BERKELEY “”mdash; There once was a boy who cried wolf.
Every weekend, he called for his receivers to line up and run their routes.
And every weekend, he chose instead to hand the ball off to his running backs, who ran and ran and scored enough touchdowns so that everyone forgot about the passing game.
Then one day, a real wolf came and shut the run game down for good. And when he looked for his receivers, they were nowhere to be found.
UCLA fell into an early hole during its 35-7 loss to California on Saturday and needed big yardage to catch up. But the Bruins, who have thrown less than any other team in the conference, just could not pass their way back into it.
“When you don’t pass that much and then all of a sudden you expect a lot out of the passing game, the results may vary,” said redshirt freshman Ricky Marvray, the Bruins’ top receiver of the day with five catches for 38 yards.
“It can’t just be “˜never use it’ and then all of a sudden “˜we need it now.’ Then, it’s not that crisp.”
In its previous three games ““ all wins ““ UCLA averaged just over 322 yards rushing, while relying on the dynamic tailback duo of redshirt sophomore Johnathan Franklin and junior Derrick Coleman. On Saturday though, neither of them could get anything going against the Bears’ defense, and the two Bruins were held to 56 net yards on 15 carries, forcing UCLA to look elsewhere.
“(Cal) did a good job of taking the run away,” redshirt sophomore quarterback Kevin Prince said. “We were forced to pass.
“I don’t know what to say about it other than I could have made some better plays ““ we all could have made some better plays.”
Prince, who missed last weekend’s win over Washington State with a knee injury, returned as the team’s starter, but connected on only 42 percent of his pass attempts.
Despite throwing more on Saturday than it had in any game all season, UCLA still could not get its quarterbacks and its receivers on the same page.
“It kind of appears that way,” Prince said. “It feels a little bit out of sync.”
Sophomore quarterback Richard Brehaut, who took all the snaps against WSU, came in for the last series of this Saturday’s contest, but did not fare much better, finishing 2-for-6 with 19 pass yards.
“We got out of our element as an offense,” UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel said. “We were forced to throw the ball way more than we wanted to or were prepared to and obviously it didn’t go well for us.”
The team’s leading receiver on the season, junior Nelson Rosario, did not travel with the team this week, staying home with a high ankle sprain, but offensive coordinator Norm Chow denied that Rosario’s absence had much to do with UCLA’s passing woes.
Chow was not happy with the offensive penalties, though.
“We must have broke the record for holding calls and false starts,” he said.
It was no record, but a few flags at critical times, including one on their first play from scrimmage, that certainly got in the way of the Bruins’ comeback hopes.
Early in the second quarter already trailing by two touchdowns, UCLA had finally gotten within scoring distance, down to Cal’s 14-yard line, but a 10-yard holding penalty disrupted any rhythm the team had gained. The mishandled handoff by Prince that dropped the Bruins back another 11 yards on the next play didn’t help. The Bruins, out of field goal range, were forced to punt.
The offensive line, which exceeded early season expectations during the winning streak, was overwhelmed by the Bears’ pass rush.
Besides the holding penalties, they allowed five quarterback sacks. Those sacks put the Bruins farther from the first down marker than they like to be with their run-first offensive style. And deep downfield is not a place UCLA is used to looking with its throwing game.
After scoring a touchdown right out of the gate in the second half, the Bruins were looking to build momentum on their next possession. On 3rd and 5, Prince looked for sophomore wide receiver Randall Carroll along the left sideline, but the route he was running and the route Prince was throwing to were not one and the same.
Carroll was running for the end zone and might have even beaten his defender, but the pass was fitted for a comeback pattern and the only person running that was Cal’s Darian Hagan, who intercepted it to end the Bruins’ drive.
“That kind of killed us,” Prince said. “(It) shot people’s spirits a little bit.”
After that play, Prince finished 2-for-12 on his passes before getting lifted for his backup, Brehaut, and the team would not score again.
“Whether it’s receivers running their routes at the right depths, whether it’s the quarterbacks throwing better balls, or whether its protection from the O-line,” Marvray said, “Whatever the problem is, it has to get fixed.”
If it doesn’t, then the Bruins will once again be in serious danger when the wolves are at their door.