Closing the Gap: UCLA vs. U$C (Part I)

Rick Neuheisel upon getting to UCLA threw the gauntlet at $C proclaiming "The Football Monopoly in Los Angeles is Officially Over."
He was a bit premature in this statement. U$C is arguably the premier football school (yes, I am using the term 'school' liberally, but bear with me) in the country. They are definitely the premier football school in the Pac 10. And without question are the premier football school in Los Angeles (granted I haven't done much research into CSUN or LMU's club teams).
However, Neuheisel has begun a process of narrowing the previously very wide gap between the two programs. The chasm must be bridged on three fronts: recruiting, UCLA having on field success, and $C having less success. In today's article I will examine recruiting.
U$C's recruiting this decade has been unparalleled. The talent that has come into and out of that program will be the stuff of legends for years to come, and they deserve the recruits they got. When you are located in a national recruiting hot bed like Los Angeles and you win a National Championship (that's right, just ONE) and turn out multiple first rounders every year you don't need to recruit, the players come to you. There would have been no way for UCLA, or any Pac 10 school for that matter, to even hope to come near U$C in recruiting if $C had kept their hands clean. Luckily, with $C, we don't have to worry about that.
Reggie Bush, despite his Heisman and endless highlight reels, will go down as the worst player ever to come through U$C. Regardless of what happens with the investigation, Reggie has put doubt into the minds of recruits. While they are still recruiting absurdly well, you do not want to give ammo to a guy like Rick Neuheisel who can talk a blind man into buying a Picasso. By planting the seed of doubt that $C will be hit with some sort of sanctions Neuheisel was able to slightly level the field in recruiting (see Randoll Carroll and Morrell Presley).
The past two years, despite UCLA's woes on the field, they have gone to battle in recruiting. In the last two years UCLA's recruiting classes have come in ranked tenth and fifth (respectively). U$C came in ranked ninth both years (rankings by www.scout.com). These rankings are skewed in UCLA's favor because the Bruins have more commits in each class while $C's classes had their players ranked higher by average. Large classes, however, are exactly what UCLA needed; a complete overhaul in young talent. The Bruins have gotten players who can come in early in their collegiate career and compete at positions of need, and the youth of the UCLA two-deep shows just how competitive they are being.
In head to head recruiting U$C still holds the edge. When both teams go hard after a prospect it still seems like the Bruins are fighting an uphill battle, but at least now Neuheisel is going to battle with some bullets in his gun. Besides, we all know how susceptible those Trojans are once you get inside their walls.