It’s been a banner week for UCLA football coach Rick Neuheisel.

In the span of a few days, the former Colorado coach has seen rival USC  (that’s the University of Suspected Cheaters) lose Pete Carroll, hire Lane Kiffin and fail to attract Norm Chow back to the fold.

That’s as good as it could get for Neuheisel, who all of a sudden has the upper hand in the USC-UCLA rivalry.

For starters, I’m saying Neuheisel is a better coach than Kiffin. He proved it last fall, when he took his Bruins to Knoxville and won on Kiffin’s home turf.

And, Neuheisel is a better recruiter (and he knows the NCAA rules much, much better). When it comes to sealing the deal in the home, Neuheisel will have the edge, particularly when prospective USC recruits start getting a sniff of what the nation is saying about USC’s new coach (here’s what ESPN’s Gene Wojciechowski had to say about the weasel).

Throw in the fact that there are almost certainly some NCAA penalties headed down the pike for Southern Cal, and the fact that Neuheisel was already slowly closing the gap, and it’s been a good week for the Bruins.

Neuheisel won’t waste this opportunity.  Take USC’s impending NCAA woes, the already faltering fortunes of the Trojans and the slow but steady improvement of the Bruins, and you can bet that UCLA will be closing the gap in a hurry.

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