The Berkeley public affairs office, realizing that USC stands between the Bears and the Rose Bowl, compares each school's worthy alums. They admit "this isn't about fairness. It's about revenge." Sample:

USC is best-known for two things, one of which is football. Its greatest gridiron star was O.J. Simpson, a running back who ran into trouble with the law after finding a seam into show biz. Berkeley has burnished its reputation with 20 (count 'em) Nobel laureates, including former Chancellor Glenn Seaborg, whose last name is an anagram of "Go Bears." (USC's first president, Marion M. Bovard, yields the anagram "Bravo dim Roman.")

USC is equally renowned for its movie-star alums, the most famous of whom was Marion Morrison, who as John Wayne became a fervent cheerleader for the war in Vietnam. Gregory Peck, who graduated from Berkeley in 1939 and played the peg-legged captain in Hollywood's version of Moby Dick, was a vocal Vietnam critic. ...

Famous writers, USC: Leo Buscaglia, Michael Landon, George Lucas. Famous writers, Berkeley: Robert Penn Warren, Joan Didion, Maxine Hong Kingston, Pauline Kael, Greil Marcus.

Most famous law-school graduate, USC: Joseph Wapner, judge of The People's Court, 1981-93. Most famous law-school graduate, Berkeley: Earl Warren, chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, 1953-69.

Famous writers, USC: Leo Buscaglia, Michael Landon, George Lucas. Famous writers, Berkeley: Robert Penn Warren, Joan Didion, Maxine Hong Kingston, Pauline Kael, Greil Marcus.

You get the idea. Here's the whole thing.