BERKELEY “”mdash; It was a game that many UCLA players thought
reflected their entire season up to this point ““ close to a
breakthrough, but a series of missteps ultimately sabotaged their
efforts.
In the aftermath of UCLA’s 38-24 loss to No. 10 California
at Memorial Stadium on Saturday, coach Karl Dorrell and his players
walked away proud of their resolve, but still wondering how they
can put an end to these mistakes, as well as a four-game losing
streak that has left their season spiraling downward.
Moral victories are seldom something a football coach or his
team will stand behind.
SLIDESHOW
Click here to see more photos from the game against Cal
Saturday.
While Dorrell refused to say he is judging his team’s
performance by anything less than wins, he did say that he was
proud of the effort his players put forth on Saturday.
“I thought our team played hard. We weren’t the
smartest in all circumstances. We had some penalties in the first
half, but we kept fighting through it,” Dorrell said.
Players were less enthused about their efforts, saying there
were too many mistakes made at crucial moments, especially on the
road against the conference leaders.
“I don’t think anybody thought we couldn’t
play with these guys,” safety Dennis Keyes said. “And
we had our chances to win, but we didn’t put it all together.
We’ve had (other) games like this, where we did well in
certain areas and then not in other areas, and it costs
us.”
Perhaps the most telling aspect of the game was that the Bruins
(4-5, 2-3 Pac-10) had positives to take away from the game and were
still handily defeated by a more explosive and less erratic Bears
team (7-1, 5-0).
After weeks of leading a sputtering offense, quarterback Pat
Cowan put together his most productive outing in four starts. He
looked more comfortable in a game plan that took advantage of his
mobility by rolling out of the pocket and making throws in open
space. Cowan passed for 329 yards, completing 22 of 40 attempts
with two costly interceptions.
After weeks of showing mixed results in the running game,
tailback Chris Markey showed that he has the ability to gain big
chunks of yards at a time. Markey finished with 140 yards on 20
carries and a touchdown.
But the Bruins left much-needed points on the field on four
drives that were thwarted by turnovers or missed field goals. And
the Bears made the Bruins pay for each of those mistakes.
Trailing Cal 14-10 with over two minutes left in the second
quarter, UCLA had a big scoring opportunity when defensive end
Bruce Davis sacked Cal’s Nate Longshore and forced a fumble
that defensive tackle Chase Moline recovered at the Cal 45.
But wide receiver Marcus Everett dropped what would have been a
lead-changing touchdown pass from Cowan on a fade route, and on the
next play Cowan threw an interception.
UCLA opened up with the ball in the second half, and a
seven-play, 43-yard drive resulted in no points when Medlock missed
his second field goal attempt of the game, this one wide right from
44 yards out.
On the next drive, Longshore hit a wide-open Robert Jordan, who
blew past Dennis Keyes in stride for a 44-yard touchdown to make it
21-10.
UCLA’s defense was its strength for the first seven games
of the season, but the last two games have proven to be a different
story.
Longshore picked apart the Bruin secondary, completing 20 of 24
passes for 266 yards with three touchdowns. Not only did the
secondary have an off night, but the pass rushers were a non-entity
for most of the game, as Longshore had superb pass protection.
“We didn’t play as well as we could have, but nobody
is making excuses,” cornerback Trey Brown said. “We
aren’t tired or worn down or anything, we just need to make
more plays on defense. We haven’t done that the last couple
of weeks.”
Offensively, UCLA had been moving the ball with little trouble
against a soft Cal defense, but went three-and-out after
Longshore’s touchdown pass to Jordan. Aaron Perez’s
line-drive punt was returned 72 yards for a touchdown by DeSean
Jackson.
Suddenly it was 28-10 with less than three minutes left in the
third quarter.
In response, Cowan was able to move out of the pocket and make
plays on the run, connecting with Logan Paulsen on a 29-yard
gain.
But once again, Cowan sabotaged all his work by throwing an
interception deep in Cal territory, effectively putting the game
out of reach. It was the fourth possession in which Bruins drove
inside Cal’s 30-yard line but came away with nothing.
Markey scored a 70-yard touchdown run ““ his longest of the
season ““ in the fourth quarter to keep it close, and then
Chane Moline capped off a late fourth-quarter drive with a 1-yard
touchdown run. But the scores did little except cover the
18.5-point spread.
“We committed to the running game (Saturday),”
offensive guard Shannon Tevaga said. “In the last few games,
we had gotten away from it, but we stuck with it tonight and got in
a better rhythm.”
Following the game, Dorrell and his players affirmed that the
season was not lost with this latest defeat, which drops them into
a tie with Arizona State for sixth place in the Pac-10.
UCLA faces Oregon State (5-3, 3-2) at the Rose Bowl on Saturday,
and with only three conference games remaining, the outlook for the
season has obviously changed over the course of the year.
Instead of talking about competing for a conference title, UCLA
needs to win two of its last three games just to be
bowl-eligible.
“We’ve got to win out to make a decent bowl, so
that’s the mentality,” Tevaga said. “We can still
save the season somewhat.”