The environment of the University of Southern California vs. the University of Texas football game was electric. Surrounded by football fans in red and burnt orange, Longhorn and Trojan fans alike were biting their nails as the Trojans hoped for vengeance after the 2006 Rose Bowl, a national championship that entailed an unexpected Longhorn victory over the Trojans.

 My mother, Laura McCullough, a UT graduate, and my father, Andrew McCullough, attended the 2006 Rose Bowl. My parents left my four-year-old self and my then two-year-old brother, Colin McCullough, at our uncle Palmer Murray’s Los Angeles home, a dual UT-USC fan as he graduated from UT with his undergraduate in 1987 and from the USC Marshall School of Business in 1992.  

  After going back and forth between the two teams at the Rose Bowl, my uncle claimed that he was always rooting for the Longhorns after the Trojans’ devastating loss, yet this past weekend, my uncle was a full-fledged USC fan.

  “I have lived in Los Angeles for 27 years, two of my children have attended, and I’m involved philanthropically with the school. This has transformed me into a full time Trojan,” Murray said.

  Without many expectations for the game to come, I imagined myself and my family being a streak of burnt orange in a sea of red and gold on the campus, but the mass turnout of Longhorns fans was astonishing. My father, on the other hand, was not surprised.

  “Longhorn fans tend to travel when the team plays. Los Angeles is a great place to be, and the last time [the Longhorns] played in Los Angeles they won the Rose Bowl,” Andrew said.

  My experience at USC only improved during the game, watching Longhorn and Trojan fans interact with one another.  Despite the incredibly tense back-and-forth nature of the game and the Trojans’ victory in double overtime, USC fans shook our hands, saying “good game” as we left our row.

  “USC and Texas fans are the same, steadfastly loyal and enthusiastic,” Murray said.

  The next time the Longhorns and Trojans battle it out will be on Longhorn turf on September 15, 2018, so whether you “hook ‘em” or “fight on,” you should definitely consider a road trip to Austin next September for the next chapter of this budding rivalry.