Stick a Fork in Us

It was always a long shot, but UCLA did have a chance to win the conference if it swept it's last three games. That dream didn't last very long as the Bruins lost to ASU on Saturday. Sadly, that game was winnable, but the Bruins made some bone-headed mistakes. I guess that sums up our season: games we could have won, should have won... but didn't. Well, the season is officially over and UCLA really has little left to play for this year.

Bruce Davis gets the bone-head award for the night. His inexplicable late-hit at the end of the first half gave the Sun Devils a free shot at a field goal. Those 3 points forced UCLA to go for a touchdown at the end, instead of working into field goal range, and likely cost us the game. Christian Taylor made a similarly stupid mistake on 4th-and-long and only a timely turnover forced by Brian Price kept Arizona State out of the end zone.

Chris Meadows almost had the play of the night. He was wide open, I mean wide open, not a guy anywhere near him, and Brandon Breazell threw a beautiful pass to him. He was thinking three steps ahead and forgot he had to catch the ball first. Man, after I gave him some hype coming into the season, he let me down! Oh well, I guess you can't expect too much from a walk-on transfer who has barely played this season.

I guess the silver lining is that we are playing a lot of our younger guys. The backfield is all sophomores at this point with Moline, Rasshan, and Sheppard. Sheppard had a decent day with some solid runs averaging 4.7 yards a carry against one of the better defenses in the conference. Dominque Johnson is a soph and Terrance Austin, who virtually scored a touchdown on that punt return, still has two years of eligibility left. Not to mention that Forbath is just a freshman.

The really good news is that we get a bye next weekend. The Bruins need some time to lick their wounds and heal up. The only thing left to play for is some pride, a chance to play spoiler, and getting bowl eligible. You might say, "Why do I care about playing in some crappy bowl?", well it does give our guys some extra time to practice this year and one more game to gain some experience. With 2008 being a rebuilding season, we'll want these young guys to get as much playing time as possible.

It's amazing how far this team has fallen from it's pre-season ranking and BCS expectations. Now we're in an uphill battle just to get into the Poinsettia Bowl. With Oregon and USC still left on the schedule, even achieving that modest goal might be impossible.