Even a 10-2 season doesn’t buy UCLA any respect.
Heading into Saturday’s game against Utah, UCLA has felt
the backhand of the national polls, not even receiving votes in the
Associated Press poll. The Bruins were seen as a one-season success
““ and now a rebuilding program.
The Utes would then appear to be their mirror image. After
winning their last two games of the season ““ a seven-point
victory over rival BYU and a 28-point blowout of then-No. 24
Georgia Tech in the Emerald Bowl ““ the Utes are nationally
considered a rising program. They finished just out of the rankings
in both the USA Today poll and the AP poll, and appear to be just a
win against the Bruins away from vaulting into the top 25.
It is an early-season test for the Bruins, and it will answer
many of the offseason questions surrounding the program. Will the
defense, under new defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker, show
serious improvement? Will the running game be able to deal with the
loss of Maurice Drew? Will Ben Olson find the mojo that made him
the No. 1 recruit in the nation after high school?
The Bruins come into the game confident that these questions
will be answered positively. More than anything, however, they are
simply eager to get started.
“I am just happy to get it going now,” redshirt
sophomore quarterback Ben Olson said. “We’ve really
picked up the intensity in practice this week. All of training camp
has been building up for this, so all the guys are just
excited.”
They will need to bring that excitement and intensity if they
are to best a Utah team that is confident and focused on beating
UCLA. Utes senior cornerback Eric Weddle has been quoted in the
Deseret Morning News as saying that the Utes have two goals: to win
the Mountain West Conference title and to beat UCLA.
Not only will the Bruins be dealing with a team that is geared
up to beat them, they will have to face a spread option offense
which can cause fits for teams that are not well prepared for
it.
“It’s a tricky offense,” redshirt junior
defensive tackle Kevin Brown said. “It’s pretty
difficult to defend if you don’t play your techniques well.
We have to be sharp mentally against that kind of
offense.”
The Bruins feel their defense is more than up to the challenge.
After a fall camp in which the defense was consistently better than
the offense, the defenders are ready to show off what they can do
in an actual game.
“I really like our new style of defense,” redshirt
junior linebacker Christian Taylor said. “It is constantly
attacking, and we are very aggressive. I think Utah is going to be
very surprised by what they encounter on Saturday.”
Despite the rankings, UCLA feels this is a winnable game in its
quest to prove detractors wrong. At the same time, however, the
Bruins are not looking past the Utes.
“We have been waiting for this game a long time, and there
is no way we would overlook them,” junior running back Chris
Markey said. “In order to reach our final goal of 12-0, we
have to start 1-0.”
With reports from Sagar Parikh and Adam de Jong, Bruin
Sports senior staff.