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Red Sanders, the legendary UCLA football coach, once said the rivalry with USC wasn’t life or death, it was more important than that.

Now, some 70 years later, almost half the Bruins roster needed a primer on what it means to play the Trojans.

“We have so many transfers and things,” interim coach Tim Skipper said, “so I wanted to make sure everybody knew how significant this game was.”

That could make Ciaran Dooley, the team’s creative content producer, a rivalry hero rivaling John Barnes, Anthony Barr and Dorian Thompson-Robinson. Dooley produced a video that tried to pack the essence of a nearly century-old rivalry into about five minutes.

Putting aside any worries about where college sports are headed when one needs to explain anything about his biggest rival, the video had its intended effect, sparking cheers nearly a week before kickoff.

Starting with a minutelong hype reel narrated by Barr, the video explained some of the rivalry basics, such as both teams wearing their home uniforms and the winner getting to take possession of the 295-pound Victory Bell before painting it in their primary school color — preferably blue.

“A lot of it was like clips I’ve already seen being from L.A. and around the game,” freshman linebacker Scott Taylor said, “but a lot of the guys who haven’t been here don’t understand how big a deal this is to L.A. and how special this win can be.”

Rivalry lexicon such as “It’s always 8:47 in Westwood” — a reference to the Bruins’ 13-9 upset of No. 2 USC in 2006 — and “Eight more years!” — a chant that broke out at the Rose Bowl in 1998 at the end of the Bruins’ eighth consecutive victory over the Trojans — might need some explaining to a roster that includes 57 newcomers, 52 transfers and 42 players from out of state.

“I made this video to show what the rivalry is really about — the history, the passion, the bragging rights,” Dooley told The Times. “I know everyone on the team already knows what it is, but if there’s anything that I can do to motivate the guys just that much more for the game, I’m going to do it every time.”

Linebacker Isaiah Chisom, a transfer from Oregon State, said the coaching staff also brought in several former players to explain the significance of the rivalry before the Bruins (3-8 overall, 3-5 Big Ten) face the No. 17 Trojans (8-3, 6-2) on Saturday afternoon at the Coliseum. Veteran offensive lineman Garrett DiGiorgio and defensive back Cole Martin also talked about what the rivalry meant to them.

Utah quarterback Devon Dampier (4) holds the ball and pushes Bruins linebacker Isaiah Chisom (32) on Aug. 30 at the Rose Bowl.

(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

“I think they’ve done a pretty good job at kind of bringing everybody together,” Chisom said, “so we all know how important this game is.”

Chisom didn’t need a refresher, having grown up in Southern California and played for Bishop Allemany High and Chaminade College Prep. He said he’s already attended a rivalry game and learned about the Bruins’ hatred for the Trojans from Chaminade assistant coach Reggie Carter, a former Bruins linebacker.

“He didn’t like anybody wearing any red,” Chisom said of Carter. “It’s been something I’ve been told for a long time.”

Skipper said he grew up watching the rivalry no matter where he lived — his father, Jim, was a coaching lifer who moved from one city to another and his older brother, Kelly, was DeShaun Foster’s running backs coach at UCLA.

“It’s awesome to finally be part of this thing,” Tim Skipper said. “You watch it so much, I’ve never been to one of these games, and to be able to work it and coach it is going to be awesome.”

Signs of rivalry week have greeted anyone who walked past the boarded-up John Wooden and bear statues on campus, though it’s been a little quieter than the Bruins would have preferred. That’s because they haven’t been able to ring the Victory Bell that’s residing across town after USC won last year’s game, 19-13, at the Rose Bowl.

“We want to get it back, we want to ring it after the game,” DiGiorgio said. “The [USC] guys, they planted flags on our field last year. I don’t know if we’re going to reciprocate that energy because I don’t know if that’s going to start anything, but we’re definitely looking forward to getting that bell back.”

The Bruins have won their last two trips to the Coliseum, giving DiGiorgio motivation to make it three in a row and end his college career 3-2 against the Trojans. There was a consensus at the team meeting Sunday that a victory over USC would make up for all the frustrations the team has endured during a season in which Foster was fired after only three games.

UCLA offensive lineman Garrett DiGiorgio (72) is confident a video the Bruins’ staff produced helped his teammates understand the importance of winning the USC rivalry game.

(John McCoy / Associated Press)

“Beating ‘SC would undo every wrong that has happened this season — that and the Penn State win [over the then-No. 7 Nittany Lions],” Chisom said. “I don’t think we could ask for anything more.”

Even those making their rivalry debut will know what they’re getting into thanks to the handiwork of a content creator whose video might help produce an upset.

