The UCLA football team’s season might not be over after all.
On Sunday, the UCLA Athletic Department announced that should Navy defeat Army next Saturday, UCLA would travel to Washington, D.C., to play Temple in the EagleBank Bowl on Dec. 29.
The game will be played at RFK Stadium and will be broadcasted live on ESPN starting at 1:30 p.m.
Coach Rick Neuheisel held a conference call on Sunday and said that while he has respect for all those serving in the armed forces, he will be leaning one way on Saturday.
“On this particular three-hour stint, we’ll be anchors away,” Neuheisel said.
The Bruins finished the 2009 regular season seventh in the Pac-10 with a conference record of 3-6 and an overall record of 6-6, missing out on the six Pac-10 bowls. After a 28-7 loss to crosstown rival USC on Nov. 28, the Bruins’ future was up in the air.
While it is still not a sure thing, Neuheisel said the players are excited for the opportunity.
“It’s a springboard into the next season,” Neuheisel said. “I think of it as the first game of next season.”
Neuheisel said that the team is allowed to practice even though they are not guaranteed a spot in the game, and therefore will practice on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning before watching the Army-Navy game as a team. The game is slated to start at 11:30 a.m.
Without giving away specifics, Neuheisel said that UCLA was involved in a number of discussions about participating in other bowl games.
“I know that there were a lot of contacts,” Neuheisel said. “I know that UCLA was a desired team.”
Should Navy defeat Army, Neuheisel said he has a tentative practice schedule set up. According to Neuheisel, the Bruins would practice up until Dec. 22 before going home for Christmas. The team would then reconvene in Washington and have four practices. In all, Neuheisel anticipates having “14 to 15 practices.”
One question surrounds the health of redshirt freshman quarterback Kevin Prince. Prince suffered a mild separated right shoulder in the Bruins’ loss to the Trojans in the final game of the regular season. Neuheisel said that he saw Prince last week and that Prince told him he was doing better.
“I think he would be ready but it would bear watching,” Neuheisel said.
If Prince is not ready to go, Neuheisel said that the discussion “would involve both Kevin Craft and Richard Brehaut.”
Temple finished in second place in the East Division of the MAC with a record of 7-1 in conference and 9-3 overall.
After missing a bowl game in his first season as coach of the Bruins, Neuheisel stated at Pac-10 Media Day in August that a bowl game would make the season a success.
In his conference call Sunday, Neuheisel used the Arizona football program as an example for the Bruins to follow. Up until last season, the Wildcats had failed to make it to a bowl game under coach Mike Stoops. Yet an appearance and win in the Las Vegas Bowl last season helped to springboard the team into a 2009 season that saw them finish tied for second place in the Pac-10 and a berth in the Holiday Bowl against Nebraska.
“We certainly want to do the same,” Neuheisel said.