It’s enough to make you want to puke. And then down
another before running down Westwood Boulevard wearing only your
UCLA foam finger.
Yes, your very own Bruins just routed, spanked, beat the living
Montezuma’s Revenge out of those San Diego State Aztecs.
Twenty to 10! That’s like, two touchdowns! And then
some!
But folks, keep your pants on. After all, the Bruins are.
They sloshed their way through the first five quarters of the
season, committing penalties, turnovers and the crime of running
the Los Angeles Dodgers offense. Only in the second half on
Saturday night did UCLA regain some semblance of an exciting team
run by, dare I say, Bob Toledo.
What has been the problem?
Inquiring minds want to know, so earlier in the week, I asked
Matt Moore.
And who better than the injured sophomore quarterback to provide
the answer? He’s the only person to have led this team on the
field and watched the team’s every hard-fought, two-yard gain
from the sideline.
His answer might surprise you.
“It sounds funny,” said Moore, even though it really
isn’t, “but desire.
“We have goals, but I don’t think we strive to our
fullest for those goals. We kind of need to play with more
passion.”
Apparently, even the hiring of new head coach Karl Dorrell
hasn’t been enough to light a fire under the hibernating
Bruins. And it’s inexcusable.
For all the criticism Dorrell has taken for running a bland
version of the West Coast offense, it’s difficult to teach
self-motivation. The players themselves deserve a lot of the blame
for this lackluster start to a much-anticipated season.
How can you play Division I football in a major conference and
not have desire on every snap?
Ah, but don’t you worry. The Bruins have it all figured
out.
“I think though when Pac-10 comes around, it’s all
going to change,” Moore said.
Which is kind of like ugly people saying they want to save
themselves for marriage. What difference does that make? Flicking
on that switch won’t come any easier.
The thought process behind saving yourself for Pac-10 play seems
logical on the surface. Save a tank of gas against SDSU, use it
against Oregon. It’s the easy way out.
But if opponents like Colorado and top-ranked Oklahoma
can’t get you excited, what will?
Moore, who might recover from a bone bruise in his left knee in
time to start this Saturday’s game against No. 17 Washington
at the Rose Bowl, hopes to change this way of thinking.
“See, I don’t understand that,” he said.
“We should be playing with full intensity all the time.
There’s something missing, and obviously it shows in our
football.”
To be fair, UCLA did come within one more made Justin Medlock
field goal and one major miracle from going undefeated leading up
to this week’s Pac-10 opener.
But it’s not as if going undefeated has ever stopped the
Bruins from breaking down mentally. In 2001, UCLA went 6-0 before
underestimating and ultimately losing to Stanford, killing the
team’s national championship hopes.
The Rose Bowl was still in the picture at that point, but the
Bruins proceeded to lose their next three games, including being
shut out by USC.
Toledo, then the coach, later blamed his players for mailing in
the season.
He said after the Stanford loss, many of the seniors apparently
began worrying more about their draft statuses than the rest of the
year.
Remnants of that cancerous 2001 squad still remain, and
apparently, are alive and well.
If their attitude wins out, well then, there’s always that
USC game to get up for.
Leung was a football beat writer in 2002. He can be reached
at dleung@media.ucla.edu.