USC safety Kamari Ramsey not surprisingly chose to downplay his return to the Rose Bowl and playing against his former team on Saturday as the Trojans take on rival UCLA, where the standout defensive back spent the last two years before transferring across town.

"It's business as usual. Another game on the schedule. Battle of LA, so it's going to be intense. Just excited to get out there and play football," Ramsey said this week.

Meanwhile, wide receiver Kyle Ford couldn't hide his emotions and what this edition of the rivalry matchup means to him.

Ford spent his first four years of college at USC before transferring to UCLA last season, only to transfer back to the Trojans after the spring.

"Man, I'm just trying to keep all my emotions in this whole week. I told someone right when the whistle blew at the end of the last game, 'This is the only thing on my mind,'" Ford said after practice Wednesday. "I don't even think I even celebrated the win a whole lot. My mind has just been focused -- this is something when you transfer and you leave, this is something you dream about and you think about it and now it's here. Just trying to keep all my emotions tucked away until that clock starts rolling."

Ford, Ramsey, cornerback John Humphrey and defensive coordinator D'Anton Lynn all the made the move from UCLA to USC this year and now face their former team Saturday night.

Humphrey, who has had a limited role for the Trojans when the rest of the secondary is healthy, was not made available for interviews this week, while Lynn also predictably downplayed the personal storyline at play.

"It’s exciting. Another big game for our guys. We’re trying to get bowl eligible. Super excited about the opportunity," Lynn said. "... Just being in the NFL, I’ve bounced around so many times, played so many co-workers and the players I’ve coached, that it’s just something that I’m used to. I think it makes it a little more exciting, but at the end of the day, when the game starts, it’s ball at the end of the day."

It's a little more than that for Ford, who has been open about how frustrating his one season at UCLA was for he and his family.

Ford left the Trojans after catching 20 passes for 365 yards and 2 touchdowns in 2022, seeking a more featured role elsewhere. But with the Bruins, he finished with just 22 catches for 236 yards and 1 TD in an offense that struggled to get the passing game going last season or utilize its WR transfer additions as expected.

In UCLA's 38-20 win over USC in the Coliseum last year, Ford was targeted twice and finished with 0 receptions -- an encapsulation of sorts of his overall frustration that year.

"I don't want to say too much -- we won, so I guess that was cool -- but at the same time that was a year for me that was tough," Ford said. "Just that game, I had so many mixed emotions coming back because of the way that year was going and it really made no sense that year. I don't know, I just tried to flush all of last year ... because it was so frustrating. That's what I'm trying to take into this week is use that frustration to do something good this week."

Pressed further on what it was like being on the opposite sideline of this rivalry last season, Ford said, "I was more frustrated with my own team than USC at that time. That's why I've said, this game has been on my mind longer than anything. It's been on my mind since the mid of last season, so I'm excited for sure."

Ford's role hasn't changed all that much this season as he has 17 catches for 217 yards and 2 TDs, but the last two games have been season-high snap counts for the sixth-year senior.

It's also worth remembering that he had one of the best games of his career in USC's 48-45 win at UCLA in 2022 when he had 3 catches for 73 yards and a touchdown for the Trojans in this rivalry.

"I tell everyone, that's one of the most fun games I've ever played in -- not just because I had a touchdown or anything. It was competitive, fun, back-and-forth. So many memories within that game I can always tell people," Ford said. "I think that's just what you grow up wanting to contribute to. Being a kid from Southern California, wanting to contribute to those games is what you dream of. ...

"It's just kind of deeper because I feel like my feelings have just flipped so much, obviously going there last year and coming back to the Coli, and then coming back here from there and going back to the Rose Bowl is just like a big thing to me. I've always loved like the villain aspect."

He'll get the chance in this game one more time Saturday -- back in the Cardinal and Gold he's most comfortable wearing.

As for Ramsey, he's been a true difference-maker for the Trojans and one of the team's defensive MVPs in his first season at USC, ranking fourth on the squad with 43 tackles despite missing the last two games with injury, first with 5 pass breakups, first with 2 forced fumbles, tied for first with 2 sacks and second with 5.5 tackles for loss.

"It meant a lot when he decided to come here," Lynn said. "It meant a ton to me especially. Just having him here, I feel like, jump-started this entire thing and what we were able to accomplish in the spring really helped jumpstart camp and that helped us jumpstart what we’re doing now. We were just further ahead then because of his experience. It’s been cool just to see him be able to grow now in Year 2 in this scheme. ...

"He’s a natural football player as far as the way he thinks. He just has a really high IQ. He picks things up well. He can take it in the meeting room and can go out there and just do it, and there’s not a lot of guys that have that skill."

While Ramsey didn't talk much from a personal standpoint about what it means to play his former team, he did say that he's shared some thoughts with his USC teammates about what to expect from the matchup, especially in preparing for quarterback Ethan Garbers.

"He's a tough player, he's going to make plays, he's going to extend plays. He's faster than you think, I know that, so just letting everybody on the defense know, 'Don't take him granted, he can run by you,'" Ramsey said. "He's a smart player, he's played a lot of football, he knows the scheme really well, so we've got our work cut out for us."

It's a unique edition of this rivalry clash for all those aforementioned reasons, but then again, as Ford said, the stakes are always high regardless.

"I don't think this week ever gets too normal," he said.