BERKELEY “”mdash; There are countless storylines that can be
taken from a football game.
But Saturday, with California’s 45-28 victory over UCLA,
only one thing seemed to matter. TheNo. 8 Bears were the better
football team, certainly on that day, and they did the things
necessary to prove it.
Though the Bruins were perhaps a play or two from making it a
much closer game, those plays never came. They simply didn’t
do the sorts of things that winning teams do.
“It sucks,” quarterback Drew Olson said.
“It’s probably the hardest loss that we’ve ever
felt. We had a chance. We were there with them, and to end up
losing by 17, it’s disappointing.”
This game was a chance for UCLA (4-2, 2-1 Pac-10) to prove
itself against one of the top teams in the nation. After beating up
on much weaker opponents, the Bruins knew the trip to Memorial
Stadium would be a great measuring stick for where they stood as a
program.
But when the dust had cleared Saturday, it was the talented
Bears (4-1, 2-1) who were standing proud. The Cal trio of
quarterback Aaron Rodgers, tailback J.J. Arrington and receiver
Geoff McArthur simply torched the Bruins, demonstrating the
offensive balance that makes Cal so dangerous.
“There’s a lot for us to learn from this,”
UCLA coach Karl Dorrell said. “We’ve got a lot to build
on from this game.”
The positives for the Bruins are that their offense can put up
yards and points against a defense as talented as Cal’s, and
that the defense is indeed capable at times of slowing down an
offensive juggernaut. But good teams put their efficient offense
and timely defense together, something UCLA wasn’t able to do
on Saturday.
While Cal scored on its first possession of the game on a
20-yard touchdown reception by McArthur, UCLA didn’t make a
first down in the entire first quarter. The running game was
stagnant, the passing game was non-existent and the Bruin offense
spent only four minutes and 18 seconds on the field in that first
quarter.
“We weren’t able to make the plays in the early
going that we were accustomed to,” Dorrell said. “Our
defense had more plays on the field than our offense did, and
that’s not where you want to be. You want your offense to be
in control of the game, and we weren’t in control in the
beginning.”
UCLA gained some semblance of control late in the second
quarter, as Olson hooked up with tight end Marcedes Lewis for a
15-yard touchdown that cut the deficit to 14-7 after Arrington had
scored on a 1-yard run earlier in the quarter. The Bruins forced a
fumble on the ensuing kickoff, and Maurice Drew scored on a 27-yard
reception off a screen pass two plays later that tied the score at
14-14.
“We knew we had this in our hands,” Drew said.
“We had it, and we let it slip away. That’s never going
to happen again.”
It began to slip away right away, actually. Though it appeared
that UCLA had stolen the game’s momentum, Cal put together a
clinical scoring drive late in the second quarter, punctuated by an
incredible diving catch in the end zone by tight end Garrett Cross.
The touchdown came on a third and 10, just three plays after Cal
had converted on fourth and six.
“There’s nothing you can do when somebody makes a
play,” safety Jarrad Page said. “When the tight end
makes a great catch in the endzone, that’s a good
play.”
Cal displayed its balanced offense some more in the second half,
while the Bruin offense sputtered in critical situations. UCLA,
trailing 28-14 midway through the third quarter, was unable to
convert on third and one and then on fourth and one from the Cal
10-yard line, allowing the Bears to seize control and put the game
away.
On third down UCLA gave the ball to Drew, but he couldn’t
make anything happen. Then on the critical fourth down play,
tailback Manuel White was also piled up for no gain.
“That hurts,” said Lewis, who finished with four
receptions for 22 yards. “You need a first. If you can score,
that’ll be big in that situation. And when we didn’t,
it was like, “˜Damn, that’s one more score that
we’ve got to get.’ We tried to fight back, but we could
never really get back on track.”
Especially since the Cal offense was clicking on all cylinders.
The Bears finally put UCLA away for good in the first minute of the
fourth quarter when McArthur, who finished with nine receptions for
163 yards, caught his second touchdown of the day on an 80 yard
pass play.
Rodgers, who finished 19-for-29 for 260 yards and four
touchdowns, found McArthur down the left sideline, and when
cornerback Rodney Van missed a tackle, the outcome was certain.
“They just got the best of us today,” Page said.
“We just have to strike when we get our opportunities, and
that’s what we plan to do in the future.”
Throughout the game, Cal was able to take advantage of its
opportunities while UCLA sputtered when it couldn’t afford
to.
“I’m real disappointed in not taking advantage of
our field position and our opportunities in the redzone, because
that’s something we’ve been good at all year,”
said Olson, who finished 20-for-36 for 299 yards and four
touchdowns.
Though the Bruin defense will look bad on paper, allowing
Arrington to run for 209 yards on 29 carries and giving up 550
yards of total offense, Kerr was pleased with the resolve his team
showed. The defense kept the Bruins in the game early, and had the
offense not struggled at the outset, it may have been a closer
contest down the stretch.
“We grew up a lot,” defensive coordinator Larry Kerr
said. “I think the young players on the defensive line played
their hearts out. “They just ended up wearing us
down.”
When it comes right down to it, Cal proved it was the better
team. UCLA’s rushing game was ineffective, making the offense
one-dimensional. Drew gained only 42 yards on 14 carries while
White picked up another 29 yards on eight carries.
But the Bruins see little reason to be discouraged. For the
first half, they challenged one of the best teams in the
nation.
Though the scoreboard on Saturday may not show it, they feel
they have made tremendous strides from last year when they dropped
their last five games.
“We came from something, and now we’ve
changed,” Drew said. “Now we’re doing something
different. If we keep going in this direction, we’re going to
be on our way. You’re going to see a different UCLA team.
“There’s not going to be any more losing close or
losing big or anything like that. You’re going to see a lot
more winning.”