There are some teams that just have another team’s
number.
Think of the Lakers beating the Kings or the Yankees over the
Red Sox.
For UCLA, it would seem that its whipping boy is Washington, who
the Bruins face on Saturday in their Pac-10 opener. The Bruins have
won six of the last seven meetings, including last season’s
improbable victory. UCLA seemed to be in plenty of trouble, down
16-6, and came out of nowhere to pull a 46-16 win.
Well, throw all of that out the window because it has about as
much meaning as finishing second in baseball’s wild card
race””mdash;in other words, zero. If anything, the Huskies are like
a bunch of wild dogs that have been chained up, rabid from the
unsavory taste of last year’s loss, further taunted by the
enigmatic fog of their defeat at the hands of giant-slayer Fresno
State two weeks ago, itching for old coach Gilby’s sweet
release and orders to go.
But I digress.
First things first. Let’s give credit where credit is due.
Quick show of hands: who believed UCLA would be two games into the
season and have no sacks given up? This after last season, when
Bruin quarterbacks were on the ground so much, they actually had
the dirtiest jerseys on the field. Props to the offensive line,
which means a lot, since I’ve been one of its biggest
critics.
Furthermore, I’ve never been a big fan of Drew Olson,
mainly because of his limited athleticism and questionable
decision-making prior to Illinois. But for the first time in my
three years of watching him play, he led.
Be it the quarterback scramble when he barked directions to his
blockers, or his
the-only-way-I’m-gonna-get-into-the-endzone-is-by-jumping-so-here-goes-whoop-I’m-being-backflipped-darn-I-didn’t-even-score-the-touchdown
play, you could see a certain fire””mdash;the closest thing to a
competitive fire we’ve seen since the days of Cade McNown
(that’s right, I’m old).
Nevertheless, a game ball goes to the much maligned defense.
Riddled with injuries and inexperience, the defense defined the
bend-but-don’t-break mantra. Illinois moved the ball
somewhat, but the defense picked up the slack by forcing turnovers,
none more important than the interception by freshman Chris Horton
that sealed the game.
On paper, UCLA matches up well with the Huskies. Washington has
an unstable quarterback situation with a guy named Casey Paus (now
where have we heard that name before?) and the athletic Isaiah
Stanback.
Granted, the Huskies lost to Fresno State, 35-16 (betcha that
loss to those same Bulldogs in the Silicon Valley Footbll Classic
last year doesn’t look so bad now, does it?). But if we were
to judge off the first games of seasons, well then, wouldn’t
you expect UCLA to finish 0-11?
For one, the greatest improvement comes from the first to second
game of the season, although I’m not a fan of the bye week so
early in the year. Generally, players are healthiest and energetic
at the beginning of the year, and need that rest later on. But hey,
the Fresno State game might have been very taxing.
Also, Husky Stadium is a noise tunnel, with wind coming in from
the ocean, which I believe is actually one of the endzones. Plus,
the bleachers are made of metal. I could get into the scientific
dynamics, but take some physics or chemistry. Throw in a little
engineering, too, while you’re at it. After that, you should
be able to understand how Husky Stadium gets so loud.
But most important of all, as poorly as Washington played, the
Huskies played well. Make no sense to you? Consider the following:
the Huskies did better than the Bulldogs in total yardage, first
downs and time of possession. The difference? The turnovers,
several of which were in the redzone, killed drives. Sound
familiar?
If the Huskies make a Bruin-like improvement from game 1 to game
2, we’ll have a game on our hands. If UCLA wins, it’ll
be because the Bruins continued to force turnovers, made key stops
and had a balanced offensive attack.
But it won’t be because UCLA just has Washington’s
number.
E-mail Bruce at btran@media.ucla.edu.