Forgive UCLA fans if they see the glass as half empty.
With new starters cycled in every year, there is a continual
change in college football’s landscape, but an alarming
pattern has developed during the past handful of seasons for
UCLA.
The Bruins have consistently started each season with lots of
promise and early wins, which only lead to disappointment and a
second-half demise.
The team seemingly gathers a full head of steam in September,
hits a wall in mid-October, and then spends the winter months
wondering where the fun went.
With the Bruins having jumped out to a 4-1 start before falling
to Cal last Saturday, their history again becomes relevant as UCLA
prepares to face Arizona State on Saturday. Will history repeat
itself?
“We’re all aware of it; we were all a part of
it,” junior quarterback Drew Olson said. “But we really
don’t think about it too much because there’s a
different attitude on this team.”
Going back as far as 1999, the Bruins have had a miserable time
in the second half of their seasons. During the last six games over
five seasons, they are 10-20.
Four of those seasons were under the tenure of former coach Bob
Toledo, who was driven out in large part because of his second-half
failures and inability to end the season with a victory over
USC.
But with coach Karl Dorrell’s first-year struggles last
season, fans began worrying that the coaching change hadn’t
alleviated the problem. After a 6-2 start, UCLA dropped its last
five games. However, Dorrell was quick to point out the changes in
this year’s team.
“There’s no comparison to last year,” Dorrell
said. “At times this year we’ve looked good.
That’s really the difference between this year and last year.
It was hard finding a lot of positives last year, and this year you
can see a lot more.”
Indeed, the team has been different this year, scoring in
bunches and succeeding fairly consistently on the ground and in the
air.
“The attitude last year was it didn’t seem like we
were having much fun, and that’s not the face of our team. We
go out there and have fun no matter what,” senior wideout
Craig Bragg said. “This is also our second year in the
offense, and we feel more comfortable in what we’re doing.
We’re playing faster and stronger, and I think that’s
going to carry out the rest of the season.”
Still, there is a nagging flip side. While the Bruins featured
perhaps the conference’s best defensive front last year,
other teams have scored in bunches against UCLA this season. The
key to second-half success likely will be whether the defense
improves.
“This is a whole new season,” junior cornerback
Marcus Cassel said. “We have whole new coaches, we have a
whole new defense. Just because we lost (against Cal) is no
indication that this year will be like last year.”
Thus, while every game of the short college football season is
important and each loss could be the difference between an upper
tier bowl game, lower tier bowl game, or no bowl game at all, the
upcoming game against Arizona State looms large to quiet the
lingering questions from the past.
“Coming off of the loss (to Cal) you can tell guys just
want to get out there and play again,” Olson said. “And
before we kind of took that attitude into our next game and it
killed us.”
How Olson and the rest of the Bruins bounce back against Arizona
State may signal the direction they go for the rest of the
season.
With only two losses, the Bruins are still in contention for a
high-profile bowl.
However, they will first have to prove they can play with top
teams. Both of their losses so far have come against top-25 teams,
No. 22 Oklahoma State and No. 7 Cal, while all four wins have come
against decidedly lesser opponents. The four teams UCLA has beaten
have a combined record of 6-19, with three of the six victories
coming against Division I-AA opponents.
The Bruins can remove some of the doubt with a victory against
the No. 21 Arizona State and at the same time rebuild their
momentum.
“We just need consistency and to keep the continuity
going,” Dorrell said. “That’s why it’s a
different feel this year. We think we’re very capable of
becoming what we hope to become.”
That kind of optimism is necessary to counter the dismal
memories of the past few seasons. For some players, a positive
outlook towards the rest of this season has been just one part of
this optimism. Dismissing recent downfalls has been an approach
taken by one four-year veteran who has plenty to forget.
“I don’t even remember last year,” senior
tailback Manuel White said. “I know we’re all upset
about the Cal loss, and we’re going to go out there this week
and have fun.”
Maybe this year he’ll have something pleasant to
remember.