Fool me once, shame on you.
Fool me twice, shame on me.
Fool me four times and then play like that? Well, that’s
just a shame.
Following UCLA’s debacle in the desert Saturday,
I’ve done a lot of thinking. And maybe, just maybe, I was a
fool. I know I feel like a fool right now, with so many convoluted
emotions running through my mind.
I had convinced myself that this Bruin team was special, a team
of destiny, a team with talent and heart and desire and the
knowledge of how to win. Four improbable comebacks will do that to
a person.
And maybe the Bruins are still all of those things. I hope so.
We’ll certainly find out next weekend when Arizona State
visits the Rose Bowl.
But in the aftermath of Saturday’s dismal showing,
you’d have a difficult time convincing anyone that the Bruins
possess any of those qualities.
Heart?
Character?
Desire?
How about “none of the above?” At least that’s
how it looked Saturday.
And how do you explain it? Maybe it’s not so surprising
the Bruins lost.
You simply can’t play with fire for that long without
getting burned. But a 38-point blowout? To a team that was 2-6
coming in?
That’s downright inexcusable.
“I can’t really explain it,” wide receiver
Marcus Everett said. “I’m just kind of shocked right
now.”
“I’m just shocked, to tell you the truth,”
offensive coordinator Tom Cable said. “I thought coming in we
had a good game plan. It’s just disappointing the way we came
out and played.”
“We were outplayed in every area,” coach Karl
Dorrell said.
Because the shocked Bruins didn’t offer any acceptable
explanations, here are a couple possibilities.
Maybe the Bruins checked their calendars and realized it’s
November. And everyone knows that UCLA isn’t supposed to win
in November. In Dorrell’s tenure as Bruin coach, his team is
1-9 in the months of November and December. That’s not
good.
My dad’s theory is that the Bruins simply had nothing left
emotionally after the team’s four mentally and physically
exhausting comeback victories. It’s not a bad theory.
A friend of mine thinks UCLA didn’t want to have to deal
with the pressure of being 10-0 when it faces No. 1 USC on Dec. 3,
so the Bruins decided this would be a good game, being on the road
and all, to play “poopy.” (That’s his word, not
mine. But it’s printable, and it helps convey the point.)
The fact is, UCLA wasn’t ready to play. Arizona, with a
chance to make a national statement and help salvage an otherwise
disappointing season, was. The Wildcats played with passion and
desire, scoring touchdowns on their first four drives, and the 8-0
Bruin train crashed and burned unlike anyone would have imagined or
believed.
Watching in disbelief Saturday, I felt like a fool. I had
defended this team as a legitimate national title contender. I had
derided Kirk Herbstreit for choosing the Wildcats to pull the
upset. I had completely bought in.
I think the Bruins had, too. The team obviously thought too
highly of itself, came out overconfident, and finally got
burned.
But here’s where I get confused, because I feel like I
can’t stay angry. I can’t let this ruin my life. Of
course Bruin fans have a right to be disappointed, but we also have
a responsibility to be realistic.
And the reality remains that the house isn’t burned to the
ground. UCLA is 8-1. 8-1! If someone had told you in August that
this team would be 8-1 at this point, you would have had a good,
hearty chuckle.
This season is far from done. Of course, if UCLA plays anything
like this against Arizona State, it’s pretty safe to bury
them and bring out the basketball attire.
But it’s not that time yet. It’s not the time to
give up on the Bruins, just because they played absolutely awful as
a collective unit for one game.
It’s football. It happens.
Now you’ve had your weekend to be angry, to feel like
you’ve been played for a fool by this team that you realize
could pretty easily be 4-5.
And now we get to see if this team really does have heart and
character and the will to win and all that other stuff that
they’ve said they have.
As our president once said, “There’s an old saying
in Tennessee ““ I know it’s in Texas, probably in
Tennessee, that says, “˜Fool me once, shame on ““ shame
on you. Fool me … you can’t get fooled
again.'”
That means it’s time for the Bruins to get serious.
Because no one likes to look like a fool.
E-mail Regan at dregan@media.ucla.edu.