Too bad for the fans who opted to tailgate an hour too long on
Saturday night.
By the time they entered the Rose Bowl, they missed five UCLA
touchdowns, countless eight-claps, and any uncertainty of the
game’s outcome.
What they didn’t see was an indication of how the Bruins
might fare next week against Oklahoma, their first real test of the
season.
Playing Rice enabled fans to see a number of things. They
noticed the increased depth Justin Medlock has been reaching on his
kickoffs and they caught a glimpse of David Koral under center by
the third quarter. In short, they saw a contest so lopsided that
Karl Dorrell could have ditched his playbook in favor of an Ouija
board.
When the Bruins put up their seventh touchdown towards the end
of the first half, yawns were just as prevalent as cheers. Instead
of thinking how awesome the Bruin wide receiving corps was, I was
wondering if this victory would mean anything in the long run.
In terms of football, Rice is about as soft as a history major.
Last season, the Owls failed to win a road game and kept opponents
under four touchdowns just three times.
Their coach, Ken Hatfield, is the second winningest in the
program’s history with a record of 54-68-1. The biggest
challenge UCLA faced against the Owls was trying to draw fans into
the stadium.
For fans whose heartbeats race whenever they see Road Runner and
Wile E. Coyote, Saturday night couldn’t have been better. But
for those who wanted to see where the Bruins will be come December,
they’ll have to wait another week.
“It’s Oklahoma,” quarterback Drew Olson said
of the upcoming game, apparently equating the school with an
adjective that means legitimate, scary good, or something of that
sort.
“I don’t care if they lost their first game. They
have a potential Heisman trophy running back.”
The Sooners have just about everything UCLA’s first two
opponents didn’t. For starters, they’ve established a
winning program in the past few years, something neither San Diego
State nor Rice has come close to boasting about.
So while UCLA has executed on all cylinders offensively, made
clutch plays defensively, and basically made their opponents look
like patsies thus far, I’m not about to book any New
Year’s trips to a prestigious bowl game.
Next week will be the first time I can start realistically
looking into those types of travel plans. The Oklahoma match-up
will be the Bruins’ first game in the national spotlight.
They’ll face off against a Sooner squad that can no longer
afford to lose and won’t be overlooking anyone after a week
one loss.
“They’re going to be fired up coming in here,”
Olson said. “We expect their best and they’ll
definitely get ours because that’s what it’s going to
take to win.”
Against Rice, UCLA didn’t need much more than a couple of
Olson bombs and Maurice Drew hop-scotch scampers to win. I think
the yell crew squad exerted more effort running and waving those
flags around after every touchdown than some of the players
did.
That certainly won’t be the case a week from now. Through
the first pair of games, UCLA’s offense has simmered and its
confidence has soared. However, its resiliency remains largely
untested. Rest assured, Oklahoma will let fans know just about
everything they need to about this Bruin team.
Any mention of Drew in the nation’s elite class of running
backs will either be validated or negated.
Questions regarding the defensive front, wide receivers and
punting unit will all be answered.
And fans thinking about trips to prestigious bowl games will be
able to start planning or return to dreaming.
Finley is a 2005 football columnist. E-mail him at
afinley@media.ucla.edu