(first published on KLAC's Bruins Board website --- 9/11/09)
Four first half interceptions. Three significant injuries to starters. 29 total team yards rushing.
Statistically, it doesn’t sound like the makings of an upset, but that’s just what it was for UCLA against Tennessee last season in head coach Rick Neuheisel’s Bruins debut.
“I still remember the good feeling I had inside,” Neuheisel said earlier this week. “The excitement of being back coaching on the college sidelines, at a place that had so many great memories for me . . . And then our guys hanging on and pulling it out in overtime. Just a great day, all around.”
The Bruins pulled off a 27-24 victory despite allowing the Vols to tie the game on a field goal at the end of regulation. Kai Forbath canned a 42 yarder in the extra session to give UCLA its final winning margin.
“We were feeling a little tired there at the end, but guys stepped up and made plays and we pulled it out,” remembered cover stud Alterraun Verner, who had one interception in the game last year. “I really thought it was a sign of things to come for us, but it didn’t go down like that. Now we have a chance to really use this game a springboard.”
Tennessee is probably feeling the same way. The Vols switched coaches from Philip Fulmer to Lane Kiffin this year, and things got off to a fiery start last week against Western Kentucky. QB Jonathan Crompton set a career high with five TD tosses, and Kiffin’s crew set a record for most points scored in a Vols’ coaching debut with a 63-7 shellacking of the Hilltoppers. A group of talented young receivers seems ready to step up for UT, while running backs Montario Hardesty and Bryce Brown form a dynamic tandem at tailback.
Oh yeah, and then there’s that Eric Berry guy on defense. A likely top five NFL draft pick after the season, the junior safety is so diversely talented that some in Vols land truly believe he’ll be the second defensive player to win the Heisman Trophy, and the first since Charles Woodson became the first to do it, for Michigan in 1997. A stretch? Probably, but Berry is really good at making opposing quarterbacks look really bad. UCLA’s Kevin Prince, playing in just his second NCAA game, would do well to avoid throwing anywhere near the safety, just to be on the safe side.
The Bruins beat the Vols last year at home, even with those aforementioned ugly numbers. It’s no stretch to say that UCLA is a better team now than it was then. But so is Tennessee, and they’re the home team for this one. Don’t let anybody tell you that’s anything less than a huge advantage in a relatively evenly-matched football game.
Sorry, Bruins fans. I have to go with the Vols in this one.
Prediction: Tennessee over UCLA, 24-17
-JAB
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment