Hey, UCLA Bruins. Hey, Coach Skipper and Nico Iamaleava and Jer-ry Neuheisel.
It’s been a few days and I wanted to reach out and say sorry, guys, that I missed your party.
Going to be totally transparent here; I got the invitation and I tossed it in the recycling bin.
I did.
Because I saw that your special guest was No. 7-in-the-country Penn State. And that it was happening on a beautiful Saturday afternoon in my already busy week, with the Dodgers’ playoffs in full swing and the NBA teams opening training camp and even some AYSO action sprinkled in.
I just figured there were better places to be than the Rose Bowl. And I know I wasn’t alone.
Especially because we assumed we knew what you had planned, and it sounded like more of the same – same sad song about a winless, rudderless group of guys, overmatched and outlucked and stuck in a Sisyphean loop of Big Ten torment.
Love blues music, but I was craving something more upbeat. And I couldn’t imagine you would deliver anything but a dirge, especially against a Nittany Lions team that was sure to be seething from the previous week’s double-overtime loss to the Oregon Ducks.
Especially after you had just parted ways with offensive coordinator Tino Sunseri a couple of weeks after parting ways with defensive coordinator Ikaika Malloe. I mean, I wasn’t anticipating the scene Saturday would leave anyone but Penn State loyalists wanting to relive it in column-form at any point afterward.
Well.
Like I said, I’m sorry I missed your party!
I’m sorry – selfishly, for myself.
I could have said I was there when you guys shocked the nation, when you toppled Penn State, 42-37.
Could have witnessed history first-hand, could have seen the first 0-4 team beat a top-10 team since 1985 (per On3’s Hayes Fawcett).
Could have told the grandkids someday about the day quarterback Nico Iamaleava went off, the Long Beach native looking like a $4 million man, actually, accounting for all of five of UCLA’s touchdowns – three on the ground, two by air – and 296 yards of total offense.
Could have written home about seeing Neuheisel – offensive coordinator for four days – picked up and carried by his players when the win was the books. What a well-earned ride for the Bruin-blue-bleeding hero who woke up an offense in hibernation, gave a jolt to a team that hadn’t scored more than 15 points in two weeks. Gave it teeth, so that UCLA jumped out to a 27-7 lead and controlled the clock for a nearly 20-minute advantage.
Who would have thunk it, beside, I guess, Tim Skipper?
UCLA’s enthusiastic and charismatic interim head coach took the reins and didn’t blink when DeShaun Foster was excused three bad losses into the season. Nope, Skipper just grinned and glad-handed, sold his squad and the school with his whole chest like everything was just fine – grand, in fact: “This is a great place, beautiful day, great campus, all that good stuff!” he said at a practice before his first game against Northwestern (a 17-14 defeat).
Bless his heart, I thought then, I appreciate this man’s positive outlook. Too bad I didn’t buy in, though, or I would have witnessed Saturday’s theatrics live and in person in the press box instead of watching them unfold on TV from my couch.
Just didn’t have it on the proverbial bingo card, that a skipper’s delusional optimism could catch on with players and pay off so well that now nothing about the rest of this once-lost season – including Saturday’s game at Michigan State – seems like a foregone conclusion anymore.
Why can’t the Bruins beat a 3-2 Spartans team that has lost its past two games?
Why can’t going back to basics continue to benefit a Bruins team led by a talent like Iamaleava, who cleaned up this week, earning AP National Player of the Week, Maxwell Award Player of the Week, Walter Camp National Offensive Player of the Week, Davey O’Brien National Quarterback of the Week and Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week. The undisputed man of the week in college football.
What more might UCLA’s defense do for an encore, a week after holding Penn State to its second-fewest total yards this season – and some clutch play too, with Scooter Jackson’s tackle for loss with the Nittany Lions threatening deep in the Bruins’ territory late Saturday.
And, after Michigan State, the Bruins get Maryland? That was one of only two teams we previously penciled in (lightly) as a possible victory before UCLA went and last weekend notched its first victory against an AP top-10 opponent since Sept. 24, 2010, when the Bruins beat a seventh-ranked Texas team?
And after that, Indiana awaits. Yes, the Hoosiers currently are the No. 7 team in the country. But so was Penn State.
Now, now. Let’s not go getting ahead of ourselves. Let’s not go penciling in a Bruins team that seemed destined for a winless season to now go 8-4. Let’s not go booking our College Football Playoff plans.
But let’s definitely look out for that invitation the next time these Bruins plan to throw a party at the Rose Bowl.
Because to hear Skipper describe the vibes around UCLA football this week, it sounds like a great time: “Smiling, laughing, talking. When you’re sore after a game, it actually feels pretty good. People laugh at bad jokes now! Man, just joy. That’s how I would describe it. Just pure joy.”