Plenty on the UCLA sports plate for Thanksgiving weekend

Exactly one week from today, I will be sitting on my couch on Thanksgiving Day, enjoying some NFL action and salivating (isn’t that a lovely image?). Salivating not just as a trypto-fan but as a UCLA sports fan.

Enjoying the epitome of Americana that is turkey, family and football is a staple of Thanksgiving revelry, but that doesn’t mean we have to forget our rooting loyalties. The Turkey Day stretch will be the weekend of all weekends when it comes to UCLA sports, a cornucopia of prime matchups up and down the Athletics Department.

For starters, there’s apparently a football game next weekend ““ a crosstown rivalry rife with story lines juicier than a deep-fried turducken and filled with plenty of animosity. UCLA versus USC may not carry the hostility that it has in the past, but isn’t exactly the Pilgrims and Squanto sharing corn and singing campfire songs.

Earlier this season, UCLA’s scheduled trip to the Coliseum looked like a scheduled trip to the Colosseum: a gory spectacle of Bruins getting slaughtered by Trojans. However, USC has looked more like a group of Pilgrim separatists than fearful warriors in recent weeks.

In addition to the gridiron clash, the weekend will be particularly telling as to the state of UCLA basketball. The men’s team is participating in the 76 Classic in Anaheim, an event that features elite programs like Butler, West Virginia and Clemson, at least one of whom the Bruins will probably have to face at some point. For a team out to prove that it will have an impact on the national stage, this tournament is gargantuan.

Meanwhile, the women’s hoops team will make a trip to Knoxville, Tenn., next Saturday to face perennial Final Four contender Tennessee.

When it comes to women’s basketball, this trip is as good as it gets. This is like the football team going to Oklahoma, like Rocky going to the Kremlin to fight Drago. Tennessee’s program is that legendary.

Oh, and UCLA coach Nikki Caldwell happens to be the protege of Tennessee icon Pat Summitt and will be facing her mentor for the first time since leaving in 2008. If the Bruins can roll out of Knoxville without getting their stuffing knocked out, it will be considered a moral victory.

The fun doesn’t stop there for UCLA teams. Assuming they stay true to their rankings and come out victorious this weekend, both the men’s and women’s soccer teams will have critical postseason matches over the Thanksgiving break. The men are due for a third-round showdown with San Diego, a team they tied, while the women could be in an epic showdown with Portland in the national quarterfinals.

The best part of those soccer scenarios? Should the teams advance to those rounds, they will each get the chance to play at Drake Stadium, where the two programs have combined to go unbeaten in 17 matches this season. With two of UCLA’s elite teams already boasting championship-caliber squads, playing at home where they are unblemished would be gravy.

Whew. I’m already exhausted, and we’re just now hitting dessert. The UCLA men’s water polo team, ranked fourth in the country, will compete in the MPSF playoffs at USC of all places. It may be ranked behind USC, California and Stanford, but the Bruins are one of the strongest and sturdiest entities to hit the water since the Mayflower.

I don’t know about you, but I will be giving thanks for this gourmet feast of UCLA sports next weekend. It will be quite the test for a renowned department that is somewhat stuck in neutral this year. Bewildering losses by the football and basketball teams have the Bruin faithful disappointed and scratching their heads for answers as to why their beloved programs are piling up the defeats.

Sure, the men’s basketball team dropped its season-opener to Cal State Fullerton, its female counterpart lost its first game to Illinois State, and the football team has been cooked to a crisp by USC for most of the last decade.

Still, this particular weekend is so big, a number of wins could alter the fortunes of the entire department.

My favorite aspect of the Thanksgiving Break is usually the leftover meat that you can enjoy for days after the initial feast, so it’s only fitting that I’m looking forward to UCLA’s elite programs dropping their losing habit cold turkey.

If you think Pete Carroll’s brain is composed of mashed potatoes, e-mail Eshoff at reshoff@media.ucla.edu.

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