FOOTBALL Saturday, 3:15 p.m. v. Oregon State
The Rose Bowl
For four weeks, the Bruins have struggled to find answers. From
being blown out to letting close games slip away, this team has
experienced almost every way to lose a game within the last
month.
Now, mired in the longest losing streak in three years, UCLA is
nearly out of time, and there are still no answers in sight.
In danger of missing a bowl game for the first time since 2001,
the Bruins will host red hot Oregon State this Saturday at the Rose
Bowl. A loss this weekend would almost assuredly send UCLA to a
losing season, prompting widespread dissent among Bruin faithfuls
over the state of the program.
“This game is huge for us. It’s a must win,”
cornerback Dennis Keyes said. “We have to stop the slide
right now. It gets to be a matter of pride. We don’t want to
finish the year on a bad slide like the one we’ve been on.
And we know that it starts right here, winning at home because we
can’t lose conference home games.”
The team began the year with mile-high hopes, coming off of last
year’s amazing run. As the season began, players donned
wristbands listing a Pac-10 Championship as a goal. Those pieces of
flair are no longer present as the team has had to shift its
focus.
“We took off the bracelets, and have put everything behind
us,” redshirt junior linebacker Christian Taylor said.
“We can’t win the Pac-10, and that’s something we
just weren’t able to accomplish this year. It hurts, but the
season isn’t over. We have to win these last three games to
make a bowl.”
The Bruins (4-5, 2-4 Pac-10) will have to dig deep in order to
reach the postseason, and Oregon State (6-3, 4-2 Pac-10) is no
slouch, having emerged as one of the better teams in the
conference. Just two weeks ago, the Beavers pulled off maybe the
biggest upset in college football this season as they handed the
then No. 3 USC Trojans their first loss in 27 conference games.
Captained by former UCLA quarterback Matt Moore, who transferred
to Oregon State two years ago from a community college, the Beavers
will present the Bruins with trouble both through the air as well
as on the ground with the conference’s second leading rusher,
Yvenson Bernard.
Coming off of a game against a prolific California offense where
the team had difficulties tackling, the defense knows the key to
salvaging the Bruins’ season is directly connected with their
response to their failed executions on key plays, leaving them on
the losing end of so many games.
“We need to win this game just for our confidence, (to)
end this streak,” Taylor said. “There are too many
plays that could have been made, but it doesn’t matter now.
We didn’t make them to win the games, and last year it seemed
like we made those plays. But we still have these three games and
that’s it.”
The story has been similar on the offensive end as the Bruins
have shown signs of good production and ball movement at times,
only to lead to mistakes and shortcomings when opportunities arise
to put crucial points on the board. While the unit has shown
improvement, with the season’s end approaching, a sense of
urgency has set in.
“It’s a slippery slope,” offensive coordinator
Jim Svoboda said. “I think what we’ve tried to do is
just start fresh. I think there are times when we’ve played a
little tight. Tried too hard to be perfect. It’s very
difficult to play at highest level when you have that mentality …
We’ve been more focused on not losing than on
winning.”
After this weekend’s matchup against bowl-bound Oregon
State, the road toward the end of the year only gets rougher. With
a road trip to Arizona State and the annual game against the rival
Trojans remaining on the schedule, many have already written off
the Bruins this season as failures in living up to preseason
expectations. The players, on the other hand, feel that assessment
is not the case and will do everything in their power to reverse
people’s thinking starting Saturday.
“Now we see who actually just wants to get out on that
field and play,” Taylor said. “There’s been a lot
of negative stuff said about us the last couple of weeks and people
are doubting how we’ll finish. So now it’s about
wanting to go play on that field, and focusing on that.
That’s what I am going to do.”