SEATTLE – In 2005, there were the losses to Arizona and USC.
Both were blowouts, and UCLA was thoroughly outplayed.
Saturday against the Huskies, the Bruins suffered a much worse
feeling.
They were the better football team, and they gave the game
away.
“That’s why I am so pissed,” junior Shannon
Tevaga said. “We had every chance to win, and we didn’t
capitalize.
“We just gave it to them.”
Five times the Bruins had the ball in the red zone. Four times,
the Bruins walked away without a touchdown.
Twice in the first half, the Bruins had the Huskies in third and
long situations, before giving up crucial first downs.
The 16-0 lead the Bruins had to start the game evaporated by the
beginning of the fourth quarter.
“You can say what you want about the game,”
linebacker Christian Taylor said. “But we had them on the
ropes and we couldn’t put them away.
“Good teams capitalize when they have a chance, and we
didn’t do that tonight.”
The Bruins last season were able to come back when facing major
deficits, but on Saturday, with a huge crowd and inexperienced
offense, they fell apart after trailing 22-19.
The Bruins were outscored 15-0, and only had 37 yards of total
offense in the fourth quarter.
“A lot of guys, including myself, had never been in this
type of position before,” wide receiver Matt Willis said.
“It was certainly frustrating that we couldn’t come
back, but it’s a learning experience for us.”
The tide of the game on Saturday switched during the last drive
of second quarter. Up to that point, the Bruins’ defense had
given up a total of three yards and caused two turnovers.
But after a controversial pass interference call and a missed
tackle by cornerback Rodney Van, the Huskies drove up field in less
than three minutes and cut the lead nearly in half.
“That (drive) was the key right there,” UCLA coach
Karl Dorrell said. “If we have that drive back, who knows
what would have happened.
“But it gave them all the momentum, and they were a
different team in the second half.”
In the second half, the Huskies drove behind the legs and arm of
quarterback Isaiah Stanback, who accounted for 248 yards of the
Huskies’ 282 yards in total offense.
The quarterback draws and roll outs that were going for losses
in the first half turned into big gains in the third and fourth
quarter.
“We knew that although we held him in check for a while,
he was eventually going to bust out,” defensive coordinator
DeWayne Walker said. “With a guy as talented as him,
it’s only a matter of time before he gets his
yards.”
The key play for Stanback and the Huskies was on a 2nd down pass
in the fourth quarter to Anthony Russo that put the Huskies in the
red zone, and in position to get a lead they would never give
up.
After falling behind 22-19, Bruin quarterback Ben Olson, who
finished 18-31 for 135 yards, threw an interception to linebacker
Dan Howell for a touchdown and the rest was history.
“I take full blame for this loss,” Olson said
afterwards. “The defense gave us a chance to win the game,
and we didn’t help them out.”
Speaking on the interception, one of two Olson threw, the
6-foot-5 lefty didn’t have much to say.
“We run that play all the time, and the ball just slipped
out of my hands,” Olson said. “It’s a real
frustrating feeling to let my teammates down like that.”
If there is one lesson that Olson and the Bruins can learn from
Saturday, it is to capitalize on chances early on in the game so
interceptions late in the fourth quarter don’t come back to
haunt them.
“We have one goal this week, and that is to learn how to
finish,” Tevaga said. “If we ever to want to be better
than a mediocre team, we better learn to finish.”