CATCH YOUR BREATH WHILE YOU HAVE THE CHANCE.

Byline: STEVE DILBECK

Are you breathless?

Heart all a flutter? Energy seeming to shoot out your fingertips? The entire excited week all pointing to this afternoon's USC-UCLA game of the century?

So it's a young century and it's been all USC. This game has been getting the overhyped treatment since it appeared UCLA might actually be good, and there's no stopping now.

Is it a game actually deserving of the monster buildup?

You betcha.

It has more intrigue, more storylines, more stars and more at stake than any USC-UCLA game since 1967 when O.J. Simpson and Gary Beban went big man on big man.

It's top-ranked USC vs. No. 11-ranked UCLA. There could be a Heisman on the line. USC's shot at an unprecedented third consecutive championship. The Trojans' 33-game winning streak.

And that's in addition to the normal perks - city bragging rights for a year and an edge in recruiting.

``This rivalry would be great if both teams were 1-9,'' said UCLA coach Karl Dorrell.

That's because this is the only major rivalry in college football without a dividing line. It's not one state vs. another. Not one big city vs. another.

It's two major universities sharing the same city, same hot spots, same family dinners.

It is a game like no other, and this year featuring 10-0 USC vs. 9-1 UCLA. Tickets that sold for $65 are going between five and 35 times that. TV vans set up camp at both schools. The national media is out in force.

A week always unique locally, but threatened to fall off the map nationally, is back in the national spotlight.

``The energy is different, you can feel it,'' said USC coach Pete Carroll. ``It is so obvious you don't need to make a big deal about it, you can just sense it.''

There is tremendous opportunity here.

With a victory, UCLA can share a piece of the Pac-10 title. It can earn a shot at a BCS bowl game. Can announce its return to true national prominence.

With a victory, USC can complete its unbeaten regular season and secure a spot in the national championship game in the Rose Bowl. It can push its winning streak to 34, win the conference title outright and establish Carroll as the John Wooden of college football.

So much at stake, so much to play for.

``It is a beautiful time to be coaching and playing football,'' Carroll said.

ABC will televise the 75th meeting of the only major cross-town rivalry in college sports.

For USC, this high-profile routine is old news. Almost a weekly endeavor. When you've been No. 1 for three consecutive years, everyone comes ready to give it their best.

And this season the Trojans have taken some stinging blows - from Arizona State, Notre Dame, Fresno State - and been left swinging.

``They've taken everyone's best shot, and have one more to take from us,'' Dorrell said. ``We're going to try and put our best game together for the season finale.''

USC has survived this weekly challenge because it has a wealth of talent, a phenomenal coach and a one-game-at-a-time approach that's become the model for every other program in the country.

USC treats every game like it's the biggest one on its schedule, and is able to keep the intensity burning every weekend.

``Most people say you can't do that, that you can only get up a couple of times a year,'' Carroll said. ``I think that is the biggest pile of crap I have ever heard.''

The other side of treating every game equally is a residue of detachment where individual games don't always leap out. And nothing grates a Bruin more than to hear a Trojan proclaim this just another game. Claws on the chalkboard.

Yet any player raised in California, or who has been on the team for more than a couple years, has to recognize the distinct quality of USC-UCLA.

There is no NFL team here. Los Angeles has become a huge college football town. This is the biggest game in town.

And if a couple of UCLA's home crowds were disappointing this season, the Bruins still averaged more than 64,000 - third best in the conference. USC leads all schools at more than 90,000.

It's another sellout today. Another opportunity for former high school teammates to oppose each other on the collegiate field in Los Angeles.

USC is a staggering three-touchdown favorite, but no one expected UCLA to enter the game with only one loss and behind such an explosive offense.

``That's the great thing about sports,'' Dorrell said. ``Sometimes somebody surprises you. We happened to have done that a little bit and we're anxious to do that one more time.''

Douse the bonfires, pound the drums, signal the buglers, bring out the school colors. It's pregame hype at its overwrought best, yet actually deserving.