BERKELEY, Calif. – The last time UCLA won a game at California’s Memorial Stadium: 1998. Google was in its infancy, “The Big Lebowski” was not yet a cult classic and Bill Clinton was soon to be impeached.
Last season, Cal Athletics gutted the aging structure in Strawberry Canyon and renovated the thing just in time for the Bruins’ visit this year.
New Memorial Stadium, new luck for UCLA, right?
Not so fast, my friend.
UCLA was thumped 43-17 on Saturday in Berkeley for the seventh straight time. The Bruins haven’t even kept it within single digits in Berkeley since 2002. In those prior wins, though, Cal had current NFL superstars like Aaron Rodgers, DeSean Jackson, Jahvid Best and Marshawn Lynch lining up on offense.
This year, the Golden Bears were sporting the nation’s worst offensive line, a mediocre run game and a defense that was giving up more than 25 points per game.
No, not even first-year coach Jim Mora could take his white horse up north and beat those other Bears. When Mora is pressed for an answer in an interview, he always falls back on the three pillars he hopes to kick-start this program on ““ discipline, accountability and toughness.
None of them showed up on Saturday.
Discipline was in short supply from the get-go. UCLA jumped out to an early 7-0 lead thanks to an interception thrown by Cal redshirt senior quarterback Zach Maynard, who might be the worst quarterback in the Pac-12. Instead of cashing in, UCLA failed to score on its next five drives.
Penalties played a big role, as the Bruins were flagged seven times in the first half, twice on drive-killing personal fouls. In total, UCLA was penalized 12 times for 99 yards. Redshirt senior cornerback and four-year starter Aaron Hester owned three of them.
With the number of mistakes the Bruins committed, there were plenty of opportunities to be accountable. Mora was the only one that followed his own credo.
“I’ve got to do a better job to help our defensive players,” Mora said.
This one’s on the offense, too, Coach. UCLA turned it over six times and, for the first time this season, redshirt freshman quarterback Brett Hundley looked very much like a freshman, tossing four interceptions.
Just before halftime, the Bruins were in the red zone threatening to make it a one-score game. Redshirt junior receiver Shaquelle Evans ran a curl. Hundley threw a fade to the corner of the end zone, only it was to the wrong team.
So whose fault was it?
According to Hundley, “it was just communication,” or lack thereof.
Redshirt freshman Steven Manfro ““ who muffed a punt to account for another turnover ““ blamed “little mental mistakes.”
Redshirt senior running back Johnathan Franklin, the lone bright spot with 105 yards on 15 carries, blamed mental mistakes as well.
But five games into the season, the mental mistakes should be dwindling rather than growing.
Toughness? Both Bruin lines were manhandled. Offensive linemen were grabbing fists full of jersey while the defensive line failed to pressure a group that entered the game ranked dead last in sacks allowed among FBS teams.
“They were relentless,” said Mora of Cal’s pass rush, which got to Hundley the same number of times (five) it got to FCS Southern Utah in its only other win.
“They were maniacal. They bring a lot of pressure and we’ve got to learn to handle that better.”
A defense that had not given up more than 30 points all season let the Golden Bears hang nearly half a hundred on the scoreboard, letting Maynard find his half-brother, junior receiver Keenan Allen, eight times for 79 yards and two touchdowns.
The Bay Area couldn’t have had nicer weather, but it was the perfect storm for a trap game. UCLA was riding high after beating a terrible Colorado team, and Cal was still searching for its first win over an FBS opponent. Rick Neuheisel’s teams were tailor made for trap games but Mora’s Bruins were supposed to be better than that.
A week after I wrote that Mora’s Bruins have finally changed the mentality surrounding the program and freed themselves from the blunders that plagued Karl Dorrell’s and Neuheisel’s teams, UCLA fans were left looking at a loss to a bad team that looked very much like a good old-fashioned UCLA collapse.
Email Sam Strong at sstrong@media.ucla.edu. Twitter: @SamStrong