COLLEGE FOOTBALL: NOV 19 USC at UCLA
Getty Images

The end of an era looms for UCLA and USC as the crosstown rivals enter their final season of Pac-12 membership before joining the Big Ten on July 1, 2024. That's bringing out plenty of mixed feelings and emotions from both USC coach Lincoln Riley and UCLA coach Chip Kelly as their schools prepare for the closing chapter in a conference they've long called home.

Kelly coached at Oregon from 2009-2012 before eventually returning to the Pac-12 as UCLA coach in 2018. For him, the 2023 season is bound to be a bittersweet one, even if all parties understand the forces at play in realignment that prompted both the Bruins and Trojans to move on. Kelly reflected on the short notice that came with the Big Ten decision.

"I'm so affectionate towards the conference and have so many good friends here," Kelly told ESPN Friday at Pac-12 football media day in Las Vegas. "The Pac-12 is a special place, but it was one of those deals ... I found out [UCLA was leaving] two hours before it was going to happen."

USC was picked to win the Pac-12 championship this year by the media. Though his goal is always to win a conference title, it's not lost on coach Lincoln Riley noted it's not lost on him or his team that the upcoming season will mark the last time -- at least for the foreseeable future -- that USC squares off against many familiar faces. 

"Does it motivate us any more than if it wasn't our last year in the Pac-12? No," Riley said Friday from the main stage at the event. "But is there also a sense of that this your last chance to play some of these teams and go into some these venues? Absolutely. We feel that, and we want to put our best foot forward." 

UCLA aside, Arizona, Arizona State, Cal, Oregon, Stanford and Washington are just some of teams on USC's 2023 schedule with whom the Trojans have shared a conference for an extended period of time. Colorado and Utah are also on the docket, though they have only been in the conference since 2011. 

UCLA's conference opponent list looks similar to USC, subbing out Oregon State and Washington State for Oregon and Washington.