This was supposed to be it. The season. The big one. The one that finally got UCLA to a January bowl game. The one that finally solidified coach Karl Dorrell as the coach of the future at UCLA. The one that gave the senior class some meaning and context for their careers at UCLA.
There were expectations of the highest order: Some said Pac-10 championship and a Rose Bowl were within reach, others dreamed of a national championship. With 25 seniors and 20 returning starters, one had the luxury of dreams.
Except somewhere along the way, those dreams vanished.
There was that monumental 44-6 stumble at Utah in the third game of the season, when the healthy Bruins just could not fashion an answer for a Utes team that was decimated by injuries.
There was the next inexplicable loss, as the Bruins lost to abysmal Notre Dame 20-6 behind the decision to put the game in the hands of walk-on quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson.
And, of course, there were the injuries. At one time or another, the Bruins were without their top two quarterbacks, their starting running back, their top two wide receivers, and countless linemen.
It all amounts to a 6-5 record heading into the USC game on Saturday.
For this senior class, those who have played their entire careers under Dorrell and have nothing but a Sun Bowl victory to show for it, this game could offer the possibility of redemption. Beat ‘SC, and these Bruins could go to their first Rose Bowl. Beat ‘SC, and they will leave UCLA with two consecutive victories over the powerhouse across town. Beat ‘SC, and if Arizona beats ASU, these Bruins will finally have something substantial to show for their time at UCLA.
And if they lose, they won’t.
“To me, I don’t even care where we go. I just want to beat ‘SC.”
““ Christian Taylor
Taylor, a senior middle linebacker, almost epitomizes the term “gutty little Bruin.”
Undersized for his position, Taylor fought through chronic ankle injuries last year and a concussion this year to lead the UCLA defense.
After each of the unexpected losses this year, Taylor has shown his frustration with the level of play and focus of the team. After Utah, he called the team out for overlooking the Utes, and after Arizona, he simply wanted to know who on the team still wanted to go out and play.
After a victory over Oregon that put the Bruins back in contention for the Rose Bowl, Taylor is singing a different tune.
“There would be something cool about (going in as a 7-5 team to the Rose Bowl) because everyone counted you out,” Taylor said. “You lose three in a row there at the end, people were talking about how you guys are nothing, and then you’re in the Rose Bowl. There’s a lesson to be learned in that. … Sometimes you have to go through the hard times to get to the good times.”
Taylor has undergone enough hard times in his career. A former walk-on transfer from Air Force, Taylor’s heady play put him in the starting lineup last year in place of the departed Spencer Havner. Taylor played much of that year on a perpetually sprained ankle that limited his mobility and kept him in constant pain throughout the season. That year ended with the Bruins at 7-6 with an Emerald Bowl loss, meaning little tangible gain from Taylor’s year of agony.
But when asked whether or not a victory over USC will change his perception of his career at UCLA ““ whether it could make or break his career at UCLA ““ Taylor had a simple answer:
“Whether we won or lost my senior year against ‘SC? Hell yeah. To beat USC your junior and senior year, it’s going to mean a hell of a lot.”
“It doesn’t matter what you do to get there, what you looked like on the way, who you lost to ““ it doesn’t matter what it is. If we get to the Rose Bowl, who cares what our record is? It’s the Rose Bowl.”
““ Bruce Davis
Davis, a senior defensive end, has become the face of the UCLA program in his two years as a starter. Whether it’s mugging for the cameras, providing his colorful quotes or calling out Kirk Herbstreit and Lee Corso after the UCLA-USC game last year, Davis has become the go-to Bruin for reporters and the media and a legitimate NFL prospect after spending his early career at UCLA without a real position.
After three consecutive losses to Washington State, Arizona and Arizona State, Davis repeated that he did not want to look back on his time at UCLA 20 years from now and think about what might have been.
Will a loss to USC and no Rose Bowl berth after Saturday’s game make his career disappointing?
“Personally, no; teamwise, yes,” Davis said. “It’s hard to say. I’ve been around for a 10-2 team, and I’ve been around for 5-5, 6-5. I’m not going to say it will be disappointing or it will be a failure. Maybe you can say it’s a little disappointing we didn’t win more games.”
For Davis, it’s not all about perspective. A UCLA victory and a subsequent berth in the Rose Bowl would be about something a lot more tangible.
“I want to come back with a ring on my finger and my picture up on that wall over there,” Davis said. “We have the chance to make it happen. (A win) would be the capper of my career. If you can go and get a win over those guys, it gives you something to smile about when you look back.”
“I have no rings, coming from high school and all the way up here. I have nothing really to show, you know? None of us ““ this senior group has nothing to show.”
““ Shannon Tevaga
True senior offensive guard Tevaga has seen it all. He has started since the sixth game his freshman season and has played virtually every snap he’s been healthy for since then.
He was named to various preseason All-American lists, but with the way the season and offense have gone, it is unlikely he will get any postseason honors.
Like his team, Tevaga began the year with high expectations and is now left with just two possibilities: Beat ‘SC and hope, or lose and wonder.
“We can’t look back and say, “˜Oh man,'” Tevaga said. “We have to go out and play our thing. That’s what you want to do. For my boys, we just want to play for each other. We have to just leave behind what happened.”
The Bruins are heavy underdogs against the Trojans this weekend: The line opened with the Trojans favored by 16 and then moved to 20.
Though the Bruins fought past similar odds last year to defeat the Trojans in the rivalry game, it would mean more for Tevaga this year.
“I know exactly how (recently graduated senior Robert Chai) feels,” Tevaga said. “Chai gets to walk around with his head up high because he went out on top.”
“I don’t have anything else to say, to really show my son that “˜Yeah, I went to UCLA.’ “˜Well, were you guys good?’ I can’t really say nothing.”
““ Brandon Breazell
He’s played with his teeth knocked out, his entire body bruised and battered, and all the while he has consistently made plays for a team that has been dying for offensive playmakers.
He perpetually wears a red jersey in practice thanks to all of his assorted injuries. UCLA’s coaches understand that while Breazell, a senior wide receiver, would like to play through anything, there are still limits to what his 162-pound body can stand.
He’s a whipcord, standing at around 6 feet tall, but probably able to hide behind a sapling’s trunk. And when Breazell goes over the middle to catch a pass, one half-expects the ensuing hit to break him in half.
It doesn’t. More often than not, he catches the ball, takes the hit, gets back up, and goes back out to do it again on the next play.
That same passion makes one wonder at the oddsmakers who set a line so high on this next game.
“I believe we’re going to win,” Breazell said. “We want it too bad. We’re working too hard for it. They’re going to come after us, but it doesn’t matter. We’re going to come even harder, work even harder.”
Maybe it’s fitting for this senior class that, even if they do beat USC, they will still have to rely on an Arizona victory on Saturday to get the Rose Bowl berth they want so badly.
They lost games they should have won, which Taylor has attributed to a lack of focus and passion at times. They did not always practice as hard, or as well, as they needed to.
They said all the right things about taking one game at a time, and not overlooking opponents. But then there was Utah. Or Notre Dame. Or Florida State last year. Or Arizona the year before. And so on, and so on.
But now here they sit, with a chance at a Rose Bowl if they can beat USC on Saturday.
Nothing more than a chance.