Since 1919
I’m not really sure what we’re supposed to take out of Friday night’s inaugural Pac-12 Championship game.
It seemed like this was the first time in this Thunder-Mountain-ride of a UCLA football season that everything that was supposed to happen actually did.
UCLA was never going to beat Oregon, but hey, the Bruins held the Ducks to less than 50 points and put up 31 of their own.
Oregon becomes the first Pac-12 Conference champions in a 49-31 victory over the UCLA Bruins.
EUGENE, Ore. “”mdash; Rick Neuheisel is known for his postgame curtain calls.
Some of them were famous, like the first time he stepped to the podium in Bruin blue and gold his first win as a head coach at the Rose Bowl against Tennessee.
Some of them were infamous.
EUGENE, Ore. “”mdash; The clock hits zero and a wave of green-clad Oregon students storm the field, a stage is rushed to midfield and photographers suffocate various victorious Oregon players who are already donning shirts and hats confirming the Pac-12 Championship and Rose Bowl berth they have just won by beating UCLA 49-31 at Autzen Stadium.
Meanwhile, UCLA redshirt junior quarterback Kevin Prince embraces recently fired coach Rick Neuheisel ““ his leader of the last four years ““ before attempting to swim through the sea of emerald and yellow fans, most of them hecklers, on his way to the locker room.
Rick Neuheisel’s UCLA tenure began with fireworks, which shot into the nighttime sky when the Bruins upset the then-No. 18 Tennessee Volunteers in overtime at the Rose Bowl.
My first in-person encounter with Rick Neuheisel was in the Ackerman Union Jamba Juice back in the fall of 2008.
The Rick Neuheisel era of UCLA football will come to an end in Friday’s inaugural Pac-12 Championship game.
