To determine that based on week-to-week rankings during the regular season, that would require too much research. But if you base it on final AP polls, it happened four times in the 1980s: '82, '84, '87, '88. That was the last time.
Since then, USC has been ranked higher than 'Bama a number of times. The Bruins have as well, but only twice, '97 and '98, and USC didn't appear in the polls in those years. In 2005, both USC and UCLA were highly ranked but the Bruins were ranked behind the Tide, despite identical records.
So, for all intents and purposes, it's been a while. 1988, from what I can tell.
To determine that based on week-to-week rankings during the regular season, that would require too much research. But if you base it on final AP polls, it happened four times in the 1980s: '82, '84, '87, '88. That was the last time.
Since then, USC has been ranked higher than 'Bama a number of times. The Bruins have as well, but only twice, '97 and '98, and USC didn't appear in the polls in those years. In 2005, both USC and UCLA were highly ranked but the Bruins were ranked behind the Tide, despite identical records.
So, for all intents and purposes, it's been a while. 1988, from what I can tell.
Pffff, I can’t even guess. USC vs Ucla is going to be a shootout. I like my teams chances in a shootout.