October was downright scary for UCLA last season, and it had nothing to do with witchcraft, jack-o’-lanterns or sugar overloads.
The Bruins did lose to orange-and-black-clad Oregon State on Halloween a year ago, but their problems began much earlier in the month. A UCLA squad that went 3-0 to open the season lost all five games it played in October, leaving a sour ““ not sweet ““ taste in everyone’s mouth.
UCLA (2-2, 0-1) unofficially opens Pac-10 play Saturday against Washington State. Although the Bruins already lost to Stanford in the second week of the season, the arrival of October means that it’s all Pac-10 from here on out.
Not that the early defeat at the hands of the Cardinal doesn’t matter; in fact, the Bruins have all the more urgency and motivation knowing they’re already down a game in the conference standings.
“We have a big 0-1 sitting up there,” junior receiver Taylor Embree said. “But at the end of the day, we feel that every team is going to have a loss in the Pac-10; it’s just too good of a conference. We know we’ll still have a chance to win the thing, but we can’t take anything lightly.”
UCLA’s bid for a conference title starts with a Washington State (1-3, 0-1) team that has served as the Pac-10’s punching bag over the last few seasons. The Cougars have just one conference victory the last two years, and so far this season have given up 150 points in their three losses. The Cougars’ lone win this season came against Montana State, against whom they had to rally in the second half for a late victory.
Perhaps the bigger opponent, therefore, is the Bruins’ October mojo: The quintet of defeats a year ago still resonates around the program.
“We went O-fer,” coach Rick Neuheisel said. “We cannot allow that again, and this next contest is Oct. 2, so we have a chance to get that monkey off our back and hopefully pave the way for better things to come.”
Unlike last season ““ when UCLA went on the road to Stanford to open the month, then had to host Oregon ““ the schedule opens with two of the Pac-10’s lower-ranked teams in Washington State and Cal.
Coming off of a program-defining win over Texas can be a double-edged sword; while the Bruins certainly aren’t lacking for confidence or momentum, they also have to be sure to try and avoid suffering a letdown on their home turf.
“You can’t even tell that we won our last game, we’re practicing that hard,” Embree said. “That’s really the difference, is that mindset. At the same time, we were a younger team last year.”
Two weeks ago, after UCLA was demoralized in a 35-0 shutout at the hands of Stanford, and with ranked teams Houston and Texas looming, it seemed plausible that the Bruins could hit their problematic month at 0-4. Instead, a pair of wins against the teams from Texas has many talking about UCLA as a potential Pac-10 dark horse.
“We never bought into (the criticism),” junior linebacker Sean Westgate said. “We just knew we had to prove ourselves.”
The next step will be carrying over things against a Cougar program that the Bruins beat 43-7 a season ago, a game in which UCLA quarterback Kevin Prince was the unquestioned star.
Prince threw the ball 40 times, completing 27 of his attempts for 314 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions. He added a 68-yard touchdown run, a feat that he is far more likely to duplicate this time around than the 40 pass attempts. In the win over Texas, Prince attempted just eight passes. Still, the Bruins were able to pile up 34 points on the strength of their rushing attack, and they’ll look to do more of the same against a Washington State defense that ranks 116th in the country in points against.
Prince missed time in practice this week with a sore knee, but is expected to be ready to go against the Cougars.
Although the long-term goal is to throw the ball more, don’t expect UCLA to deviate from its successful formula.
“If we’re going to win and don’t throw the ball one time, that’s fine with me,” Embree said. “Right now everyone’s just so excited about the progress of the run game. Whether it’s this game, or Cal, or whatever, the passing game’s going to have to show up, and I think we’re going to do it.”