Moments after Stanford shut out UCLA on Sept. 11, the usually chatty Rahim Moore stood isolated in silence.
The pre-season All-American junior safety peered out into the empty Rose Bowl, his hand on his hip, either reflective, or lost, or both. He stood there for a moment, then turned toward the tunnel, took a few steps, and spat over his left shoulder. He then finished his walk to the locker room, alone.
“I was just making sure that that was the last picture in my mind of the Rose Bowl,” Moore said days later. “So when I come back to that five-yard line … I’m going to think about what we went through (against Stanford).”
“I just looked at the empty seats and looked at the scoreboard, and I didn’t like it. I kept that in my heart and walked off the field like a solider. So next game, or any other game, I’ll remember that loss and how things were.”
Dan Guerrero, UCLA athletic director, was a few steps ahead of his school’s notable star that Saturday night. Unlike Moore, he was far from alone, flanked by a security guard and a university official. Guerrero made a beeline for the tunnel, neither waiting to hear what his head football coach had to say to the fans over the PA system, nor waiting to offer immediate condolences to his beleaguered employee.
Asked casually how he was doing as the game wound down, Guerrero replied, “OK, but I wish we were playing a little better.”
When coach Rick Neuheisel appeared at his post-game press conference that evening, he was rubbing his head as if it hurt.
And as he fielded his first set of questions, it seemed as though the pain had moved to his neck, for he began rubbing there.
“Tonight was an offensive disaster,” Neuheisel said. “There is no other way to say it. We look in the mirror, accept that and fix it.”
And as Neuheisel spoke those words, fans were speaking up, too, blowing up chat rooms, commenting on media posts.
A filtered sampling:
“Wow. That was painful.”
“Fire Neuheisel.”
“Kevin Prince is done. … Bring on Richard Brehaut.”
“The Bruins are in shambles, and I have little to no hope for the rest of the season.”
“I hate to say it, but I see the very real possibility of a 0-12 season. This has got to be the worst Bruin team in 35 years.”
The Bruin faithful, however overzealous, have officially begun hitting the panic button.
But has the coach?
“We have played two games of a 12-game schedule. We have been underdogs in both games and we are 0-2. … If people like to panic ““ it’s a predisposition of the personality that they want to do that. I don’t think that’s the right choice. I think it’s premature. … I look forward to those who thought it was over when it isn’t.”
Norm Chow, offensive coordinator, seemed surprised that Neuheisel described his offense as a “disaster” ““ “He called it a disaster, huh?” ““ but this was moments after Chow himself called the performance “embarrassing.”
Asked if this was the biggest challenge he’s ever faced ““ Chow showed his own predisposition for calm.
“Every year’s a challenge, every situation is a challenge,” he said. “The thing we have to keep in mind is that these are young guys.”
“(But) they are our guys. They’re what we have.”
It’s year three for Neuheisel and his staff ““ typically considered a pivotal “show me” year by pundits. Guerrero gave his last coach, Karl Dorrell, five years to “show him” what he wanted to see.
While the 0-12 prognostications from fans are likely an exaggeration, the Bruins were picked to finish eighth in the league, which implies a losing record and a regression from their 7-6 season of a year ago.
But the coaching staff doesn’t seem to be panicking yet, and perhaps as a result, neither are their players.
“Better times are coming,” redshirt sophomore quarterback Kevin Prince said. “We’re working as hard as we can here to fix everything. Fans are fans. I’ve been a fan before. I’m a Lakers fan and when things aren’t going well for the Lakers I start freaking out. But people don’t know what’s going on in the inner circle of the team.”
Moore is a part of that inner circle, and said that he, too, needs to devote additional time to film study because receivers are no longer attacking him as they did a year ago.
But his analysis of the team’s situation was nonetheless very straightforward.
“We just gotta play better, man, play as a brotherhood. And just grind ““ don’t be scared of greatness,” Moore said.
“A loss is a loss. You can’t panic now. Nobody thought that Appalachian State was going to beat Michigan. Sports is funny.
It’s about who is the best team that day. I don’t say give up on us. Because if you give up on us, that means you’re not a true fan. You’re not a die-hard Bruin fan.”