Who would have thought a conference road game against Arizona could have the power to make or break a season ““ and possibly a career?
Who would have thought that in this, the supposed season of destiny for Karl Dorrell’s Bruins in which UCLA rose as high as No. 11 in the rankings, losing to the Wildcats is a very real possibility?
In the wake of Dan Guerrero’s comment to the LA Times that he will be very interested to see how the season turns out ““ a comment that seemingly raised the heat of the seat upon which Dorrell resides ““ Saturday’s game against Arizona begins a run of must-win games for Dorrell. At 5-3 and 4-1 in conference, in a season where some were predicting UCLA as a dark horse candidate to get to the BCS Championship game in New Orleans, another bad loss to an unheralded team could spell the beginning of the end for the head coach.
UCLA has had three bad losses this year ““ two (Utah and Notre Dame) came against previously winless teams, and one (Washington State) came against a team that was previously winless in conference. The closest Notre Dame has come to a win outside of the UCLA game was a 13-point loss to Boston College at Notre Dame.
So the Bruins head to Tucson, where they will meet the Wildcats, who are 3-5 and 2-4 in conference and thus exactly the type of team UCLA has struggled against this year.
In their last game, a win over Washington, Arizona quarterback Willie Tuitama threw for over 500 yards. UCLA has struggled against the pass this year, and in the loss to Washington State the Bruins had serious issues with pass interference calls. Though some of those appeared to be phantom calls, Dorrell felt the need to address the problem this week.
“Even if it’s iffy calls or either-way calls, it doesn’t matter,” Dorrell said. “It was enough to draw attention to it and cause a foul. We don’t ever want to stop playing aggressive. That’s our style with our corners. And you just want to make sure they’re playing within the rules of the game so you just continue to address that.”
The combination of their struggles with pass defense and playing in a road environment could prove to be a lethal combination for the Bruins. But the Bruin defensive backs are taking the challenge in stride and hoping that the level of competition offered by a tough passing attack will raise the level of their own game.
“It’s a big obstacle but we always welcome the challenge,” cornerback Trey Brown said. “Our DBs in the secondary ““ we welcome all challenges and we love the competition. They have a good passing attack and we feel like we have a good passing defense as well. It’s going to be another great battle in somebody else’s house.”
The Bruins have two victories on the road this year ““ one against Stanford to open the season and one against Oregon State at the end of September. They also have the two losses, to Utah and Washington State. Neither Stanford nor Oregon State possessed a good passing offense, whereas Utah and Washington State both run versions of the spread passing attack. Arizona also runs the spread attack.
The similarity is not lost on the Bruins, but if anything, they are welcoming the opportunity to try again against a spread offense.
“It’s a great challenge (to face a passing offense like Arizona),” cornerback Alterraun Verner said. “As a DB in the secondary, we love challenges and we love teams that throw the ball because it gives us opportunities to make plays and showcase our capabilities. We’re looking forward to this game. A spread offense is always fun.”
NOTES: The last time the Bruins went to Arizona in 2005, they lost 52-14. The Bruins went on to a 10-2 record that year…Linebacker John Hale (hamstring) is out this weekend…Aleksey Lanis will start at left tackle in place of Micah Kia.