UCLA Rocked By Cal, .500 Halfway Home

(first published on KLAC's Bruins Board website --- 10/20/09)

It’s all unraveled so quickly for the Bruins. After Saturday’s 45-26 home loss to a mediocre Cal team, what once was a promising 3-0 start has devolved into a 3-3 mark that reeks of one obvious fact: UCLA is still competing underhanded. Which is to say, head coach Rick Neuheisel has yet to significantly close the talent gap that has plagued Bruins football for years. USC clearly still runs this town.

None of this is meant as any kind of a bash. It’s not even meant as a complaint about the Neuheisel Era. Too little has transpired in too short a span of time to fairly judge this coaching regime yet. But concerned Bruin fans are talking, and it’s not just about the troubles at quarterback. The whispers are growing louder. Senior linebacker Reggie Carter knows that. He also knows the 2009 season is getting late fast.

“In a lot of ways, it’s all about momentum,” Carter told me after the Cal game on Saturday. “I mean, if you ask me to point out something specific, like whether we’re missing tackles or assignments or something fundamentally wrong, I’d be the first to say, ’Hey guys, we need to go and fix this. Or we need to go work on that.’ But the truth is I just don’t see it. I mean, our offense is young, but that’s no excuse . . . We’ve got to find a way to make this better.”

The pain in Carter’s voice was tangible. He’s a player who’s always worn his emotions right out there on his sleeves for everybody to see. He genuinely cares about leaving some kind of legacy, however small, for the next class of Bruins to build on. It’s just not happening right now.

“I’m feeling more comfortable and I want to say that we’re getting there, but I know that’s not good enough,” freshman quarterback Kevin Prince said in the locker room on Saturday. This after throwing for a career-high 310 yards and looking drastically improved from an abysmal performance against Oregon a week earlier. “The coaches, the fans, all my teammates, they deserve better and I’m just going to keep doing my best to give it to them.”

Prince is going to get better as time goes on. Remember, this is a guy who hadn’t even played in a competitive football game since his junior year in high school. Physically, he’s got the tools to deliver. And there’s no doubt that freshman Jonathan Franklin is the real deal. His 74 yard lightning flash against the Bears proved that. A little undersized, he runs smoothly and downhill most of the time. When he’s not banged up, he can hold his own with just about any running back in the conference. But the wide receiving corps longs for someone to step up and be the go-to guy. Everyone just keeps wondering when and where that’s going to happen.

“I’m not going to sit here and give you all a bunch of excuses, that’s just not going to happen,” Neuheisel stated from the post-game podium last weekend. “We’re a young team and we’re trying to get better, and it’s really tough to see how well we were playing in the first quarter of the season, at three and oh, then watch the second quarter of the year, at oh and three, and now we’re kind of back where we started. Now it’s up to us to fight through this and find a way to close out the second half of the schedule as strongly as we can. I still believe in this team, and I know that the guys in that locker room do too.”

A defense that played so magnificently early on this year has sprung some leaks against the run. That 93 yard touchdown for Jahvid Best was both beautiful for Best and utterly atrocious for the UCLA ‘D’. Silly penalties have emerged as a nagging problem too, as exemplified by Datone Jones’ pointless personal foul after a third and long stop that gave Cal a first down early in Saturday’s fourth quarter. Those kinds of plays can be devastating to a defense’s mental momentum, and it’s hard to tell which player is going to step up and grab it back. (Could UCLA use another pick from Rahim Moore right now or what?)

Red zone woes have plagued this team too. Nothing against kicker Kai Forbath—he’s probably the best and most reliable player on the team—but you don’t want to see his number called every time the Bruins get deep into enemy territory. Four field goals in four red zone trips just leaves you with an empty feeling inside. Kind of like you forgot to eat your dinner.

“All we can do is focus on the next game, the next practice,” Carter summed up. “We’ve just got to do everything we need to in order to go and beat Arizona next weekend. We do that, and things will change for us in a hurry. I know it.”

No easy task in beating the #23 Wildcats on the road. They’re playing really well while UCLA is oh for the conference slate, though it's clear that this team still hasn’t played its best game. Unfortunately for Blue & Gold fans, it’s running out of time to do so and save yet another Bruins’ season from being bowless.

Hopefully, it all changes on Saturday in Tucson, for everyone’s sake.

-JAB