Daily Cal: No Love Lost in Rematch with UCLA

Last Year’s Loss In Pasadena Is All Cal Needs for Motivation

BY Brian Bainum

For Cal and UCLA, no one game summed up their respective 2005 seasons better than their Oct. 8 clash at the Rose Bowl.   The Bears appeared to be in control for most of the game, but a series of big special-teams plays by Maurice Jones-Drew powered the Bruins to a 47-40, come-from-behind victory.  Now in first place by itself in the Pac-10, the No. 10 Cal football team needs look no further than last year’s collapse in Pasadena to provide the motivation for Saturday’s meeting with UCLA at 5 p.m. at Memorial Stadium.  “I reminded the team about how we felt last year after that game,” Bears coach Jeff Tedford said. “We felt like we let that one slip away. We had a bad feeling in our stomach after that game.”

The Cal players didn’t need Tedford to refresh their memories.  “We still feel the hurt from last year,” senior captain Desmond Bishop said. “It kind of zapped us. We needed therapy after that game, but there wasn’t anyone there.”  The Bears went on to lose three of their next four games, falling out of the conference race. The Bruins, on the other hand, used the momentum to continue a string of improbable victories, including two overtime wins in the next three weeks.  “They took our season from us,” linebacker Worrell Williams said. “They took our swagger from us. We lost our swagger after that game and we forgot how to win for awhile.”  Cal has since remembered how to win. The Bears (7-1, 5-0 in the Pac-10) suffered a similarly demoralizing loss Sept. 2 at Tennessee, but they have since bounced back with seven straight wins and find themselves in first place in the conference.  UCLA, meanwhile, is reeling.  The Bruins came close to pulling off an upset win at Notre Dame on Oct. 21, but a touchdown pass by Brady Quinn to Jeff Samardzija in the last minute handed them a 20-17 loss.

Last week, Washington State racked up 515 total yards en route to a 37-15 win over UCLA at the Rose Bowl.  “We need to execute better,” Bruins coach Karl Dorrell said. “That is something we’ve been saying and trying to work on for the last couple of weeks.”  Dorrell’s team has a much different makeup this season than it did a year ago. Gone are UCLA’s former stars like Jones-Drew, tight end Marcedes Lewis and quarterback Drew Olson.

Predictably, the Bruins offense has struggled. UCLA ranks eighth in the conference in scoring offense, eighth in rushing offense and eighth in total offense.  Redshirt sophomore Ben Olson was handed the reigns to Bruins offense at the beginning of the season. However, he sprained his left knee against Arizona on Oct. 7, and Patrick Cowan has since played under center.  Neither quarterback has been able to generate much production. Olson and Cowan have combined to throw 10 touchdowns and nine interceptions on the year.  But while the UCLA offense has struggled, the defense has impressed.  The Bruins have allowed a stingy 18.6 points per game. They have been particularly stingy against the run, giving up a conference-low 82.1 yards per game on the ground.  “They are probably the most improved defense in the Pac-10,” Cal quarterback Nate Longshore said.

Tedford agreed, even after watching tape of the Cougars piling on the points last week.  “Look at the stats,” Tedford said. “That’s the first game they gave up any yards. It wasn’t because they didn’t have people covered. (Washington State) threw balls up to receivers who were blanketed and guys just went over the top of them and made plays.   “We wouldn’t have even (attempted to throw) those balls, because the guys were so well covered.”  Making plays in the passing game is something the Bears have found hard to come by lately. Longshore hasn’t thrown a touchdown pass in two games, after finding the end zone 17 times in the five games before.

Not all of the struggles in the passing game can be put on Longshore, though. Marshawn Lynch has accumulated 302 rushing yards over the last two games, making the passing game a lesser priority. Also, the Cal receivers have dropped several balls over the last two weeks.  “We’ve had some plays we didn’t make,” Bears wideout Lavelle Hawkins said.  Tedford does not appear to be too concerned with the drop of production in the air. He said Tuesday there has been nothing technically wrong with how the passing game has operated in Cal’s 21-3 win over the Cougars and its 31-24 overtime triumph over Washington.  “If you miss a ball, you miss a ball,” Tedford said. “If you drop a ball, you drop a ball. It’s easy to see. There doesn’t need to be a lot of investigation into it. It’s just about execution.”