The Early Words: UCLA Football Notebook
By Jon Gold
Staff Writer
As USC is mired in its worst season in recent memory, the UCLA Bruins could be forgiven for paying more than a little attention to their cross-town rivals.
UCLA head coach Rick Neuheisel, though, won't allow any wandering eyes, ears or hearts.
"We really have been just focused on us," Neuheisel said. "There are certainly those in the UCLA world who do focus a lot on what our cross town rivals are doing. That can't be our job."
It will soon be, though.
The Bruins will soon dive into USC game footage, hoping to find ways to exploit the Trojans' sometimes-sketchy defense.
Up first, Stanford's 55-21 win over USC in Week 10, the Trojans' last game before Saturday's bye.
"I'm going to watch Stanford and see what Stanford did," Neuheisel said. "This is a game where you just want to take care of the football, play the field-position game, and have some chances to have some big plays. You can't win this game in the first quarter."
It did take a little longer against Arizona State, but not much.
After Sun Devils quarterback Samson Szakacsy tied the game at seven with a 35-yard touchdown pass to Kyle Williams - UCLA got on the board first on an Alterraun Verner 68-yard interception touchdown return on Arizona State's first drive - the Bruins took control early in the second quarter, scoring 16 straight points to take control.
Mindful of last year's debacle, when the Sun Devils scored four defensive touchdowns in a 34-9 win, UCLA decided to play it safe.
"I was sweating bullets all the way through it," Neuheisel said. "The game plan was to make sure we didn't beat ourselves. That's what exactly happened in the desert. We were not going to do that. The opening touchdown before we'd even touched the ball gave us a little cushion."
Hunting Barkley
USC freshman quarterback Matt Barkley's recent struggles - he had threw three interceptions in the Trojans' 55-21 loss to Stanford in Week 10 - will not change UCLA's game plan, Neuheisel said.
The Bruins will not become blitz-happy, but attempt to maintain a balanced attack.
"I don't think you can be ever just one thing," Neuheisel said. "You have to be diversified and give different looks. Barkley is obviously a huge talent, but they can't manufacture more experience for them. We can't give them one look that allows them to be comfortable."
Brehaut Biding Time
After stating that he would play freshman quarterback Richard Brehaut in quality minutes during the last several weeks of the season, Neuheisel seemingly has backed off his claim recently.
The emergence of redshirt freshman quarterback Kevin Prince as a downfield threat and an efficient game-manager combined with Brehaut's lack of pocket presence has limited his playing time.
"I feel badly that he didn't get in this last one, because I still have it in my mind to get him in," Neuheisel said. "Does Kevin Prince want to be the quarterback? Yes. Does Richard Brehaut want to be the quarterback? Yes. That will be a huge thing once we get to the offseason."
Hester Watch
The status of redshirt freshman cornerback Aaron Hester has been of constant debate for weeks now.
One week, Hester is recovered from his leg fracture, the next he is hobbled.
Then he's healthy but unconfident.
Now he's confident but inconsistent.
"I think he's OK, he just has to get more consistent," Neuheisel said. "He's starting to get better, but there are too many things where assignments aren't done the way they need to be done. The fundamentals of the position have to be evidenced."
If ever Norm Chow was going to prove his genius, this would be the game.
If ever Chuck Bullough was going to prove his worth (in replacing DeWayne Walker, this would be the game.
Throw the book at them and remember that for right now, THIS IS OUR BOWL GAME...
Jon,
Can you help convince CRN to have the team wear the '67 Throwback Jerseys for this Saturday's game??? It'll be quite the spectacle at the Coliseum to see both So Cal and UCLA uniforms circa 1967!
Thanks....
I love the '67 throwback jerseys, but let's not forget that we lost to u$c in 1967. Maybe we'll have better luck wearing our regular jerseys.
Go Bruins!
Jon,
BREAKING NEWS:
Any truth to the following????
Lisa Fernandez, of the ucla bruin softball team, will undergo a HEAD COACHING interview.
Lisa is schedule to interview for the opening spot at Arizona State softball team.
Word is...Myers was offered the head coaching position for the baseball team.
Any feedback.
