UCLA football coach Rick Neuheisel held is weekly press conference today. He started out as he usually does, saying that he and the team are excited for the challenge. This week’s game is against the Cal Bears, and he commented on the traditional rivalry and history that exists between the Bruins and the Golden Bears.
"It’s a great traditional rival for our program and we have a great deal of respect for what coach (Jeff) Tedford has done there in his time," Neuheisel said. "He has built quite a program in a relatively short period of time, and it will be a big challenge for us to go in and, number one get our first road win of the year, and number two try to eek back into the Pac-10 race. So we’re looking forward to it and eager to get back to work tomorrow."
Here are the highlights:
– Every week, one player from the team comes and talks with the media. This week it was junior cornerback Alterraun Verner. One of the things Verner focused on was facing an offense in Cal that passes quite a lot. In the past two weeks, the Bruins have faced teams that rely heavily on the run, in Oregon’s spread attack and Stanford’s power running game. In the game against Oregon, quarterback Jeremiah attempted 19 passes. Stanford quarterbacks Tavita Pritchard and Alex Loukas combined to attempt 13 passes.
– After initially looking at tape, Verner said that Cal has a lot of athletes on offense, yet believes that the Bruin defense can match up well against them.
"I wouldn’t say that they’re just going to out-athlete us," Verner said. "I think especially our corners versus their receivers will be a nice matchup. Their running backs are fast, they’ll probably be faster than some of the DB’s so it’s going to be a challenge for the linebackers to keep up. That’s why football is such a great sport because it’s a team sport. So if we can cage it, if we can just work together as a team we should be able to stop anything even if they have us out-beat athletically at certain spots, or even if we have them beat athletically, they got to find a way to respond."
– One of the lasting images from the win over Stanford is the Bruin defense holding the Cardinal to just a field goal on a drive late in the fourth quarter. The Cardinal started their drive with 7:29 left in the game. The Bruin defense had a bend but don’t break type of drive, allowing the Cardinal to drive to the UCLA 11-yard line where they kicked a field goal to extend their lead to 20-16. This was a big change from recent defensive pratfalls, such as allowing Fresno State to run out the final 8 minutes and 55 seconds. For Verner, that stop helped to give the offense a boost of confidence.
"It’s very inspirational," Verner said. "It’s a stepping block knowing that if we can just hold our end, if we can just keep points off the board, if we can just make them kick field goals (and) keep them out of the endzone, then our offense will be able to respond. We kept them at 14 for a good portion, Stanford I’m talking about, then our offense got it going. Then we was able to just to hold Stanford to field goals which were very instrumental to just our team getting touchdowns at the end because two field goals is going to be less than one touchdown, so two possessions is equal to one big one to us, and that’s kind of how we got over. It was very satisfying for us."
– Verner also commented on the Bruins’ final offensive drive in which they went 87 yards in 11 plays in 2:13 for the game-winning touchdown.
"We do have playmakers on our offense," Verner said. "Sometimes it doesn’t come out at every game, but I know that they’re just all thinking that we work on this every day, just two minute, I want to be that guy, I want to be that guy, just throw me the ball. You could tell throughout that drive that certain people just stepped up. Ryan Moya stepped up, (Cory) Harkey with the touchdown, (Kevin) Craft was trying to make plays, the offensive line was trying to protect, Nelson (Rosario) made a great grab over the middle. It was just that everybody was stepping up and everybody wanted to be that guy on that drive. I’m thinking they took great inspiration off our stop."
– Neuheisel said defensive end Reggie Stokes, who has filled in for the injured Tom Blake, is dealing with a knee injury which he suffered last week in practice. Neuheisel said there was swelling in the knee in the game on Saturday, and that if he is unable to start, then they will turn to freshman Datone Jones.
"Confident or not, he’s got to be ready to go," said Neuheisel of Jones. "I do have confidence in Datone. I think he’s grown a great deal in the brief time he’s been here. He played more of a significant role, I think he played 15 plays in the game this last week, and I think he’s ready to take on more than that. He’s certainly a gifted athelete and a guy that loves to play the game, so hopefully we can continue to increase his role and he’ll take to it."
– Freshman tight end Cory Harkey caught the winning touchdown pass in the Bruins’ 23-20 win over Stanford. Harkey has been hampered by a high-ankle sprain all season thus far, yet Saturday revealed the bright future that lies ahead.
"He was a guy that we latched onto early on in camp because he not only was learning it quickly, showing he was adept enough to be able to handle it mentally, but he also is a physical presence," Neuheisel said. "It’s rare that freshmen tight ends are able to handle the line of scrimmage stuff as well as he showed he could do. So we’re excited that he’s back. The unfortune thing is we had to nurse him through that high-ankle sprain and missed his contribution for a few weeks there."
– Injury report: Running back Raymond Carter (groin) could return this week…Defensive tackle Chase Moline (back spasms) is doubtful for this week