Coming off their worst loss since losing 55-7 to Oregon State in
1999, the No. 14 Bruins are confident that they can take the
lessons learned from their 38-point blowout loss to Pac-10 doormat
Arizona and come ready to play against Arizona State this weekend.
“They’ve bounced back many times before,” UCLA
coach Karl Dorrell said. “They’re not going to quit. It
was a hiccup, a big hiccup, but that’s how we’re going
to treat it.” The Bruins have shown a trend of faltering in
the past, going 1-6 in November under Dorrell. But this year was
the first in which the Bruins were ranked in the top 10 and
undefeated. “There were so many things we don’t even
have time to discuss,” Dorrell said. “We have some
issues across the board and that’s including coaches and
preparation.” The defense, who had been able to make stops
when needed in the Bruins’ victories this year, could not
come up with the plays they needed and had their heads down for
much of the second half. And they will not be receiving some
much-needed help from senior linebacker Justin London as he is
unlikely to play this week. “It’s tough, but
we’re not going to be signing any free agents,” senior
linebacker Spencer Havner said. “These are the guys we have.
If we make a big play here and there, it can stop a drive.”
Every problem that the Bruins have had over the season reared its
ugly head against Arizona. The shoddy defense allowed
Arizona’s top two running backs to run for 266 yards, the
offensive line allowed four sacks and even the normally strong
special teams unit allowed a punt return for a touchdown.
“There is no magic pill,” Dorrell said. “We just
need to keep working at it. We had a bleep or a roadblock or
whatever you want to call it this week. We just need to continue
working on the things for us to be productive. The good thing about
college football is we can line up one more week and get the bad
taste out.”
INJURY UPDATE: It appears that the
Bruins’ depth will take a hit again this week. Senior center
Mike McCloskey, who is suffering from a sprained right shoulder,
has missed the last two games and is not likely to return this
week. During his time out, the Bruins have yet to have a 100-yard
rusher. “McCloskey has had that shoulder issue,”
Dorrell said. “He’s likely out this week. (Junior
center) Robert Chai has done a nice job in his absence.”
Junior running back Maurice Drew, meanwhile, suffered a knee
contusion in the Arizona game and will undergo an MRI today, but
Dorrell does not anticipate anything that will keep him out this
week. Sophomore linebacker Aaron Whittington suffered a quad
contusion and has a 50 percent chance of playing in the game this
weekend, according to Dorrell.
BCS UPDATE: The Bruins have dropped from No. 5
to 15 in the latest BCS rankings released Monday. They are the
lowest ranked out of all the one-loss teams from the major
conferences. The other team to make a major drop in the polls was
Florida State, who dropped from No. 9 to 19 in the BCS after its
loss to North Carolina State on Saturday.
EXTRA POINTS: According to two ticket brokers,
the USC-UCLA game has exceeded the USC-Notre Dame game as the most
heavily requested football game this season. Of the 30 Pac-10 games
this season, 16 have been won by the road team.