HOUSTON “”mdash; Late Friday night at Houston’s Robertson Stadium, less than 24 hours before kickoff, the scoreboard read Houston-21, UCLA-7.
While the scoreboard operator may have been a few points short with the prediction, the outcome was the same. The Bruins suffered a 38-34 defeat at the hands of the Houston Cougars to open what’s being billed as a make-or-break season with a loss.
It didn’t take long for Houston’s high-octane, air-raid attack to jump all over the UCLA defense. With sixth-year senior and Heisman Trophy candidate Case Keenum at the helm, the Cougars carved up the Bruin defense, racking up 29 first downs and 469 total yards.
Keenum and the Cougars (1-0) rarely huddled. The only things that stopped them were turnovers and drops as they scored on five out of six first-half drives. The Bruin defenders (0-1) weren’t able to put much pressure on Keenum as he delivered the ball to every part of the field with pinpoint accuracy.
“Any time our offense puts up more than 14, we should win the football game,” senior safety Tony Dye said. “I’m surprised we didn’t win.”
The UCLA offense appeared to be leaps and bounds ahead of where it finished last season. The Bruins surprisingly out-gained the Cougars but had trouble turning yards into points, especially in the first half.
Trailing 10-7, redshirt junior quarterback Kevin Prince took the field to begin his fourth series under center. Coach Rick Neuheisel had promised junior Richard Brehaut playing time, but it was anyone’s guess as to when he would get in the game.
Prince made Neuheisel’s decision very easy. Prince carried the ball toward the sideline, trying to get first down yardage but flipped head over feet courtesy of Houston’s D.J. Hayden and sustained a concussion. The UCLA offense didn’t skip a beat with Brehaut in the game as he threw for 264 yards and two touchdowns in the game.
“We roll with Richard just like we roll with (Prince,)” senior wide receiver Nelson Rosario said.
The second half was a bit of a different story for the UCLA defense. It limited Houston to just seven points and finally appeared to have its legs under it in the 92-degree heat, but the hole was ultimately too big to dig out of.
Brehaut was forced to burn a crucial timeout after missing the play call, while another relay from the sideline resulted in the wrong play being called. Neuheisel said Brehaut got the signal “confused” but wouldn’t point fingers as to where the line of communication dropped.
“Those are things we can fix, but in a game like this, those little problems turn into the things that really cost us the game,” Brehaut said.
Another set of mistakes that potentially cost the Bruins the game came in the place-kicking department, which was one of the big question marks that emerged from fall camp. Redshirt freshman and heir apparent to the Kai Forbath throne, Kip Smith was called on for a 32-yard field goal to pull the Bruins within a touchdown but pushed it wide right. He later missed an extra point.
Four points was Houston’s margin of victory.
Smith hung his head on the sideline before bolting to the locker room, missing the ceremonial handshaking of the opposition. Neuheisel did not say whether he will turn to punter and kickoff specialist redshirt junior Jeff Locke for field goals next week. No one was pointing fingers at Smith, that’s for sure.
“I give him a hug after every make, and I made sure to give him a hug after the miss,” redshirt junior tight end Joseph Fauria said. “I have trust in him. If he made those kicks, we have a tie game but it’s hard.”
UCLA will certainly have to do some fine-tuning before taking on San Jose State next week. Ever the optimist, Neuheisel took some positives away from tonight’s loss.
“We found out a lot about ourselves today,” he said. “Hope is not lost.”