The guy absolutely made my week. After I insulted Utah in a
football column, my inbox was flooded with less-than-supportive
responses from Utah fans.
My column said that if UCLA lost to Utah it would be a really
bad sign for the Bruins’ season, and I got kind of worried
that I had put my foot in my mouth. I had predicted a lopsided
game, and the spread was only 3 1/2 points in UCLA’s favor.
Considering that three points are generally given for home-field
advantage, that’s a very close spread.
I was worried about it until I opened an e-mail from an
anonymous Utah fan who called me “dumber than a bag of
hammers.” At that point, I didn’t even care if I was
proven wrong. Getting called dumber than a bag of hammers is worth
any amount of public humiliation.
When kickoff finally came around Saturday, it was time to see
where the chips would fall.
The teams played close early, but in the end UCLA came away with
a comfortable 31-10 victory due in large part to two monster
performances. Behind the center, Ben Olson threw for three
touchdowns and 318 yards in his first start as a Bruin. On the
other side of the ball, freshman cornerback Alterraun Verner ran
back an interception for a touchdown to take the lead in the first
half, and on a spectacular effort, stripped a wide out and
recovered the ball himself in the second half.
I’m not gloating. I say all this to suggest that the
expectations surrounding this football team need to be raised.
While Utah showed itself to be a good team, UCLA proved to be a
significantly better one.
“We’re showing the nation that we’re one of
the best teams in the nation,” junior wide out Marcus Everett
said. “We’re ranked low right now but (tonight) should
help us get in the national view.”
The quarterback that was supposed to be rusty, wasn’t.
Olson was perfect on the first drive of the game, leading the
Bruins down field for a touchdown on a pass to sophomore tight end
Ryan Moya. The defense, although not without lapses, forced the
Utah offense to go 0-11 on third down attempts and kept them under
300 yards of total offense.
No doubt, last year was a big year for UCLA football. However,
after losing Drew Olson, Marcedes Lewis and Maurice Jones-Drew to
the draft, the Bruins were supposed to fall from their 10-2 mark,
right back to the land of .500 mediocrity. Odds are this team
won’t finish with a 10-2 record, but it could be very
close.
“There were a lot of doubts,” Everett said.
“”˜They lost their quarterback, lost their tight end,
lost their running back. A lot of scoring is gone.’ But we
showed today that we have other guys that can make plays
too.”
The only element of the team that seemed underdeveloped Saturday
was the running game. While the Bruins passed for 20 first downs,
they ran for only three, and had a total of 107 rushing yards. They
did so, however, against a Utah team that overloaded the box for
most of the afternoon at the expense of letting Olson have his way
in the air.
At 1-0, UCLA looks like it could be putting together quite a
year. With No. 9 Cal’s incredibly disappointing 35-18 loss at
No. 23 Tennessee and No. 6 USC expected to fall off slightly, a
shot at the Pac-10 title is unlikely but not out of the
question.
“We have a lot of potential,” coach Karl Dorrell
said. “I’ve been saying that all along. You probably
didn’t believe me.”
After watching UCLA’s first game, it’s hard not to
believe Dorrell. Even if you happen to be a bag of hammers.
E-mail Gordon at bgordon@media.ucla.edu if you are dumber
than a box of rocks.