BERKELEY “”mdash; On Saturday, the UCLA football team lost its
last remaining hope for the Heisman trophy.
Kicker Justin Medlock, who has been almost totally reliable this
season, shanked two field goals in the 38-24 loss to Cal. The two
field goals would have been enough to give the Bruins a lead
heading into halftime, but instead they started the third quarter
down 14-10. Although they went on to get blown out in the second
half, if they had gotten the two field goals the momentum of the
game could have been entirely altered.
“You gotta score when you get a chance to score,”
coach Karl Dorrell said. “(Those field goals) would have been
great to have. Those kind of things you can do better.”
Medlock is now 19-of-23 on the year for field goals, and has
made all of his point-after attempts.
SLIDESHOW
Click here to see more photos from the game against Cal
Saturday.
HOLDING ON THE OFFENSE: Penalties were also a
factor in the Bruins’ loss. On UCLA’s first drive of
the game, the Bruins were called for holding three times, two by
guard Chris Joseph and one by center Robert Chai. The Bruins
appeared to be able to move the ball well, but the penalties proved
crippling. On that drive, the Bruins were forced to attempt a field
goal from the Cal 22-yard line, which Medlock missed.
Still, after the game, the offensive coaches did not think that
the penalties really affected UCLA’s offensive movement.
“Really, we overcame most of those penalties,”
offensive coordinator Jim Svoboda said. “You get frustrated
at the time, but that’s one thing I think our guys did a
really good job of. They didn’t brood (or) feel sorry for
themselves. They just kept going.
“(Penalties are) never good, but I’m not sure how
many of them hurt us. I think we sustained many of those
drives,” Svoboda said.
Chai did not quite share his coach’s perspective.
“We had rhythm, and then we’d get a penalty that
would take us back 10 yards,” Chai said. “Those were
big. … We were just playing hard. Sometimes, it’s gonna
happen when you play hard. If you’re aggressive,
they’re going to call it sometimes. It kind of bothered me a
little bit. Why can’t you just play football? There’s
always going to be holding, always going to be a couple of
penalties in football.
“Yeah, I think (they called a tight game today). Usually,
the referees are going to help out the home team,” Chai
said.
THAT ONE HURT: Linebacker Korey Bosworth
sustained a crushing hit on Cal’s DeSean Jackson’s
72-yard punt return for a touchdown. While trying to track down the
shifty Jackson, Bosworth was hit from the side by Cal’s
Thomas DeCoud. The hit knocked both Bosworth and DeCoud to the
ground. Both tried to get up and walk off the field, and both fell
down. Bosworth sustained a concussion on the play.
Jackson’s punt return was cited by Dorrell as the
“first big special teams play against us.”
“Our punt coverage team has been very good,” Dorrell
said. “We got held up with our gunners. Jackson’s one
of the best in the country. We ran into some obstacles like that in
the second half.”
VAN OUT: Cornerback Rodney Van suffered a hip
injury and did not play on defense for much of the second half,
with freshman Alterraun Verner taking over his spot. Van remained
on special teams.
“The coaches felt that Verner could get it done. I respect
their decision. I just did my part and played the rest of the game
on special teams,” Van said.