It’s been a while since I’ve been optimistic about
UCLA football.
Since 2001 to be exact.
Back then, I was an impressionable freshman, set to graduate a
quarter early and watch the Bruins compete for a championship.
Now, a little over four years later, I still have two courses
left and get optimistic about as often as a telemarketer making
calls on Christmas.
But after watching UCLA hammer Oklahoma, that foreign feeling is
coming back again. I glance at the stat sheets and highlight reels
and think the Bruin offense is unstoppable. I stare at the schedule
and can’t foresee any losses for the next couple months.
It’s as though I’m a freshman all over again, which
to be perfectly honest, troubled me initially. For those who easily
forget, the wave of optimism that swept campus in 2001 ended in a
five-game tailspin and scandals that eventually cost Bob Toledo his
job.
I like to think the past four years of college has given me an
appreciation of history, some reasoned basis rather than rah-rah
spirit.
So moments after the Bruins’ biggest victory in the Karl
Dorrell era, I didn’t go into the locker room high-fiving
players or congratulating coaches. I went in to remind some of the
fifth-year seniors about that miserable season, essentially
carrying a wet blanket and asking for reassurance that another
letdown wouldn’t happen.
For the most part, however, I was the one who was reminded.
“It’s a different coach, different players,
different leadership group,” linebacker Spencer Havner said.
“We’re not looking forward to any other game or career
like the NFL. This is where we’re at. Our focus on this team
is much better.”
Havner is one of just a handful of players who redshirted in
2001 and has returned to Westwood for one last go-around. And
although he’ll never be able to completely allay my concern
that there’s some kind of voodoo curse plaguing any UCLA team
destined for greatness, he’s done a pretty convincing job of
making my glass look half-full for the first time in a long
while.
Walking around the locker room, it dawned on me that many of the
current players probably didn’t even know Deshaun Foster ever
drove an SUV. Most of the current coaching staff hadn’t even
seen each other.
“I don’t even remember that season,” said
offensive coordinator Tom Cable, who was coaching Idaho at the
time.
“Were they good?”
I mentioned to Cable that the team had started off 6-0, but I
didn’t go into the rest of the sob story. It really
didn’t seem necessary.
“That’s just so long ago I can barely remember what
happened,” fifth-year center Mike McCloskey said.
I’m not sure whether it’s wise for McCloskey to
forget his first season at UCLA. B
ut in any case, Havner gave me a sense of comfort that this
group is leading the right way.
“We want to stay humble in the wake of success,” he
said.
The Bruins are inching closer and closer to that success. Which
is making my pessimism more and more humbled.
E-mail Finley at afinley@media.ucla.edu.