Five games left.
Five games separating UCLA from its destiny. Five games to
determine whether or not the months of hard work and effort will be
deemed truly worthwhile.
And so it begins tomorrow, as the Bruins travel to face No. 21
Arizona State, perched atop the precipice of a season that could
turn out to be legitimately good, or yet another
disappointment.
“This is the maker or breaker right here,” tailback
Maurice Drew said. “We’ve got to come out and win this
one so we can get confidence for the next one.”
That’s the way the Bruins (4-2, 2-1 Pac-10) are thinking
these days. Following last Saturday’s disappointing loss to
California, UCLA needs a victory Saturday to keep what has thus far
been a pretty positive season going in the right direction.
But to do that, the Bruins will simply have to play better.
“You just have to focus on beating the man across from you
every play, and just have no mental letdowns,” tight end
Marcedes Lewis said.
Against Cal, the letdowns were apparent. In that 45-28 loss, the
Bruins didn’t make the plays necessary to upset a top-10
team. And though the Sun Devils (5-1, 2-1 Pac-10) probably
don’t have the talent the Bears have, improvement from last
week is imperative for UCLA to have success.
“Once something went wrong (against Cal), we were like,
“˜damn,’ and we were worried about the last play,”
Lewis said. “We don’t need to be worried about the last
play anymore. We just have to go get the next one.”
Against Arizona State, UCLA can’t really be sure what to
expect. The Sun Devils began the season 5-0, crushing No. 25 Iowa
on the road. But last week, despite high expectations going in,
they got blitzed by No. 1 USC, 45-7. So either Arizona State
isn’t as good as people thought they might be, or USC is just
plain scary.
Bruin fans hope the former, but Bruin players are approaching
this game as though Arizona State is a very good team.
And they know that Sun Devil quarterback Andrew Walter is a very
good player.
“(He is) one of the more talented quarterbacks in our
conference,” coach Karl Dorrell said. “He has been that
way the last two or three years. He carries a lot of burden for
that offense.”
Walter has thrown for 1,430 yards and 15 touchdowns this season,
pretty gaudy numbers for the senior. But Arizona State is a
relatively one-dimensional offense, relying on the pass much more
than the run. In fact, the Sun Devils are averaging only 102.3
rushing yards per game, and against USC, they gained 24 yards on 30
carries.
But prior ineffectiveness has not kept teams from running the
ball successfully against the Bruins this season. The defensive
line has been a huge weakness for UCLA, allowing 256.7 rushing
yards per game.
“ASU has a very good quarterback who can throw the
football,” defensive coordinator Larry Kerr said. “But
you can bet your bottom dollar they’re still going to run
against us.”
That same sentiment was echoed by Dorrell, which just reinforces
the point that the defensive line will need to step up sooner or
later if the Bruins are going to be a successful football team.
“Something tells me they will try to run it against us
with the issues we’ve had the last five or six games,”
Dorrell said. “We know they are going to come out and be
balanced and test our defense.”
Defensively, the Sun Devils don’t practice the same
aggressive philosophy the Bruins have seen against San Diego State
and Cal. But that doesn’t mean they’re ineffective. In
six games, Arizona State has forced 13 turnovers while committing
only four.
“They are a physical defense, and they have some good
players over there,” said senior receiver Craig Bragg, who
will see action Saturday after missing a month with a separated
shoulder. “They’re not real complicated with what
they’re doing, so we just have to out and hustle.”
A major focus this week will be re-energizing the rushing
attack, which has been relatively feeble in the Bruins’ last
two games. Though teams have been putting eight men in the box to
neutralize the Bruins, the team generally agrees that people have
to step up in spite of this fact.
“We’ve just got to execute,” said Drew, who
has only 64 yards in the last two games after amassing 483 yards in
the two games previous games. “There were times against Cal
when the holes were right there. I missed a couple holes, and a
couple guys missed blocks here and there.”
Drew feels like success will come, as it has come for
quarterback Drew Olson and the passing game in the last two games;
it’s just a matter of execution.
And from here on out, execution will be the key. After Arizona
State, the schedule doesn’t get much easier, as the Bruins
face Stanford, Washington State, Oregon and USC, teams with a
combined record of 16-8.
“It’s exciting to be in the position that we are
in,” Dorrell said. “It’s not like we are 0-6. We
are in a position to still be a factor in this
conference.”
Five games, starting tomorrow.
Five games to attempt to make it six. And not just any sixth
““ a prestigious sixth.
“This is very important,” Lewis said. “Last
year we lost to Stanford and kind of went downhill. It’s not
going to snowball this year. Everybody understands that, and
everybody is going to be ready to go.
“We realize that we still have things to play
for.”