PASADENA “”mdash; You knew it wasn’t the sun playing tricks
on your eyes because the sound of victory was unmistakable.
BONGGG!
Yes, that ball did swerve left and crash head-on into the
upright. Yes, that was a heap of the boys in baby blue dogpiling at
midfield. And yes, after UCLA beat Cal 23-20 in overtime on a
sweltering Saturday, this highest of highs just might reverberate
throughout the rest of the season.
“We keep finding a way to win,” UCLA coach Karl
Dorrell said. “We have a little luck on our side.”
Call it luck, call it Larry Kerr, whatever it is, it’s
working for UCLA. The Bruins are now 3-0 in Pac-10 play and riding
a four-game winning streak going into this Saturday’s
nighttime tilt at the Rose Bowl with Arizona State.
So Bruin fans strap on your seat belts and get ready for a wild
ride from here on out. Break out of your apathetic SoCal shells and
get excited. And, most importantly, suck it up.
I know, I know, you want Matt Moore as your quarterback. Look,
we all know Drew Olson is slower than Jessica Simpson, and his
9-of-20, 173-yard performance Saturday won’t make him the
second coming of John Elway or even holder Chris Kluwe on that
desperation rollout.
But Dorrell made it clear by not playing Moore against Cal that
Olson is the man.
So do what you have to do to support Olson. Come to the game
dressed as your favorite “Full House” character. Turn
your boos into “droos” every time he surprisingly does
something.
This team, after all, will need as much support as it can get
since the second-half schedule is a minefield. Arizona State and
quarterback Andrew Walter will put the UCLA winning streak in grave
danger this week.
And after Stanford, Washington State, Oregon and the Women of
Troy await.
Of course, the last time UCLA started out 3-0 in conference was
in that ignominious 2001 season, in which the Bruins proceeded to
lose four straight.
That team had more talent, but this team has more heart.
“The good thing about our team is their character,”
Dorrell said. “They have good character, and they find a way
within themselves to pull out something particular when they could
let the balloon totally deflate.”
Notice during a timeout in overtime how Dorrell rallied the
Bruins by bringing together the entire team on the sideline. While
it’s very likely not a single member of the team actually
heard what he said, the action was symbolic.
Is it possible that the Bruins could lose four of their next
five? Sure.
Is it more likely than not? Well, is Bob Toledo still
coaching?
Numerous times during the fourth quarter, you could sense it.
Typical Bruins ““ they were going to choke this one away after
Brandon Chillar’s 65-yard blocked field goal return for a
touchdown should have put the game away.
But all I know is that by the final whistle, Cal’s Tyler
Fredrickson had missed his kick, and you didn’t see Bear fans
rushing onto the field like they did last year in Berkeley.
“The difference was the pole,” Cal coach Jeff
Tedford said.
That’s good enough for me. Like that left upright, the
Bruins rattled and swayed but ultimately stood tall. UCLA might
have won by the slimmest of margins, but in football, you make your
own breaks.
So after wiping the sunblock out of your ears, you can decide
for yourself whether or not you want to hear the buzz going around
this team.
But it’s undoubtedly there.
Leung was a football beat writer in 2002. He can be reached
at dleung@media.ucla.edu.