Seven minutes and 12 seconds away from the team’s single
biggest victory of the season, UCLA self-destructed and gave
Saturday’s game away. The Bruins simply didn’t finish a
game they should have won, and that’s something they’re
going to have to learn to do if they want to salvage the season.
“We were up 42-31, in pretty good position for an opportunity
to win the football game, and we didn’t win the football
game,” UCLA coach Karl Dorrell said. “We didn’t
finish. We were competitive and played hard and did all those
things that you need to do, but you have to learn how to
finish.” In Saturday’s 48-42 loss to Arizona State, it
was clear the Bruins haven’t learned yet. Up 11 points with a
little more than seven minutes to play, the Bruins had the game
won. But they didn’t win it. “It’s like when a
boxer gets a punch on a guy and he knows he’s buckled his
legs,” Dorrell said. “He’s down, he’s hurt
““ he attacks him. “It’s the same kind of deal (in
football). When you have a position to do something like that, you
have to attack and finish what you started. That’s something
we’ll learn to do.” To some degree, Dorrell put the
responsibility for the late collapse on his players. He said you
cannot coach players to finish a game. In fact, Dorrell said he
wouldn’t have done anything different defensively from a
coaching standpoint at the end of Saturday’s contest.
“In the state of the game, the play calls weren’t
bad,” Dorrell said. “We have to execute. We have to
turn the antennas up that much more and finish the game.”
Monday, after a couple of days to digest the loss and think about
what went wrong, Dorrell was upbeat about the prospects awaiting
his team. But it was very clear that there was a sense of regret, a
sense that the Bruins missed out on a real opportunity, a sense
that there is still a lot of learning to do. “(The players)
saw the positions we were in,” Dorrell said. “They saw
the opportunities that we had in our grasp. We just didn’t
finish.” Therein lies the difference between 5-2 and 4-3, and
the difference between good and mediocre. “You have to close
and you have to win,” offensive coordinator Tom Cable said.
“But that takes something. I think we’re learning to
battle and learning how to persevere, how to bounce back and keep
fighting through. “But big games like this are decided by
just a couple of minutes or four or five plays. And those are the
most important ones you have to have an answer for.”
Pinpointing one handful of plays is not difficult. The blown
coverage that had linebacker Spencer Havner lining up against a
receiver was one; the play in which cornerback Trey Brown was beat
for a touchdown on a simple hitch-and-go was another, and
quarterback Drew Olson’s fourth and final interception
certainly helped seal the Bruins’ fate. The offense
didn’t execute down the stretch when just a few first downs
would have solidified the victory. The defense came apart when it
needed to bend just a little further instead of completely break.
“To be in games like that when you have opportunities like
that, you have to learn how to finish a game,” Dorrell said.
“That’s a learning process for young players, and some
cases for older players, too, that have not been in those
situations before. “We’re closer and closer to getting
them to where we want to be.”
TURNING ANOTHER CORNER: Brown, a redshirt
freshman, will start at right cornerback for the Bruins when they
face Stanford on Saturday. Brown replaced Marcus Cassel in the
second quarter against Arizona State and played the rest of the
game. Though he got beat on a costly touchdown late in the fourth
quarter by Sun Devil receiver Derek Hagan, Brown also had an
interception early in the game. And Dorrell was happy enough with
Brown’s effort to name him as the starter against the
Cardinal. “He showed a lot of guts and he played well,”
Dorrell said. “He made a mistake on a coverage play, and they
capitalized on it. That’s going to happen. Corners are on
islands, and they’re going to get beat from time to
time.”
PRAISE FOR TEVAGA: Freshman Shannon Tevaga, who
started at strong side guard for the Bruins on Saturday, received
high praise from Dorrell for his performance. “He got pretty
comfortable as the game unfolded and really did some good things in
the game,” Dorrell said. Dorrell credited Tevaga, who will
start against Stanford, for helping the rushing game have more
success than it had been having in the Bruins’ two previous
games.
NOTES: Redshirt freshman free safety Chris
Horton, who suffered a sprained right ankle Saturday, will be
unavailable this week for the Bruins. Dorrell said the swelling
hasn’t gone down, and Horton won’t have much mobility
until that happens … Senior wide receiver Craig Bragg will start
Saturday … UCLA has received a non-binding, verbal commitment
from Oak Park High senior receiver Gavin Ketchum. The 6-foot-4,
190-pound Ketchum also plays safety for Oak Park.