I can’t imagine what was running through Nelson Rosario’s mind as he cupped the ball in one outstretched hand, pigskin teetering precariously from pinky to thumb and every digit in between.
He probably wasn’t thinking about the morale of an entire program, or about the employment of his coach. He definitely ““ alright, allegedly ““ wasn’t thinking about a potential appearance on SportsCenter.
“I swear I don’t try to do one-handed, it just happens,” Rosario said with a chuckle.
Still, his grab might have temporarily salvaged all three. The senior wide receiver’s 58-yard reception late in the fourth quarter set up the Bruins’ go-ahead touchdown. Without the catch, who knows.
A loss to the Cougars ““ a program on the rise but still not ready to dance with the big boys ““ would have been demoralizing. You won’t get anybody to confirm it, but this is one of those games you circle on the calendar as a win. A defeat could easily have cost Rick Neuheisel his job, if not immediately then at the end of the season.
Instead, the lasting, victorious image will be one of Rosario cupping the ball as if it’s the Holy Grail. The Bruins needed it. Otherwise, the image might have been of quarterback Richard Brehaut collapsing on the UCLA script at midfield, left leg fractured beneath him, the UCLA season potentially crumbling with him.
What Rosario’s catch can’t remedy is the ugliness of a win against an inferior opponent. The ole “dock-on-the-right, dock-on-the-left, it’s-a-paradox” rears its ugly head once more. Do the Bruins play better when they win or they lose?
I’m not sure which of the three victories ““ San Jose State, Oregon State, Washington State ““ you can point to as the most impressive. In all three, the Bruins threatened to give away a game to an opponent they had no business losing to. That’s the long-term head-scratcher, but admittedly those thoughts carry little weight to chest-painted fans on a crisp Pasadena night.
Instead, the immediate chatter will be about Kevin Prince, risen from the ashes of benchdom to lead his team to a comeback victory. Prince’s late connection with Rosario mirrored a pitch-and-catch the two had in the first half, two highlight reel plays for a pair of oft-maligned players.
“When I needed to make the throws, I made them,” Prince said.
More throws like those might help chase off the boo-birds that were out at the Rose Bowl in full force when Brehaut went down and Prince entered.
UCLA fans rarely have occasion to boo their own boys against Washington State ““ the current batch of UCLA seniors have seen the Bruins defeat the Cougars by a combined score of 113-60 in the last three seasons.
That’s what makes this thing so scary, so steep. Having to worry about beating Washington State is an unfamiliar concern, and that seems to speak to a program that continues to hover precipitously on the brink.
It is so appropriate, then, for Rosario’s one-handed catch to be the signature moment of this game. A rallying point, to be sure, but also a strangely accurate representation of where this team finds itself.
Tonight, the ball was secured, and with it, a win. Live to play another game. Live to coach another week.
It was hard to spot Neuheisel on the jubilant UCLA sideline when Rosario made his fabulous catch, but you can bet (and maybe that’s poor word choice for this coach) that he was somewhere between a sigh of relief and a jump for joy (not a leap though, because that’d be a penalty).
Neuheisel’s job might have been saved by Rosario’s snag, and when the coach was a bit tardy to his postgame press conference, he noted how much fun he had been having in the locker room. His next words were spoken in that context but meant oh so much more: “I didn’t want to leave.”