KEITH ENRIQUEZ/Daily Bruin Senior Staff The Bruin defense
causes a fumble earlier in the season. No. 4 UCLA faces unranked
Cal Saturday for the Bruins’ homecoming game.
By Adam Karon
Daily Bruin Staff
David and Goliath will face off this Saturday in Pasadena when
the No. 4 UCLA Bruins take on the winless Cal Bears.
At first glance, the game may not seem like much of a contest.
The Bears have lost six games this season by an average of 26
points. Conversely, the Bruins are undefeated, holding opponents to
around 12 points per game.
But a match-up between the two UC schools is always proven to be
intense, as the Bruins found out in 2000.
“You can’t overlook this team,” flanker Tab
Perry said. “It’s harder to beat an 0-4 team than it is
to beat a 4-0 team. They have nothing to lose.”
Last year UCLA visited Berkeley with a 4-1 record and high hopes
for a BCS berth. They returned to Westwood the victims of a 46-38
triple overtime defeat. Two years ago the Bears came to the Rose
Bowl and shut out the Bruins on their home turf 17-0.
Such losses are not easily forgotten.
“We didn’t look at them as that competitive of a
team last year,” linebacker Ryan Nece said. “You
can’t look at Cal lightly. Every year they’ve been
competitive and played us tough.”
One player who might not know how tough Cal can be is starting
tailback DeShaun Foster. Foster has never played against Cal the
last three years, and his absence drastically affected the Bruins.
Two years ago the team accumulated just 168 yards of total offense,
and quarterback Cory Paus led all rushers with 67 yards. Last year
the Bruins rushed 45 times for just 45 yards.
FOOTBALL vs. Saturday 7:15 p.m. Rose Bowl Fox
Sports Net
Instead of the Bruins missing an offensive standout on Saturday,
the Bears will be the ones without their star. Quarterback Kyle
Boller will miss the game with a back injury. Boller has been a
thorn in the Bruins’ side in the last couple of years,
throwing 252 yards a year ago and completing the game-sealing
two-point conversion pass in the third overtime period.
“It would have been nice to play against Kyle,” Nece
said. “Being a senior, it would have been nice to beat him
before I leave.”
Nece won’t get that chance to beat Boller. Instead he will
have to contend with backup Eric Holtfreter. The senior took over
for Boller last week against Oregon.
He has completed 25 passes for 313 and one touchdown this
season, but has also thrown four interceptions. A serious issue
could arise if Holtfreter goes down as so many quarterbacks before
him have against the tough Bruins’ line. First in line to
replace Holtfreter is a defensive back, senior Adam Sugarman.
The statistical differences between the two schools are
striking. UCLA has given up only 60 points this year while Cal has
relinquished 218. The Bears average 104 yards rushing per game
while the Bruins average 222 yards on the ground. UCLA has recorded
more than twice as many sacks as Cal and has recovered three times
as many fumbles.
Although the odds seem to be stacked against the Bears, UCLA
players are not looking past the game.
“I think it’s the biggest game of the year,”
quarterback Cory Paus said. “Last year we were in a similar
position and we ended up losing, and it all went
downhill.”
If the team hopes to achieve its No. 1 goal of a national
championship, it must beat schools like Cal to prove that let-downs
of the past were flukes.