PASADENA, Calif. — The goal at Southern California is the same every year: Win the Pac-10 championship and play in the Rose Bowl.

The Trojans always aspire to be national champions as well, but for the fourth year in a row, the Rose Bowl will just have to do after beating UCLA, 28-7, yesterday.

Mark Sanchez passed for 269 yards and two touchdowns, USC's hard-hitting defense stuffed UCLA at every turn, and the fifth-ranked Trojans won their ninth in 10 games between the crosstown rivals.

The win assured USC (11-1, 8-1 Pac-10) of an unprecedented seventh consecutive BCS bid, seven straight 11-win seasons and seven conference championships in a row. They'll make a fourth straight appearance in the Rose Bowl game, against No. 6 Penn State.

"We did a good job," USC linebacker Brian Cushing said. "It's great to be Pac-10 champs again. It upsets me a little that two one-loss teams will go to the BCS championship game and we'll be left out. But we will just have to see what happens."

UCLA stunned USC, 13-9, as a 13 1/2-point underdog two years ago at the Rose Bowl, bouncing the Trojans out of the BCS championship game. The 33-point underdog Bruins (4-8, 3-6) inspired hopes for a repeat performance by taking a 7-0 lead in the opening four minutes of this game, but they were unable to pose a scoring threat after that, crossing midfield just once.

"To beat our rival team in their house, it feels awesome," said Sanchez, who completed 18 of 33 passes with one interception. "I'm definitely going to have fun tonight, celebrating with friends and family. It's just unfortunate that we won't be in the national championship game."

For some USC players, playing in Pasadena on New Year's Day is just fine.

"It feels real good to continue the tradition of playing in another Rose Bowl. It's always the thrill of a lifetime," tailback Stafon Johnson said.

"It's like a home game for us," wide receiver Patrick Turner said. "We love representing the whole city."

The Trojans rolled up 33 first downs and 478 yards of total offense while the Bruins had just seven first downs and gained only 157 yards against the national leader in total defense and scoring defense.

"I thought we had a terrific football season," coach Pete Carroll said. "I'm really proud of the consistency. I'm proud that we kept the program on top of the conference. Defense was the key today."

It's been that way all season. The Trojans held nine of their 12 opponents to 10 points or fewer and outscored the opposition 342-56 in winning their last nine games after a 27-21 loss at Oregon State.