UCLA clinches Pac-12 championship game berth
Sure, pesky USC awaits, but the UCLA football team now has its set on a bigger prize.
The Pac-12 championship.
The Bruins clinched a spot in the inaugural Pac-12 championship game, likely heading to Oregon for a Dec. 2 showdown to determine the conference's Rose Bowl representative, after lowly Colorado shocked Utah in Salt Lake City, 17-14, on Friday.
The Buffaloes' first conference road win in more than four years makes UCLA's matchup with USC on Saturday a moot point; well, except for 364 days worth of bragging rights. The Bruins had been talking a good game about the Trojan tilt, saying things like, "It's in our hands," and, "We control our destiny."
Only, no, Colorado - and Utah, which missed three field goals - controlled UCLA's fate, though the Bruins can win the division title outright with a win over USC.
"One of the goals we established as a team when we entered camop this fall was to play for the first-ever Pac-12 title," head coach Rick Neuheisel said in a statement. "Keeping in mind that we are still focused on beating USC tomorrow night, we are certainly excited to represent the South Division on December 2nd in the conference championship game."
Congrats to UCLA. You have two tough games ahead of you in the next week. Best of luck, from an outsider looking in. It must really sting USC to see you go to the first ever PAC 12 championship because they shot themselves in the foot with unprecedented sanctions.
The team might have just lost its bowl eligibility...
Except now the likelihood of the doomsday scenario, of UCLA being ineligible to attend a bowl game due to a 6-7 final record, seems like it will come to pass. Craziness!
Time to shock the world with wins over $C and Oregon back-to-back and then head to the Rose Bowl.
And missing a bowl game wasn't the doomsday scenario, that was winning the Pac-12 Championship and finishing at 6-7, hence missing the Rose Bowl.
UCLA has two games left. The Utah loss took away any chance they had of winning one of them.
please, take a 6-3 conference record in with you? Sure seems better than a 5-4... Go Bruins!
I think, WE'VE TURNED THE CORNER!
Shades of the 1951 Giants with the shot heard 'round the world:
The bruins win the south, the bruins win the south, the bruins win the south
Can we now change our uniforms to our regular blues and save the white uniform switcheroo to the Pac12 Champ game??
This news scars me just a bit. I hate for this team to have any excuse to give anything other than 100%. I'd like to think playing their hated rivals would be more than enough motivation, but they've had plenty of motivation to win several games this season and not risen to the occasion, so....
To the Bruin Players:
Play your hearts out. Play like you'll die if you lose. Pin your ears back and hit them hard.
In 2006, UCLA beat USC when USC was #2 in the nation. I saw the game. I couldn't believe the heart that the UCLA players exhibited. They won with sheer will, determination, and heart.
It is time to do the same.
Great. Nothing Bruin fans need more than another National Television blowout. Haven't we suffered enough? And now the doomsday no bowl game situation is back in play. And not only that, Neu can now talk about "accomplishing goals" even as a mediocre 6-5.
It's never easy being a Bruin fan.
I don't care about backing into the championship game because sc is inellagable and the rest of the division can't win games. UCLA better beat those damn trogans (sic) tomorrow night! They better play with determination and win that game! If not, then Rick must be gone before the end of the season. Backing into the championship game better not allow him to proclaim anything beyond "we won the south division because we suck less than everyone else."
Go Bruins!
Even if the Bruins go 6-7, I think the NCAA will grant a waiver to play in a bowl game. How could the South Division champ not play in a bowl game while other teams with a worse conference record do?
This team has shown growth during the season and the coaching staff is starting to gel,but I don't think that CRN will be able to save his job.There are people out there that want to bring in a name coach from a major program and now have the funds to do it.I have been hoping that CRN would survive,but I was hoping that Dorrell would survive.
I don't care for Neuheisel, but if UCLA fires him, they will have to eat the remaining money on his contract making it that much harder to lure a higher-priced candidate, in what looks like a pretty thin field of eligible coaches this year. I think UCLA will be in a better position to poach a big name if they let Neu finish out his current contract.
So either 1) Neu coaches out of his mind next year looking for that extension and UCLA plays great...or 2) Neu stinks and UCLA saves the money they would have had to pay him anyway and can use it on a bigger fish.
@Bruin Gold: As a USC fan I remember that major upset. The biggest difference is that UCLA had a great D-Coordinator, Coach Walker. As a USC fan, I have the most upmost respect for Coach Walker b/c the UCLA defense was very good under his guidance. The other major factor, UCLA had a great pass rusher in Bruce Davis. This year's UCLA squad does not have a great/good pass rush defense. Another major point for tomorrow's game, Kalil is a top five NFL draft pick, USC didn't have this type of tackle in the 2006 game.
I think the Utah upset inspires the USC squad to blow out UCLA to illustrate the point that UCLA backed into the title game.
I think ucla will get blown out tomorrow and the excuse will be that they over looked SC thinking about the Championship game.
Does anyone have extra tickets for tomorrows game? I would like to tailgate or attend the game.
Go Bruins!!!
Does anyone have extra tickets for tomorrows game? I would like to tailgate or attend the game.
Go Bruins!!!
I TOLD YOU ALL WEEKS AGO THAT RICK WAS PLAYING CHESS. WE CAN ADD CHANPIONS OF THE SOUTH ALONG WITH OUR CHAMPIONS OF THE OFFSEASON FOOTBALL TITLES. HOW PROUD THE MIGHTY BRUINS ARE. CHECKMATE CRN