After two rough losses on the road, it’s apt that the
Bruins return to the Rose Bowl for the annual Homecoming Game.
UCLA can certainly use any extra hospitality, especially after
last week’s collapse against Arizona State. It will be
interesting to see how the Bruins respond as they try to move on
from their very disappointing loss.
“We’re mad; we’re playing with a chip on our
shoulder,” senior tailback Manuel White said. “Two
weeks in a row, that doesn’t feel good. But we don’t
have our heads down at all.
“We’re just out here playing mad and
hungry.”
The Bruin who is probably most ready to hit the field and avenge
last week’s loss is junior quarterback Drew Olson.
Olson has had to come to grips with the fact that despite his
career-high 325 yards passing, his four interceptions left him a
good deal of blame for the ASU debacle.
“It was kind of weird on the sideline, completing balls
and feeling good and all of a sudden I make an airhead
mistake,” Olson said. “Those four interceptions are
probably why we lost the game. You learn from them and keep going,
but I’ll continue playing with the same confidence, if not
more, next week.”
While a victory over Stanford would probably not take all of the
hurt away, it would certainly be a start.
And besides settling the residual effects from last week, this
is an important game for UCLA in terms of its conference
positioning.
UCLA and Stanford enter the game with identical records of 4-3
and 2-2 in conference. Now that the Rose Bowl is out of the
question for the Bruins, each remaining game is significant in that
it will determine the positioning for one of the remaining Pac-10
bowls.
“The attitude they showed there at practice was no
lingering effects,” coach Karl Dorrell said.
“We’re back up on the horse. There’s four games
left and a lot to play for and we’re right in the middle of
the pack.”
Another thing UCLA has in common with Stanford is that both have
exceeded preseason expectations. The media picked the Bruins to
finish eighth and the Cardinal ninth in the Pac-10, but both jumped
out of the gate quickly with winning records.
For the Bruins, what they’ll see in Stanford should seem
familiar. The Cardinal, like the Sun Devils, relies on a potent
passing attack led by sophomore quarterback Trent Edwards and a
pair of tall receivers ““ 6-foot-5 senior Alex Smith and
6-foot-7 sophomore Evan Moore. The pair will have a big height
advantage over the Bruin starting corners, 5-foot-9 senior Matt
Clark and 5-foot-10 freshman Trey Brown.
“Stanford is an excellent offensive football team; they
have really made strides,” defensive coordinator Larry Kerr
said. “Their quarterback is playing very well. The strength
of their team is their receivers. I think they have much better
receivers as a core than ASU.”
“There’s not a corner in the league that matches up
against (Moore) because of his size,” Dorrell said.
“Some have done a good job defensively on him, but
can’t really stop him. You just don’t want to let him
have the big plays.”
Thus, Clark and Brown and the rest of the much-maligned Bruin
secondary will be the focus once more this Saturday. They will also
have the opportunity to atone for last week and the 415 yards they
gave up through the air.
“Stanford throws the ball really well, so we’re
going to work on our passing emphasis,” Dorrell said.
“We’ve made some improvements in certain areas and
it’s hard to tell in the overall production of a game when
you see an offense gain 400-500 yards. But there’s progress
being made.”
UCLA will counter with a dynamic offense of its own, currently
ranked third in the Pac-10, and fresh off of putting up 42 points
and 535 yards. The unit will face Stanford’s 3-4 defense, the
first such alignment the Bruins have faced this year.
“Olson is playing well, Marcedes Lewis is a real big
target and keeps getting better, there’s speed on the
perimeter, and White and Drew in the backfield is a tremendous
combination,” Stanford coach Buddy Teevens said. “The
best thing is to try to keep them on the sidelines.”
Both offenses should be able to put points on the board. Thus,
it will likely come down to which defense will be able to rise to
the occasion and how well the Bruins can channel their
frustration.
And if the Bruins don’t return to winning form, their
season is fast approaching a point where if the hole gets any
deeper it may be impossible to climb out of.
“Every game is important,” senior defensive tackle
Eyoseph Efseaff said. “The next game is always the most
important game, so I just hope we get after it and do our
thing.”