“I believe that it enlightened, lit a fire under the guys,” DiGiorgio said, “to be a little excited for this week.”

Welcome to Screen Gab, the newsletter for everyone who needs zone-out time while spending the holiday with family.

Whether you’re planning to get lazy on the couch together to alleviate your food coma, need to escape the latest round of anxiety-inducing conversation at the dinner table, or just want a streaming companion while feasting on leftovers in the days that follow the holiday, this special Thanksgiving edition of The Times’ weekly guide to at-home viewing has you covered. Just be warned: You must provide your own stretchy waistbands.

Below, find 12ish films and TV shows released this year that our pop culture experts at The Times are looking forward to catching up on this weekend. Gobble, gobble.

“Being Eddie” (Netflix)

A still of Eddie Murphy with his brothers, Vernon Lynch Jr. and Charlie Murphy, in Netflix’s “Being Eddie.”

(Eddie Murphy / Netflix)

For anyone who came of age in the ’80s inhaling comedy, Netflix’s new Eddie Murphy documentary hits a very particular nostalgia vein. Murphy wasn’t just another comedian; he was part of the glue that held Gen X together, the soundtrack to sleepovers, school hallways, summer camps and every half-rewound tape in the house. You passed around VHS copies of “Delirious” and “Raw,” their very pre-PC bits the kind of thing you quoted under your breath in class. You watched “48 Hrs.,” “Trading Places,” “Beverly Hills Cop” and “Coming to America” on a loop, and you mimicked his “Saturday Night Live” creations — Gumby, Mr. Robinson, Buckwheat — on playgrounds, at bus stops, anywhere kids gathered long enough to goof off. Murphy’s magnetism, timing and swagger helped turn him into a new kind of Black Hollywood superstar, and even with the inevitable peaks (“Shrek,” “The Nutty Professor,” “Bowfinger,” “Dreamgirls”) and valleys (“The Adventures of Pluto Nash,” “Norbit”), he carried that stardom across decades. This is more of a victory-lap retrospective than a warts-and-all documentary, and now 64, the famously private Murphy has never been one to reveal much anyway. But when I spoke with him nearly a decade ago while he was promoting the drama “Mr. Church” — candid, funny and strikingly self-aware about fame and longevity — it was a reminder that when he does open the door a bit, he can be as compelling offstage as on. If even a bit of that Murphy turns up here, “Being Eddie” might give us something we rarely get: Eddie talking like Eddie. — Josh Rottenberg

“Eddington” (HBO Max)

Joaquin Phoenix and Pedro Pascal in a scene from “Eddington.”

(A24)

Few films are as purpose-built to start arguments within a family as Ari Aster’s “Eddington.” (And even if you already saw the movie when it was released earlier in the year, it bears repeat viewing, especially in the context of the holidays.) Part contemporary Western, part social satire, the film will bring out PTSD vibes for its heightened, tense reenactment of the very specific mania of the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. The mayor (Pedro Pascal) and sheriff (Joaquin Phoenix) of a small New Mexico town find themselves at odds over a variety of issues, as a tech company’s push to build a data center in the area looms over everything. If you think your weird relative has some strange ideas about the way the world works, fire up “Eddington” to really put them through their paces, as the film’s “everybody’s wrong” mindset is designed to expose the madness within us all. — Mark Olsen

“Nouvelle Vague” (Netflix), Directed by Jacques Rozier collection (The Criterion Channel)

Zoey Deutch as actress Jean Seberg in “Nouvelle Vague.”

(Photo from Netflix)

I’m not one for biopics, but as a person who owns “Slacker” on Blu-ray and has worn out a 1998 special issue of Cahiers du Cinéma focusing on the French New Wave, I was excited by the notion of Richard Linklater, the most European of American directors, re-creating the creation of Jean-Luc Godard’s 1960 breakthrough film “Breathless.” Appropriately presented in French, in period black-and-white and in the 4:3 aspect ratio, with look-alike stand-ins for Godard (Guillaume Marbeck) and stars Jean Seberg (Zoey Deutch) and Jean-Paul Belmondo (Aubry Dullin), “Nouvelle Vague” looks like a cinephile’s dream. I’ll watch it as a curtain raiser for my continuing exploration of the Criterion Channel’s celebration of director Jacques Rozier, whose long-form fictional films feel like cinéma vérité and whose 1963 “Paparazzi” documents the making of Godard’s “Contempt” and the news photographers fighting to get a shot of Brigitte Bardot. — Robert Lloyd

“KPop Demon Hunters” (Netflix)

Netflix and Sony Pictures Animation’s hit movie “KPop Demon Hunters” has gained a massive following since it was released in June.

