UCLA burns Cal, 31-14

After a 36-point loss at Arizona on Oct. 20, embittered and emboldened UCLA fans started an Occupy UCLA Athletics campaign, a derivation of the Occupy Wall Street movement protesting big business across the country.

Turns out, the Bruins are still into capitalism.

UCLA scored 24 points off five Cal turnovers, including three deep in Bear territory, and the Bruins rolled 31-14 in front of 55,604 at the Rose Bowl on Saturday night.

An aggressive defensive line harried Cal quarterback Zach Maynard into four interceptions – three by redshirt freshman safety Tevin McDonald – and a week after allowing 573 yards to the Wildcats, UCLA gave up just 333 to the Bears.

Junior defensive lineman Datone Jones, playing extensively in the interior because of the suspension of sophomore defensive tackle Cassius Marsh – one of six Bruins suspended for their roles in a brawl with Arizona with four seconds left in the first half of the loss – had a season-high six tackles and two sacks as part of a defensive effort that forced interceptions on three of Cal’s last four drives.

“We burned the boats, man,” said Jones, referring to the ‘BTB’ shirts that players wore on the sidelines, a motto that signifies no retreat. “It was a suicide mission we had.”

Playing the role of kamikaze, junior quarterback Kevin Prince.

With a directive from Neuheisel to play with abandon despite a history of injury, Prince did indeed embrace contact, shying away from no one while rushing for a career-high 163 yards on 19 carries.

“If it’s one-on-one, I’ll lower the shoulder,” said Prince, who has already suffered two shoulder sprains this season. “If it’s a couple more guys, I try to get down and slide. But Coach Neuheisel talked to me about that on Tuesday; running against Arizona last week, I was a little more cautious. Coach Neuheisel told me not to worry about that and just to run as hard as I can.”

Continue reading “UCLA burns Cal, 31-14” »

Quick Riley update

UCLA head coach Rick Neuheisel said all preliminary tests came out negative for safety Dietrich Riley, who crashed into Cal’s Isi Sofele early in the fourth quarter on a run and immediately collapsed to the ground. Riley was carted off the field – waving and giving a thumb’s up to the crowd – before being taken to Huntington Hospital for tests.

Neuheisel said Riley suffered a neck injury and temporarily lost feeling, but an update from the UCLA athletics department said Riley has full movement and sensation in all extremities.

UCLA 24-14

The opportunistic UCLA defense struck once more.
So did the Bruin offense.

After Tevin McDonald picked up his second interception of the game at the Cal 20-yard line, Derrick Coleman immediately followed with a 20-yard touchdown run, giving the Bruins some cushion once more.

Drive Time: 20 yards, 1 play, six seconds

UCLA 17-14

UCLA got a taste of its own medicine, and it didn’t taste good.

Cal recovered a muffed Jordon James punt return at the UCLA 15-yard line, and after a Zach Maynard-to-Anthony Miller 14-yard completion, C.J. Anderson plugged it in from a yard out.

Drive Time: 2 plays, 15 yards, 41 seconds

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Reply

UCLA 17-7

After another Cal turnover in its own territory, the Bruins again capitalized.

This time, they made it count.

Derrick Coleman ran it in from three yards out after getting a first down on 3rd-and-3 with a nine yard run, and the Bruins went up two scores.

Drive Time: 19 yards, 4 plays, 1:17