Kevin Prince didn’t quite go to the Rose Bowl on Saturday in his Colin Kaepernick costume, but he sure did play the part.
“I listened to Jim Mastro talk to one of the old Nevada coaches just the other day on the phone ““ his office is right next to mine ““ and (Mastro) said “˜You should have seen him coming around the corner, he looked just like Kap,'” UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel said.
Mastro, UCLA’s run-game coordinator, was on the Nevada coaching staff as the Wolf Pack rolled to a 52-31 win over California early in the 2010 season.
The game saw Kaepernick, the Wolf Pack’s fleet-footed quarterback and eventual second-round NFL draft pick, rush for 148 yards and three touchdowns.
That the performance came out of the pistol offense, a Nevada invention that UCLA adopted at the beginning of last year, and against a Pac-12 opponent made it the blueprint for UCLA’s game plan in a 31-14 win over California on Saturday.
Prince, the Bruins’ redshirt junior quarterback, rumbled for 163 rushing yards, the best single-game running performance by a Bruin this year.
“That’s what this offense needs, to have that kind of athlete coming off that edge if they decided that they’re going to (cover) the (running) back,” Neuheisel said during his Monday press conference.
UCLA is hoping to take the momentum into Saturday’s matchup against No. 19 Arizona State and turn a single win into a winning streak, something it hasn’t had all year.
“The good news is that we responded,” Neuheisel said. “The better news is we now know what we’re capable of. To accept anything less than that would be absolutely ridiculous on every one of our parts.”
No more race talk
For the second time in three weeks, UCLA can move into a tie atop the Pac-12 South with a win.
But unlike the last time the Bruins were in this position ““ the week before UCLA fell in a blowout loss to Arizona ““ Neuheisel isn’t going to remind his players of the race for the division championship.
“I take responsibility, I was the one who brought up the race,” Neuheisel said. “At the end of the day this is about Arizona State and UCLA squaring off at the Rose Bowl at 4:30.”
With the bottom half of the Pac-12 South lagging behind and USC ineligible for postseason play, the Bruins and Sun Devils look to be the only teams in line to represent the division in the inaugural Pac-12 Championship Game. UCLA sits a game behind Arizona State in the standings, but a win would give the Bruins the head-to-head tiebreaker for first place.
Riley back with team
Sophomore safety Dietrich Riley returned to team meetings Sunday, the same day he was released from the hospital after laying on the Rose Bowl field motionless for several minutes early in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s game.
“Dietrich looked absolutely fine yesterday,” Neuheisel said. “He will be evaluated today and again tomorrow, and we’ll see where he is. It looked like we dodged a bullet there, and we’re thankful for that.”