(Netflix)

Is this the weekend I finally watch? That would be smart. I’ve already been berated by several scowling tweens, not to mention a few Oscar prognosticators, serene in their conviction that Netflix’s massive viral hit will leave the ceremony golden. Four of the animated movie’s earworms have cracked the Billboard Top 10 at the same time, a feat that could make a Gibb brother green with envy. In preparation for voting in some critics’ organizations, I’ll stream the movie at home, though I’m already wishing I’d gone to one of the film’s many sing-along screenings, just to feel the phenomenon firsthand. If you no longer recognize me on the other side, call it an occupational hazard. I’m done hiding, now I’m shining, like I’m born to be. — Joshua Rothkopf

“Billy Joel: And So It Goes” (HBO Max)

Billy Joel in concert circa 1977 as seen in “Billy Joel: And So It Goes.”

(HBO)

I have caught a few bits and pieces of this documentary while flipping channels, and always quickly switch it off. I’ve been a huge Billy Joel fan since “The Stranger” album and have seen him in concert a few times, including the show when he ripped up the Los Angeles Times’ review by music critic Robert Hilburn. The documentary is two parts and nearly five hours long, so I was determined to give it my full attention. Billy Joel is one of pop music’s treasures, and the ups and downs of his personal life should make for fascinating viewing. The bonus will be diving into the 155-track (!!!) playlist on Spotify that is a companion to the documentary. (HBO Max) — Greg Braxton

“Pluribus” (Apple TV)

Rhea Seehorn in “Pluribus.”

(Apple TV+)

Rhea Seehorn as a cranky, cynical, misanthropic writer who remains mysteriously immune, and super-angry, when an alien-generated RNA virus turns the world into one huge seemingly calm and helpful collective consciousness? Sign me right up. As Robert Lloyd points out in his excellent review, the hive mind is the most terrifying of all the sci-fi premises. The universal niceness that results here also seems very much at odds with it being a melting pot of all human experience so I can’t wait to see what creator Vince Gilligan (“Breaking Bad”) is going to do with that. But early glimpses of Seehorn’s Carol fighting for her, and humanity’s, right to be prickly and pissed off promises all kinds of insights into the difference between empathy and sedation, not to mention a fabulous chance to watch Seehorn shine as one of many women on TV today who are willing to state the obvious even when it appears no one is listening. — Mary McNamara

“Paradise” (Hulu, Disney +)

James Marsden and Sterling K. Brown in a scene from “Paradise.”

(Brian Roedel / Disney)

This Hulu drama caught my attention when it hit the streamer early this year, but at the time, I was already knee-deep in theories about Lumon as I dove into the second season of “Severance.” I couldn’t handle a political conspiracy thriller on top of that. Created by Dan Fogelman (“This Is Us,” “Crazy, Stupid, Love”), the series stars Sterling K. Brown as Xavier Collins, a secret service agent accused of killing the president, Cal Bradford (James Marsden). The murder and the search for the true killer unfold inside an underground community after a massive catastrophe threatens the extinction of the human race. So, that’s obviously a lot. But I’m never one to turn down a series that keeps you guessing — and my colleague Robert Lloyd confirmed in his review that this one does just that. I’ve also had enough people whose taste I trust recommend “Paradise” to me that I think it’s time to tune in. And it’s getting a second season that’s expected to arrive sometime in 2026. If anything, I’m just curious to see Fogelman’s take on this genre. Plus, I’ll watch anything Marsden or Brown are in. — Kaitlyn Huamani

“Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake” (HBO Max)

A still from Season 2 of “Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake.”

(HBO)

What’s Friendsgiving if not a time to reconnect with longtime pals who you might not get to see as often as you like? That’s why I’ll be spending my long weekend catching up on Season 2 of “Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake.” This spinoff of the acclaimed Cartoon Network series features gender-swapped versions of beloved “Adventure Time” characters — Finn and Jake — who are endearing in their own right. The first season of the show involved Fionna, a young woman with an unfulfilling job living paycheck to paycheck along with her pet cat, Cake, discovering that her world was an unauthorized creation of a cosmic entity. The pair then set off on a magical, multiversal journey to save it. There’s admittedly quite a bit of “Adventure Time” lore involved, but yearning for a fantastic escape from the daily stresses of a fairly mundane life is pretty relatable even if you aren’t personally acquainted with recovering ice wizards. The show is charming and weird and all about friendship — a cozy comfort I am definitely looking forward to getting wrapped up in again. — Tracy Brown

“Companion” (HBO Max, Prime Video)

Sophie Thatcher in the sci-fi thriller “Companion.”

