BERKELEY “”mdash; Over the course of a beautiful Berkeley
afternoon, the Bruins lost two quarterbacks, blocked two punts but
got no points, missed a 21-yard field goal and saw a once-promising
season turn into shrugs and question marks.
Oh, and did we mention doctors think Cory Paus has thrown the
last pass of his college career?
Even Murphy couldn’t imagine this many things going
wrong.
“We just didn’t have enough bullets left,” Bob
Toledo said, speaking like a weary old general.
Funny thing was, even after all the disaster, after all the bad
luck, UCLA still could have won the game with a single shot. In a
contest that was supposed to be a shootout, neither team had much
firepower.
And unfortunately, the guy trying desperately to pull the
trigger was young John Sciarra, who has all of zero college passes
to his credit.
It was a most unlikely visual, Sciarra dropping back to try and
pull out the kind of win upon which movies are made.
Needless to say, it wasn’t the way Toledo and his staff
had drawn things up.
“How do you prepare three quarterbacks?” he
wondered. “He doesn’t get any reps in
practice.”
The loss of Paus early in the second half was bad enough, with
all of Memorial Stadium staring blankly as the redshirt senior
writhed in pain, a first-and-10 from the Cal 20 awaiting him.
But then, to see freshman Drew Olson come in and display the
poise and promise Bruin fans have been waiting to see, and then to
see him stay on the sidelines with a separated shoulder, it was
just too much.
“When the second quarterback went down, I started
thinking, “˜what else could happen?'” linebacker
Marcus Reese said.
What else could happen? Well?
UCLA inexplicably blocked a Cal punt and recovered on the
two-yard line, but ended up falling apart and settling for a
22-yard field goal attempt, which was, of course, blocked.
Honestly, on this day, could there have been any other
outcome?
And then, as the UCLA faithful/faithless realized the only way
the offensively-impotent Bruins could win was with something like
an interception return or punt block, Matt Ware answered by
blocking the Bears’ punt. But?
Sciarra couldn’t connect with his receivers and was popped
on an ill-fated fourth-down play.
And to cap it all off, I had to deflect the well-wishes (read:
unapologetic insults) of scores of Cal fans at my buddy
Mike’s fraternity. It felt like trying to blast past Gemini
and Nitro at the same time in the Eliminator on “American
Gladiators.”
In response, I did my diplomatic best, pathetically declaring,
“the real winner today is the UC system!”
So now as we who still care look ahead, it’s hard to say
where this season will go. For all of the flack he’s taken
over his four years at UCLA, Cory Paus is still the most important
link in an offense that will now have to take signals from a passer
with basically no experience.
And make no mistake, his confidence and poise will be sorely
missed, especially on the road and in the now more ominous USC
game.
Olson was unsure whether or not he’d be able to play next
week, but it’s pretty safe to say that with Olson’s
shoulder separated, John Sciarra will start his first game.
Beyond the pure personnel loss is the psychological blow this
kind of loss lands on a team.
“I’m concerned,” Toledo said.
“We’ve lost some good football players, and it’s
a mental thing now, too.”
It’s not all gloom and doom. The defense was outstanding,
repeatedly turning Cal back with three-and-outs, and a very
beatable Stanford team (even under current conditions) comes to the
Rose Bowl Saturday.
Win the game, and Sciarra’s got a college victory under
his belt.
Lose it, and ““ who knows ““ the wins certainly
won’t come any easier.