Though it is still early in the Pacific 10 Conference season,
teams are already jockeying for bowl bids. For UCLA, winning a key
game over UC Berkeley Saturday at the Rose Bowl will be critical
for its postseason hopes.
And if the Bruins need any additional incentive, they need only
to look to last year’s 17-12 loss to the Cal Golden Bears
““ a game that, despite losing their top two quarterbacks, the
Bruins were still in a position to win.
Despite coming back from a lackluster win last week over
Arizona, UCLA seems to be an upbeat and confident team headed to
the Rose Bowl.
“I am excited to see Cal coming down here,” says
defensive tackle Ryan Boschetti, a Bay Area native.
“I’ll be excited, too, to see them leave after we beat
them.”
The chance for vengeance comes a week after a poor effort in
Tucson, Ariz., during which the offense struggled to put points on
the board and the defense missed tackles. In particular, running
back Clarence Farmer gave UCLA trouble, and the Bruins will face
another big back Saturday in 6-foot, 225-pound Adimchinobe
Eschemandu. As a result, UCLA has gone back to the fundamentals
““ working on tackling and emphasizing filling gaps.
Even more disconcerting may be that cornerback Matt Ware will
break a string of 30 consecutive starts. UCLA will be without its
top cornerback against the fourth-leading wide receiver in the
conference, Geoff McArthur. Keith Short is expected to take
Ware’s place.
With the offense, the quarterback controversy still remains.
Matt Moore expressed his disappointment at not starting this week,
as Drew Olson will once again get the nod to start. However, UCLA
will likely use the same format as they did against Arizona, when
Moore came in at the end of second quarter for two (albeit
sluggish) series. Nevertheless, it still remains to be seen if
either of the two quarterbacks will distinguish themselves this
week.
Having lost to Utah and then beating USC the following week, Cal
(3-4, 1-1) has been the conference’s most surprising ““
and inconsistent ““ team thus far. The Cal Bears’
offense has primarily ridden on the legs of Eschemandu, but it also
has its own quarterback duo. Quarterbacks Aaron Rodgers and Reggie
Robertson have flourished under the eye of quarterback coach
extraordinaire Jeff Tedford, last year’s Pac-10 Coach of the
Year.
“Robertson and Rodgers are a nice one-two punch,”
UCLA head coach Karl Dorrell said, “They do a nice job
offensively with mixing things up.
Still, it’s the Cal Golden Bear defense that has risen to
the occasion. With only two returning starters, it was expected
that the defense would be the team’s Achilles’ heel.
Surprisingly, it’s the defense that has kept the team close
enough for the offense to win games and has even come up with key
stops in wins over USC and Illinois.
Both sides know the implications of this matchup, however early
it may be in the Pac-10 season. Both UC Berkeley and UCLA could
find themselves on the bubble of bowl berths by the season’s
end. Even last year, both teams finished with identical records in
the final conference standings. Only the Cal Bears’ bowl
ineligibility helped assure UCLA a bid to the Las Vegas Bowl.
“I have respect for all the teams in our
conference,” Tedford said, “Everybody always seems like
they are up and down any given Saturday. Anything can happen over
the next several weeks.”
With reports from Diamond Leung, Bruin Sports Senior
Staff.