Daily Bruin File Photo
Coach Rick Neuheisel will be looking to lead the Bruins to their first win streak of the season this Saturday against Arizona State after coming off last week’s win against Cal.
It all came rushing back to Johnathan Franklin like a bad dream.
When asked to recount the details of last season’s 21-point loss to Arizona State, the redshirt junior running back blurted out every last detail of the loss that effectively ended UCLA’s chances at a bowl game.
“I remember every moment of that game,” Franklin said. “I went over 1,000 yards in that game. We were 4-6 and that took us out of bowl contention.”
And then it hit him.
“It’s fourth-and-1,” he continued. “I didn’t jump over the pile, and we got stopped. After that, they drove the ball all the way down the field and scored.”
After taking a 17-0 lead, the tide had already begun to turn against the Bruins, but all Franklin needed was three feet to save the Bruins’ bowl hopes. Arizona Sate would go on to win 55-34.
“We were hoping (Franklin) was going to jump. That’s why (he) was in the game. … I don’t know why he didn’t do it,” coach Rick Neuheisel said at the time.
Since that game, Arizona State (6-2, 4-1 Pac-12) has only lost twice and thrived under the direction of quarterback Brock Osweiler, who made his debut as a backup in that game while UCLA (4-4, 3-2) has undergone a staff overhaul and proceeded to alternate wins and losses in 2011.
No matter how far apart the two programs may seem, the game has Pac-12 title implications as the winner will be firmly in the driver’s seat of the South Division.
USC is ineligible for postseason play, leaving the Bruins and Sun Devils as the only teams in the South Division with winning records.
You wouldn’t know the magnitude of Saturday’s game by talking to UCLA’s coaches or players, though. They already made the mistake of talking about the Pac-12 race before getting blown out against Arizona.
“We’re aware of what this means for the team and the conference, but we’ve just got to worry about winning,” Franklin said. “We can’t look ahead.”
In order to string two wins together for the first time this season, the Bruins’ defense will have to perform as consistently as it did last week against better competition.
Osweiler averages more passing yards per game than his Pac-12 counterpart and Heisman Trophy hopeful Andrew Luck.
Osweiler is the tallest quarterback in Football Bowl Subdivision at 6-feet-8-inches, and yet he’s also showed his mobility by rushing for two touchdowns this season.
“He’s got great vision,” UCLA defensive coordinator Joe Tresey said. “He’s had a very good season. He’s a good player, and they’ve got some players to spread the ball around to.”
The Sun Devils also use a spread-style offense, something that UCLA’s defenders have had trouble with dating back to last year’s game in Tempe, Ariz. Houston quarterback Case Keenum perfected the spread attack against UCLA in its season-opening loss to Houston.
“They’re just trying to move the ball around and get guys in one-on-one situations, so we’ve just got to make sure that we’re where we need to be and we’re tackling well,” said redshirt freshman free safety Tevin McDonald, who leads the team in interceptions after a three-pick performance last week.
Dennis Erickson’s Sun Devils were porous on defense last season but have reached some measure of respectability this season if only for the play of linebacker Vontaze Burfict. Burfict has four sacks this year but could be more mentally imposing than anything else.
Neuheisel said the Bruins will have to account for Burfict on every play while offensive coordinator Mike Johnson said his offense and fragile redshirt junior quarterback Kevin Prince “aren’t running away” from him.
In fact, redshirt sophomore wide receiver Shaquelle Evans is running right at Burfict.
“He talks a lot, but he doesn’t like to be hit a lot,” said Evans, who joins three other receivers returning from Pac-12 suspensions this week.
“If you hit him, he’ll keep talking, but he won’t make as many plays as he usually does.”
Franklin, meanwhile, hopes to erase the bad memories of that fateful fourth-and-1 play with the Bruins’ first two-game winning streak this season.
“It’s attitude,” Franklin said. “I’ve got to want it. I have to come out this Saturday and play a great game.”