For the Sake of the Rose Bowl ... UCLA MUST Win
Oregon is horrible. Dennis Dixon isn't the Ducks' only injury, but he's the one that wrecked them as a serious football team.
Above all else, we can't have this half-a-team in the Rose Bowl. Can't happen. They might not even sell out the "grandaddy of them all" ... as the Rose Bowl likes to be known.
But we can be spared Oregon punting the ball 12 times if they lose one of their last two -- against UCLA or against Oregon State next week.
I would prefer UCLA take care of business today. Even though the Bruins are trying to make poor Osaar Rasshan do things he cannot -- like throw a long pass to a closely guarded receiver. (That was the interception just now.)
Anyway, a Rose Bowl with USC or Arizona State in it ... fine and good. But please oh please, not the Ducks. They may not be one of the top 50 teams in the country right now.
Add: UCLA had a minus-2 yards in the first quarter, with no first downs, yet leads 3-0. Mainly because their offense lost only 3 yards after the fumble recovery, and Forbath can make a 54-yarder.
This is truly ugly.
As my colleague Gregg Patton just noted: At Arizona State we were rooting for the clock to run so we could have some time to write about USC-ASU for the newspaper deadlines. But today, we're rooting for the clock to run ... so this mess of a game will be over sooner.
Oh, an alert: Just saw Osaar Rasshan taking long snaps on the sideline. Like, shotgun formation/spread formation snaps. Finally! Get him in space. Let him run. To this point, this could be one of the low points of O-coordinator Jay Norvell's undistinguised career.