CORVALLIS, Ore. “”mdash; According to UCLA linebacker Reggie Carter, there are only two types of football games: wins and losses.
And for the Bruins’ football team, which came from behind and narrowly missed a chance at earning an improbable victory, that’s all Saturday’s game against Oregon State at Reser Stadium was. A loss.
“There’s victories and there’s losses; we just took a loss,” Carter said.
The Bruins dropped their fifth consecutive game, this one a 26-19 defeat to the Beavers on Halloween. Yet the difference between a loss and what would have been a relieving win for the Bruins was their defense’s inability to stop the plays on the outside.
Starting on their own 30-yard line, the Beavers needed to go 70 yards with 2:01 left in the game. With the game in the balance, the Beavers went back to what had been working for them all game: Get the ball into the hands of the Rodgers brothers.
On the final drive, the Rodgers brothers touched the ball on five of the Beavers’ seven plays of a drive that was capped by a game-winning 17-yard rushing touchdown by James Rodgers.
James Rodgers finished with 106 yards receiving and 28 yards rushing. James’ brother, Jacquizz, finished with 112 yards rushing, 92 yards receiving and even threw for a touchdown, a 14-yard strike in the second quarter.
UCLA cornerback Alterraun Verner said that because of their low center of gravity and their small height, each of them are difficult to bring down.
“I got a lot of respect for them as football players,” Verner said. “Whoever raised them was pretty good.”
Safety Rahim Moore also had respect for the two brothers.
“It shows you that size don’t mean anything,” Moore said.
Particularly heartbreaking for the Bruins was that on the first play of the eventual game-winning drive, Verner nearly came away with an interception. Had he made the interception, there was nothing but open field ahead of him.
“That would have just been a big play for us,” Verner said. “We knew our offense did an amazing job getting us back in the game, and as a defense we look forward to having it on our shoulders. That first play, the receiver went inside, the quarterback misthrew it. I tried to get my hands on it, I didn’t pull it down. A million things are going through my mind at that time, but it was just an unfortunate play that I couldn’t make for the team.”
BREHAUT SEES LIMITED TIME: In the week leading up to the Oregon State game, UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel said he wanted to get true freshman quarterback Richard Brehaut some “meaningful snaps” in the game against the Beavers.
Those meaningful snaps?
Three hand-offs and one fumble that UCLA recovered.
Brehaut played one series in the second quarter with the Bruins trailing 6-0, leading the Bruins to one first down on a 12-yard run by Derrick Coleman.
Neuheisel said that it was his intention to get Brehaut in for “a series or two,” and then when Prince seemed to get into a rhythm in the second half, he decided to keep Brehaut on the bench.
Brehaut said that he was relaxed and felt more prepared than he had in his other appearances, and that with the way Prince was playing, he too felt the decision that was made to be the best.
“When Kev’s playing like that, he’s the quarterback,” Brehaut said.
NOTES: Center Kai Maiava suffered a hyper-extended right elbow but finished the game. … Nelson Rosario’s 152 yards receiving were the most by a Bruin receiver since Craig Bragg had 230 yards against Oregon in 2002. … Prince’s two passing touchdowns in the fourth quarter were the only Bruin passing touchdowns in the month of October.