SNOW, WHITE, AND THE 57 DWARFS

Happy Utes tower over Grumpy Bruins 31-6, as Sleepy UCLA can’t overcome snowy conditions, slippery John White, Bashful playcalling, or Dopey penalties

Not exactly a “Disney” weekend.

Westwood is far from the Happiest Place on Earth right now, after the Basketball team’s Mickey Mouse loss to lowly Loyola, $C’s Wild Ride over Washington, and finally, the Football team’s Daffy “effort” in a pathetic loss to Utah in frigid Salt Lake City, 31-6.

All you really need to know is that the uninspired, unfocused and undisciplined Bruins committed TEN stupid penalties BEFORE HALFTIME, scoring only 3 points (on a 3-and-out drive) before the intermission.  The Bruins overcompensated for the snow flurries, barely passing the ball AT ALL until they fell behind by a couple of scores.  When the game was close, at 7-3, Kevin Prince was having success in his few pass attempts, but once the Bruins fell behind and HAD to pass, Prince and his Receivers were not on the same page, and it led to two back-breaking Interceptions, including a Pick 6 that sealed the victory.

Similarly, the Bruin Defense played well at first, keeping the Utes in check for a Half.  But Utah wore them down, finally breaking through in the third quarter, mainly by pounding Tailback John White IV through the line.  White rushed for 167 yards and scored three TD’s, including one on a pass reception — a vintage Norm Chow call.  Of course, this game was revenge for Chow, the former UCLA O.C. now calling plays for Utah.  After being contained for 30 minutes, Chow’s Offense made the adjustments that allowed the Utes to break the game open.  UCLA’s staff made no such changes.

The Bruins are still in first place in their division (because ASU just fell to heavy underdog WSU), but the “gimme” of next week is no longer a gimme — Colorado beat Arizona today — the same Arizona that completely dismantled the Bruins three weeks ago.  Then in two weeks, the Bruins will get destroyed at the Mausoleum, meaning that they may still miss out on a bowl game, and Rick Neuheisel may still be fired, despite the nice two-game winning streak that they had just put together.  And based on tonight’s worthless showing, that may be a blessing.  Ya think Paterno would come out of retirement?  It might be an upgrade, despite his now having more baggage than Delta.

Comments

One response to “SNOW, WHITE, AND THE 57 DWARFS”

  1. UCLADal Avatar
    UCLADal

    I remember when we played at Alabama in 2001 and didn’t have any penalties (actually 1 but it was declined). I think we had 8 in the FIRST QUARTER.

    Any guesses what the attendance will be Saturday? At least with CU winning yesterday, there should be a few more CU fans at the game.