BORN-AGAIN BURN ‘HORNS AGAIN

“To err is human; To Ayers is Divine”

Pistol Cathedral:  Re-born Bruins play like they’re on a Mission, forcing revenge-minded Texas to be generous, Rushing all over them, and ultimately nailing them, 34-12

Call it a “Miracle on 34th Street.”  34 Points,  against the Nation’s #1 Rushing Defense, almost entirely by Rushing… after collecting only 6 yards and 0 points in the entire 1st quarter — I’d call that a Miracle.

16-point underdog UCLA shockingly –just like the last time they went to the University of Texas and won 66-3 — manhandled #4 Texas 34-12 in sweltering Austin, “Capitolizing” on 5 Longhorn Turnovers.  Of those five Giveaways, four were in the first half;  One was just a fumbled hand-off, but the other three were FORCED by Bruins.  All-American Akeem Ayers was responsible for two of them, with a Sack that caused a Fumble, and another leaping Interception, and  Sean Westgate caused the other one, setting up the Bruins’ first TD, when he used his left hand to poke a ball free from a Punt Returner deep in Longhorn territory.

Ayers and Westgate have been flying around the field all season, and it has become contagious.  Safety Tony Dye made several key plays, as did Defensive Back Dalton Hilliard.  Hilliard had a Touchdown-saving tackle, delivered one of the hardest hits of the day, and recovered the Westgate-caused fumble that set up a score.

That 2nd quarter score was a 1-yard pass from Kevin Prince to Ricky Marvray.  Prince was getting medical attention when Texas fumbled the punt, put blew off the protesting trainer to run back on the field, and a couple of plays later, throw that TD pass. 

After a sluggish 1st quarter where the Bruins gained only 6 yards, the Bruins’ Offensive Line took over, allowing Jonathan Franklin to gain 118  of the Bruins’ 264 Rushing yards.  The Bruins controlled the 2nd quarter with the Takeaways and a tough ground game.  The Air Attack didn’t come together though, with Cory Harkey dropping another pass, and Anthony Barr unable to snag a pass thrown behind him.  Also, Prince got Sacked a few times, and lost the ball twice.  He also declined to throw on a few plays that were supposed to be passes.  The Texas Secondary is Nationally-respected, and blanketed the Bruin Receivers for most of the game.

The Bruins had to settle for two made Field Goals (out of 3 attempts) after the Marvray TD, and took a still-surprising 13-3 lead into the Locker Room at Halftime.  The Turnover tally was 4-2 in the Bruins’ favor at the break, so it looked like the heavily-favored Longhorns would still be in good shape if they just held onto the ball.  WRONG.  They didn’t turn the ball over again until the last minute, but the Bruins still steadily pulled away.

UCLA took the 2nd Half Kickoff and marched down the field almost exclusively on the ground, with Franklin and Derrick Coleman both breaking off big gainers.  The Offensive Line was opening holes inside, and both Running Backs were breaking tackles and repeatedly getting into the ‘Horns’ Secondary.  Franklin polished off the 80-yard drive with an 11-yard TD run, making the score 20-3, and silencing the Burnt-Orange, fanatical crowd.

The Longhorns added a Field Goal to make it a two-possession game, but the Bruin ground game was rapidly eating the clock.  Norm Chow apparently called TWENTY-TWO STRAIGHT RUNNING PLAYS.  At least they ran 22 plays in a row without throwing the ball, whether passes were called or not.

Usually, you would call that deathly overconservative.  But the way the O-Line was playing, it wasn’t conservative, it was  intelligent — It was the best way to move the ball.  After the Texas Field Goal, Josh Smith gave UCLA great field position — and Momentum back — with a scintillating 45 yard Kickoff Return.  Mr. Smith is becoming the most under-utilized weapon of mass destruction on the team, and needs to get the ball in his hands.  He should even reconsider downing the Kickoffs that go halfway back in the end zone.

With the field position gift from Smith, the Bruins were able to continue their running attack, this series culminating with Prince faking a handoff, then sprinting 37 yards into the End Zone for a 27-6 lead.  The Rushing part of the Pistol Offense is working now, not just because of the O-Line finally gelling, but also becuase of the MISDIRECTION.  The Texas Defense was overplaying the expected handoffs to the Tailback, repeatedly leaving Kevin Prince alone to pick up pick gains with his legs.  Prince ended up with 50 yards Rushing — almost twice as many yards as he THREW for.  Despite the ABC TV Announcer saying that a one-dimensional team CAN’T beat the #4 team in the Country, the Bruins did not need to pass the ball to win… easily.  Prince did hit two short, quick passes late in the game to move the chains and keep the Texas Offense on the sidelines, but it was the Ground Game that just put UCLA Football on the map.  It was also the running game that added the final exclamation point, when Derrick Coleman broke free for a 29-yard TD run to make it 34-12.

“12,” because semi-legendary Texas Head Coach Mack Brown INEXPLICABLY opted to go for two, when down by 15.  Doesn’t Brown have one of those cards?  Of course, it became moot as the clock and Coleman ran down on the Longhorns.

Speaking of moot, it looks like all the “Fire Neuheisel” noise has subsided, and all the non-believers, including myself, are now coming back on board.  Sure the Longhorns were looking ahead to Oklahoma, and sure, they are overrated, BUT, if you can go INTO AUSTIN, and demolish a proud team like Texas in that environment, then you can beat ANYONE, ANYWHERE, on any given day.  I’m not saying that the Bruins should run the table now, but this victory was the Bruins’ BEST since 13-9, and proves that this team, with Neuheisel’s motivation, can compete with the elite.

A good friend of mine known as “bruincivil” was fortunate enough to go to the game, and generous enough to share his photos with you here:  Please enjoy these 24 Football and Cheer pics from Austin.

 

Comments

6 responses to “BORN-AGAIN BURN ‘HORNS AGAIN”

  1. SVCATOSCMO Avatar
    SVCATOSCMO

    The combined record of UCLA’s first four opponents – 14-2, and UCLA’s schedule so far is ranked the 3rd toughest according to Sagarin (Oregon State’s is #1).

    It appears that the “darkest before the dawn” saying applies here, and that the Stanford game helped them establish an identity. But, they still need to establish a passing game…

    Props to the defense.

  2. kacey Avatar
    kacey

    Bruins looked solid again today. Nice defense, very strong young running backs, Kevin Prince feeling comfortable in the pistol!

    They have a basis to build on this year. Pac10 is stronger than people realize and early loss to Stanford will not be an issue in the rankings at end of the season as the Bruins finish strong and crush SC!

    Go Bruins!

  3. Fast freddie Avatar
    Fast freddie

    some really nice belly buttons there

  4. JP Avatar
    JP

    I’m so proud of our team to head down to Austin and get a win. NOONE beats Texas at home.

  5. BL Avatar
    BL

    Super exciting game and great pictures of the cheer stunts! Go Bruins!

  6. UCLADal Avatar
    UCLADal

    GO BRUINS! KEEP THE VIBE ALIVE TEAM!