(Warner Bros. Pictures)

The poster for “Companion” put me off due to a personal jinx: I don’t trust horror movies where the heroine has perfect hair. Usually, I dodge some dreck. But all year long, people have elbowed me to catch up with Drew Hancock’s debut about a nervous beauty (“Yellowjackets’” Sophie Thatcher) stuck in a vacation house with her newish boyfriend (Jack Quaid) and his cruel and snobby best pals. Produced by Zach Cregger of “Barbarian” and “Weapons,” it’s apparently an energetic, empathetic thriller packed with twists. If you like watching movies blank (as I do), don’t Google it. Spoilers abound. But “Companion” is streaming, and has been on every in-flight entertainment system I’ve come across since May. Assuming it lives up to the buzz, I may have to rewire my own codes. — Amy Nicholson

“All Her Fault” (Peacock)

In the series, Dakota Fanning and Sarah Snook play working mothers Jenny and Marissa.

(Peacock)

Upper-class mess is my favorite genre of TV. So I’ve been desperate to dig into this series that people in my orbit promise is one of this year’s most addicting shows. Based on a novel by Andrea Mara, the psychological thriller stars Sarah Snook as a mom who goes to pick up her son from a play date, only to be greeted by a stranger who claims there is no one there by that name. Uh, what? Twists and turns ensue from there in this deep dive of what it’s like being a working mother. Spoiler alert: It apparently gives a striking portrayal of male ego and incompetence, and how that shapes the lives of women around them. Gee, wonder what that’s like. The series also stars Dakota Fanning, Jake Lacy and Jay Ellis. — Yvonne Villarreal

“The Chair Company” (HBO Max)

Tim Robinson stars in HBO’s “The Chair Company.”

(Sarah Shatz / HBO)

Have you ever been slighted at work? Did you ever think it was part of a conspiracy to take you down? If the answer is no, you might be a normal person and this show may not be for you. But if you’ve ever wondered if something small could be much bigger, and if you get some sick satisfaction from going down rabbit holes on the internet to find answers to your questions, then this show is for you. “The Chair Company” is the latest series to come from comedic writers Zach Kanin and Tim Robinson, who stars as Ron, a man who becomes obsessed with reaching the manufacturer of the office chair he unexpectedly broke, leading him down a bizarre path involving an empty warehouse, a giant red ball and Jeeps. With the finale airing Sunday, it’s the perfect time to catch up on the show (episodes are only a half hour each). It’s already been renewed for a second season, which makes me wonder if we’ll get to the bottom of Ron’s mystery or if the chair will be pulled out from under us. — Maira Garcia

JESS Glynne has hinted she’s already bought an engagement ring to propose for girlfriend Alex Scott.

Her I’m A Celebrity star partner said on the ITV show she was “waiting” for the pop star to pop the question.

Since then, Jess has suggested she’s already got a plan in place to make Alex’s dream come true.

Speaking to Hits Radio presenter Tom Green, Jess admitted that the “pressures on” after hearing Alex mention “the ring” in I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here.

However once she heard it, Jess admits: “I went to the shop straight after….”

She was performing at Hits Radio Live in Birmingham’s bpPulse Live Arena tonight alongside Alex Warren, Jade, Myles Smith and Calvin Harris.

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The Hold My Hand singer, 36, watched as the Football Focus presenter, 41, opened up about their romance on Tuesday.

Alex told camp co-star Ruby Wax: “I think before her, I never knew happiness.

“She approached me in Chiltern Firehouse…I was in there with my friends and she just walked up to me… [it was] really ballsy.

“I was like, I like your ballsiness, and then the spark was just instant and then yeah…we fell madly in love.”

Asked if marriage was on the cards, Alex said, “I will get married to her, just waiting for her to ask, Rubes.”

Jess drove fans wild as she went on Instagram, saying, “I better go get a ring.”

The pair are thought to have started dating in the summer of 2023, all before going public with their romance that October.

Former Lioness Alex previously told The Sun what she’ll miss about Jess while she spends time in the Australian jungle.

“Her cooking pasta for me is absolutely everything.

“Those quiet moments when your life’s 100mph, just coming home… she loves to cook, and we love to sit and have a glass of wine.

“I’ll most probably be watching football in the background. I’m definitely going to miss that, especially when I’m so hungry.”

Alex added, “It’s a test for both of us. I know she’s at home and she’s going to be my biggest cheerleader supporting me.

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“She really wanted me to do this because she knew that I wanted to test myself.

“It is going to be a challenge for us both being separated. But I suppose that’s what makes the heart grow fonder, right?”