class and Bruin fans should be ecstatic. UCLA, with all of the football talent in Los Angeles, should be putting together a top ten class and Neuheisel certainly succeeded.

Now back to why he is wrong.

Excitement was generated in Bruin Land upon hearing Fontana Kaiser linebacker Josh Shirley and La Canada St. Francis safety Dietrich Riley had faxed letters of intent to UCLA. Both players were coveted by the Trojans, and their signing was hailed by the Bruins as proof they were catching USC in recruiting. 

I get the excitement over Shirley and Riley, but how does Neuheisel think he won more head-to-head battles with Kiffin?

Let's do some simple math.

A look at the list of players signed by both USC and UCLA shows 12 of the players receiving scholarships were actively recruited by both schools.

Four signed with UCLA; Shirley, Riley, Jordan Zumwalt and Malcolm Jones. (I'm being generous here with Jones as USC recruited him as a fullback ,but when he stated he wished to be a tailback in college, USC stopped recruiting him.)

So if four of the 12 signed with UCLA, how many are now Trojans? Eight.

That's right. USC won the head-to-head battle 8-4.

Something else to consider. 

Two Southland players, Lakewood defensive back Dion Bailey and Fontana Kaiser defensive back Anthony Brown, were not even on the Bruins' radar. If you are going to "own LA" recruiting coach Neuheisel, don't you need to battle the Trojans on all LA area recruits?

Another point to ponder.

When you look at USC's signing class, you see names like Seantrel Henderson (awaiting LOI), Dillon Baxter, Xavier Grimble and Kyle Prater. USC signed them in battles against the likes of Florida, Ohio State, Texas and Notre Dame.

Players such as these and others USC lost out on such as Moreno Valley's Ronald Powell and Lancaster's Joshua Shaw (both chose Florida), did not even consider UCLA.

USC engages programs that routinely show up in the top 10 BCS rankings.

UCLA's big victory on the national stage was signing Woodberry Forest, VA linebacker Aramide Olaniyan in a head-to-head battle with...Duke.

Does Olaniyan play point guard too?

Neuheisel's other big national name was Owamagbe Odighizuwa. He is a stud defensive lineman from Portland, OR. Since he was also recruited by Nebraska, has a name no one can pronounce and hails from Oregon, he is now being compared to Ndamukong Suh. 

USC did not even recruit Odighizuwa.

Neuheisel had a tremendous recruiting class, but he needs to stop looking at it through the prism of USC. He has a top 10 class. Instead of spouting off, as he did in Eric Sondheimer's Los Angeles Times article today about how "we'll go past them very soon," he should just keep his mouth closed until he can go past them when it counts—Dec. 4 in the Rose Bowl.

Follow me on Twitter @plh55.