While UCLA players say they’re not looking ahead to what
looks to be an epic showdown with USC on Dec. 3, their fans already
have been for weeks. The game at the 92,000-seat Los Angeles
Coliseum, which is still over a month away, is being billed as the
biggest college football game in Los Angeles in nearly half a
century. Perhaps that explains why the game is already sold out,
leaving fans currently without a ticket limited options as to how
to get their hands on one. Just two weeks ago, the line at the UCLA
Central Ticket Office for students who are season-ticket holders to
pick up their vouchers snaked all the way around the Morgan Center.
And several players said they’ve already been fielding
requests from friends and family wanting to watch them play at the
Coliseum. UCLA quarterback Drew Olson, who has already doled out
his tickets for the game to his family, said most of the players
had already given out their tickets, and will have to start
becoming the bearers of bad news. “It’s probably going
to come down to (rejecting ticket requests),” Olson said.
“I don’t know what to do. People are going to have to
do whatever they can.” One quite expensive option is to look
on the Internet at auction sites. As of Monday on eBay, tickets for
the Dec. 3 game were going for as high as $600 apiece, while almost
all of the auctions were asking for more than $100 per ticket. If
both USC and UCLA win their remaining games before Dec. 3, it would
mark the first time since 1969 that both teams would be undefeated
this late in the season. While Olson said he’s relishing the
current position the Bruins are in, he’s not afraid that UCLA
will overlook its next two opponents. “We’re living it
up, and we have to take advantage of the position we’re
in,” Olson said. “And that means we can’t slip
up, we can’t look past anyone. “Saying we want to go
1-0 each week has become such a habit, I couldn’t imagine
going into a week not saying that 15 times anymore.”
MOVING ON UP: UCLA is now at No. 5 in the BCS
standings, up one spot from last week. The Bruins are still behind
undefeated teams USC, who reclaimed the No. 1 spot, Texas, Virginia
Tech and Alabama. Despite the weekly ascendance, UCLA coach Karl
Dorrell says his team is not really paying attention to the BCS.
“We have enough to fix (within our own team) than worry about
the BCS,” Dorrell said. “(The standings) don’t
mean anything right now.”
SILENCE AT STANFORD: There appeared to be more
Bruin fans at Saturday’s game at Stanford than any of
UCLA’s road games this season, and on Monday Dorrell was
quick to give them some credit for the come-from-behind victory.
“Our crowd was tremendous in that game,” Dorrell said.
“We heard our fans more than we heard Stanford fans. In the
fourth quarter, they really energized our players.”
INJURY UPDATE: Running back Maurice Drew
suffered a bruised knee in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s
game. He remained in the game to score the game-tying touchdown,
and is expected to be able to practice this week … Defensive end
Justin Hickman said his shoulder popped slightly out of its socket
after he sacked Stanford quarterback Trent Edwards in overtime, but
that it was a recurring problem and wouldn’t have kept him
out if the game had gone into a second overtime … Center Mike
McCloskey did not play against Stanford on Saturday and is still
recovering from a sprained shoulder he sustained against Oregon
State on Oct. 22. Dorrell said he expects McCloskey to start this
Saturday against Arizona.
EXTRA POINTS: With 23 touchdowns already this
season, Olson only needs three more to break Cade McNown’s
record of 25 touchdowns in a single season. … Linebacker Spencer
Havner only needs two more tackles to move into third place on
UCLA’s list for all-time career tackles. He currently has 373
tackles. … Linebacker Wesley Walker is listed as the starting
outside linebacker in this week’s depth chart. … The
Bruins’ game against the Wildcats this Saturday in Tucson,
Ariz. is Arizona’s homecoming game. … UCLA has beaten
Arizona the last four times the teams have met, and has won four
consecutive games in Tucson.