I, Kia: Week 12

After a few week break, I, Kia returns.

Micah Kia is out for the season with a torn right ACL.
But his mind still works and his mouth is still firing.
Hopefully, we can run this I, Kia feature every week, if things work out.
Here's what he has to say before Week 12 with USC:

"As a team, preparing for the Trojans is by far the easiest week of practice and the most fun. The anticipation for the weekend to come is what really drives you through the week. You feel the energy from the rest of the team. It's what really being a Bruin is all about.

I've seen some very interesting things from the fans, and I do believe those who have been Bruins for a while do understand that hatred. When I first came here, I didn't really understand the rivalry. As the years go on, that dislike grows on you fast. The town ain't big enough for the two of us. It's hard having these two big programs so close to each other. Quite frankly, they don't care about us and we don't care about them.

Last time I felt this excited about a game was my freshman year when we beat them. That was unbelievable. When I saw it, I said, 'This is why I want to play football.' This game will cap off a great comeback to the end of the season, hopefully get us in bowl game and shut them up for a year.

They could be 1-9, and I would say let's run up the score. It doesn't make a difference that they're down. To be quite honest, they'd do the exact same thing. They've been doing it for about 10 years. As far as the Bruins go, it's been a drought, and it's not a lot of fun. But we're on the rise, and to Bruin fans, I just want to remind everybody that before there was the Trojans, there was the Bruins. We're going to return to that glory.

In the month of November alone I've seen a lot of growth. The young kids are finally starting to feel comfortable where they're at. The offense is definitely improving at a rapid pace. Yeah, we didn't score as many touchdowns as we'd like to, but we were moving the ball really great. We still have to limit the mistakes, the penalties. I'm really happy with the way the offense is coming along.

The Washington game, despite the score, I thought we were winning the game the whole time. In terms of confidence, we knew we'd pull through. We're going to need that juggernaut mentality we had against Washington State. And we're going to need that dogfight that we had against ASU. It was gritty. They were grinding, especially down in the trenches. There was some grimy stuff going on down there, and it was fun to watch them grind it out. The biggest thing against SC is we can't make small mistakes. This is a team that will take the smallest window and use it against you. The mentality that we have is no matter what happens, we're going to keep fighting. We are going to prevail."