PASADENA “”mdash; Before the UCLA football team took the field to honor its seniors for the last home game of the season, Sean Westgate had a simple request.
“All I want from you is everything you’ve got,” the senior linebacker begged of his fellow defenders.
Westgate got that and more as the Bruins took the field and blew out the Colorado Buffaloes 45-6 to get their sixth win of the season and qualify for a bowl game.
Westgate did his part, too. UCLA scored on its second offensive play, a 54-yard touchdown strike from redshirt junior quarterback Kevin Prince to redshirt sophomore receiver Shaquelle Evans. Two plays later, Westgate stepped in front of a tipped pass for his third interception of the season.
On the very next play, redshirt junior running back Johnathan Franklin went untouched on a 14-yard touchdown run and just like that, the Bruins had a 14-point lead not even four minutes into the game.
After a bit of a lull in the middle two quarters, UCLA (6-5, 5-3 Pac-12) added 21 more points in the fourth to seal a 5-1 record at home this season.
But this team has had leads before. Last season against Arizona State, UCLA jumped out to a 17-0 lead before going on to lose 55-34. This one, though, was different. Coach Rick Neuheisel’s team took the lead and never looked back. The 39-point margin of victory is the largest in Neuheisel’s tenure.
“It’s one of the jobs of whoever is in charge to make sure that the focus is such that we are not celebrating too early,” Neuheisel said.
He almost failed at that job as Evans was flagged for excessive celebration after the first score. Neuheisel knew better than to let that continue, a lesson he’s learned since he was coaching the very same Colorado (2-10, 1-7) team as a 33-year-old, first-year coach in 1995.
“The fun can’t dissipate from the focus of what’s going on on the field,” he said. “I’m 50 now and I’ve got to be responsible with that. When I was 33, I would have been celebrating with them.”
With so many story lines converging in the game, it looked as though the Bruins might lose their focus. Neuheisel was coaching against his former team, redshirt seniors center Kai Maiava and wide receiver Josh Smith transferred from Colorado and senior wide receiver Taylor Embree’s father, Jon, now serves as Colorado’s head coach.
UCLA’s players, however, remembered Westgate and the rest of the senior class to keep them focused and close the door on Colorado.
“I think it was a little motivation from our seniors,” said redshirt junior tight end Joseph Fauria, who finished with five catches for 49 yards and two touchdowns. “We are a close team, the closest since I’ve been here. We told ourselves we were going to play for them and we did.”
It’s not as if wins on senior day are a first ““ UCLA beat Arizona State in 2009 to close its home schedule ““ but this one meant something.
Next Saturday at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, UCLA will square off with crosstown rival USC with a chance to win the division and move on to the Pac-12 championship game.
“We find ourselves at 6-5 and more importantly, with a chance to win the South Division,” Neuheisel said. “There weren’t very many people in this room who believed that to be possible at the start of the season. Say all you want about the lack of great times on this side of the conference of blah blah blah, but the bottom line is that we’re playing for a championship.”