One yard in three plays for UCLA. Eighty yards in three plays
for Notre Dame. That is the dichotomy of the last real offensive
drives for the two teams on Saturday. When UCLA needed to go 10
yards to seal the game with a first down, they went one and punted.
When Notre Dame needed to get 80 yards for a touchdown in the final
1:02, the Fighting Irish got their seven points in half that time.
It meant heartbreak for the Bruins and elation for the Irish. And
for UCLA coach Karl Dorrell, it meant everything. “(There
were) six plays that were the difference in the game,”
Dorrell said. “Both of those opportunities (on defense and
offense) we came up short.” On offense, leading by four
points with over two minutes to go, the Bruins elected to run up
the middle three straight times. Predictably, considering the lack
of Bruin success on the ground during the game, they were
unsuccessful in gaining the yardage needed to seal the game with a
first down, but they did manage to burn all of Notre Dame’s
time-outs, which was Dorrell’s first priority. “We
wanted to exhaust their time-outs,” Dorrell said. “But
how do you do so and feel good (about the way you exhaust those
time-outs)? “I wish I would have called plays that
worked.” Still, the defense was put into a position where all
they had to do was keep the Irish from scoring with 1:02 to go in
the game. Notre Dame had no time-outs, but still they were able to
drive the field for a score in 35 seconds, bringing back memories
of a Bruin defense from a year ago, not the one they showed for 59
minutes of dominant play on Saturday. However, the Bruin players do
not blame the play-calling. “We had three down-linemen but we
played cover two (not a prevent defense),” defensive lineman
Bruce Davis said. “The pass they threw was just an
intermediate crosser. (Defensive coordinator DeWayne) Walker called
the perfect call. We got sucked in a little bit. We just
didn’t execute the call. “If people (blame) our
coaches, that’s fine. I would say to (those people) that they
don’t know much about football,” Davis said. Irish
quarterback Brady Quinn connected on three passes in the drive to
get the score, the last one a 45-yard pass to wide receiver Jeff
Samardzija in which he broke a tackle by UCLA safety Dennis Keyes.
Despite knowing that the Irish would pass, the Bruins were still
unable to keep the plays in front of them. “We knew they were
going to pass just like they knew we were going to run,”
Dorrell said. “We gave our defense their best chance to
defend.” Neither Davis nor Dorrell were pointing fingers at
anyone but themselves on Monday. Davis blamed himself for
opportunities to end the game with plays earlier on that would have
kept UCLA from being in that position at the end of the game, and
Dorrell said that, ultimately, all the blame falls to him.
INJURY REPORT: Quarterback Ben Olson will not
be ready to play against Washington State this week, but might do
some mobility drills in practice. Running back Kahlil Bell and
linebacker Aaron Whittington are both in boots this week after
sustaining ankle injuries in Saturday’s game. Both are listed
as day-to-day. Linebacker Christian Taylor still has soreness in
his ankle, but will practice on Wednesday. Wide receiver Terrence
Austin is still nursing a hamstring strain.