Jon Gold, the man who doesn't post anything in the morning
I say bring the wood to Barkley: blitz and confuse the freshmen and welcome him to the rivalry.
$uc qbs hate contact.
An intersting comparison between Prince and Barkley against similar opponents (4 games), Barkley does not run!
He has about 10 yards net in those four games, while Kevin P. has about 130 net.
Even if he's flushed out of the pocket, he's going to look for a receiver and not tuck it in and run like Prince.
"USC freshman quarterback Matt Barkley's recent struggles - he had threw three interceptions "
throw, threw, had thrown
When the 2010 team recruiting rankings were released a few months back, UCLA was down around #26, and USC was up around #6. Since then, however, UCLA has slowly been climbing (they are currently ranked #20 in the 2010 recruiting poll), while USC has slowly been slipping (they have fallen down to slot #15). Last year, for the first time in a long while, UCLA beat USC in the recruiting battle, and even "flipped" two of their high-profile recruits (Presley and Carroll). That has rarely happened before under Pete Carroll's watch. Anything can happen between now and the final signing day in April, but this Bruin class keeps getting better and better.
Comparing the two programs right now, the Bruins are hungrier. I think they realize that at no other point since probably 2001 has USC been so vulnerable for an "upset." Sure, we stunned them in '06 with that 13-9 boxing match, but that was a HUGE upset. If you'll recall (I love to recall it), SC was ranked #2 in the nation, and simply had to step over the lowly 6-5 Bruins to get back to the BCS national title game. Which, of course--thanks to Eric McNeal's "immaculate interception" (God bless you, Eric)--did not happen. One sign that UCLA's football program is waxing, and USC is waning, is the fact that no one would consider it a huge upset if UCLA beat the Trojans this Saturday night. When was the last time USC was favored by less than two touchdowns going into a HOME game with UCLA? (The line is 13).
In 1998, the day after The Miami Debacle, I remember feeling so depressed, like someone had died. I said to my sister, "It might take us 10 years to recover from that loss." And frankly, 11 years later, we haven't--but we are getting there. Kevin Prince is, hands down, the most talented QB UCLA has had since McNown. You build great college teams around great QBs and strong interior lines on both sides of the ball. That '98 Miami loss, in my humble opinion, was comparable to USC's loss to us in '06. Think about it: Prior to that, USC had won back-to-back national championships in '03 and '04, and then lost the championship to Texas in '05 (God bless YOU, Vince Young). In '06, we knocked them out. They have not been back since--in '06, '07, '08, and of course, not in '09.
More intriguing perhaps, is that during Pete Carroll's first eight years as head coach (i.e. until this season), USC had lost only one game by more than seven points, that being a 27–16 loss at Notre Dame in Carroll's first season. This year, they have lost three games by a combined score of 118-54. That's an average margin of defeat of 21.3 points. Fairly breathtaking, compared to their unbelievable run the past seven years. And they have NEVER, as a college football program, lost as badly as they did to Stanford (55-21)--and that one was at home!
USC seems like a team--and a program?--that has misplaced its identity, whereas the Bruins seem to be a team that is finally finding theirs. Wishful thinking? Not if you look at all the indicators put together----of the energy, optimism, and recruiting successes accumulating on the west side of town. I believe we are at a tipping point, and even if we were to lose to USC, it's still just a matter of time before all this talent and excellent coaching tips the cart toward success.
A final thought: If you're an inner city L.A. kid, and you were to choose between a good UCLA program and a good USC program, where would you rather live and go to school? Near downtown or in Westwood, at one of the nation's top 20 unitversities? A fact to back up my theory that such a kid would choose UCLA (and has in the past): During the 80s and 90s, UCLA dominated the Cross-Town Rivalry, defeating USC 13 out of 20 years. How soon Trojan fans forget that we won 8 games in a row in the 90s, consistently out-recruiting USC under Donahue and Toledo. USC has never defeated us 8 years in a row (their streak was 7 until the '06 defeat), and never will.
Now the recruiting mojo is in UCLA's favor, and the elites (kids like Presley, Carroll, Hasiak, Sua'Filo) are looking toward Westwood once again.
We are maybe one more season away, but it's going to happen. Just ask Eric McNeal.