SOUTH BEND, Ind. “”mdash; One first down. Ten yards.
One first down and 10 yards are what kept UCLA from clinching
Saturday’s victory over No. 10 Notre Dame.
Had the Bruins gotten first downs on either of their final two
drives, the devastating loss that occurred on Saturday could have
had a vastly different outcome.
“We were thinking one thing, and that was to get a first
down,” running back Chris Markey said. “It’s very
frustrating when we have a chance to win the game and we
don’t do it.”
With two minutes and 20 seconds left on the clock, the Bruins
needed one first down to be able to kneel the ball and run out the
clock.
But after three unsuccessful running plays to Markey that
resulted in a net of one yard, the Bruins were forced to punt. And
the rest is history.
SLIDESHOW
See more photos and listen to players and coaches react to UCLA’s
20-17 loss to No. 18 Notre Dame.
On the previous possession, UCLA had three similar chances to
gain a first down ““ on two runs and one pass ““ but
could not get the necessary 10 yards.
“The blame of this loss has to go on the offensive
line,” senior center Robert Chai said. “We needed to
create the holes for Chris (Markey) and we couldn’t do it. If
we get one first down, the game is over.”
On a day in which the Bruin offense was able to move down the
field with surprising fluidity, the run offense continued to
struggle throughout the game, netting only 60 yards rushing on 28
carries.
The inefficiency in the running game forced the Bruins to throw
the ball more often in the second half, eventually giving the
Fighting Irish a chance to win the game.
“It definitely makes it harder (to call plays) when our
running game is not going,” offensive coordinator Jim Svoboda
said. “It vastly limits our options.”
Those options were tested with the Bruins’ having the ball
on third-and-7 with two minutes and nine seconds left.
Instead of maybe calling a pass play that could have secured a
first down, Svoboda and the Bruins decided to run the ball to make
sure a costly passing mistake was not made.
“We thought about passing the ball, but the percentages
weren’t (in our) favor,” Svoboda said. “We felt
if we didn’t get the first down, the defense had a good
chance of stopping them.”
In the end, the Bruins’ conservative tendencies and
running inefficiencies came back to hurt them, and that made for
one frustrated coach Karl Dorrell after the game.
“We would have loved to finish the game on offense,”
Dorrell said. “We had to exhaust all their timeouts, but we
didn’t finish with the first down. We needed one first down
to finish the game, and we didn’t do it.”
COWAN HUMBLED: After the game, sophomore
quarterback Pat Cowan took much of the blame for the loss.
Cowan finished with a career-high 217 yards passing and two
touchdowns but was unable to take the Bruins into the end zone in
the second half and looked frazzled at times with the Irish’s
defensive pressure.
“I screwed up,” Cowan said. “I could have put
my team in a better situation to win, and I didn’t do
it.”
Considering, however, that it was only Cowan’s second
career start and the Bruins were playing at legendary Notre Dame
Stadium, Svoboda thought Cowan did an admirable job.
“He missed some reads, but overall he did a great
job,” Svoboda said. “Playing in this environment,
playing against this type of defense is an extremely valuable
lesson for him.”
NOTRE DAME STADIUM: Saturday’s sellout
marked the 190th consecutive sellout for Notre Dame football. From
the stadium, fans can see the “Touchdown Jesus” mural,
which is painted on the side of Notre Dame’s library. Notre
Dame Stadium also contains the flags of all the opposing teams
played each year. … As part of a Midwest tradition, the Notre
Dame band played the UCLA fight song prior to kickoff. … As part
of a Notre Dame tradition, students are thrown into mosh pits after
each scoring touchdown.
EXTRA POINTS: In attendance were 115 former
UCLA players. … Since it wasn’t a Pac-10 game and there
were no travel restrictions, the Bruins brought all of their
freshmen along on the road trip. … Receiver Jeff Samardzija
passed Tim Brown for third place on Notre Dame’s all-time
receiving list. … With a third-quarter pass, quarterback Brady
Quinn reached the 10,000-yard mark for career passing yards.