The Footnote Bowl

We have a game today? Oh yeah. The Vegas Bowl, or as I like to call it, the Footnote Bowl. I gave it that name because this is really just a final footnote to the story of Karl Dorrell's last season.

When these two teams last met, it was the second week of the season. I was at the Rose Bowl that day and it seemed like the Bruins were poised for a great season. The 20-0 lead near the end of the first half was proof that UCLA was a team with conference championship potential. But then the Cougars came storming back. We held on for a victory that day, but it felt like we escaped with the win instead of earning it.

The Bruins left that game with a #13 ranking and a 2-0 record. Since then, this team has gone 4-6, fired the head coach, and today is starting their 4th-string quarterback-turned-receiver turned-quarterback in Osaar Rasshan. The Cougars went 9-1, captured a second straight WMC championship and are ranked #19. Their quarterback, John Beck, had the best season of any sophomore signal caller in the country. My how things have changed.

We have little chance for victory today. Our offense is still terrible and, to make matters worse, Rasshan hasn't been practicing with the first string much because Olson was taking all the snaps. He hurt his knee again in practice just this week. That might give UCLA a surprise advantage since the Cougars were likely preparing for Olson. I doubt it will make much of a difference.

It is the debut of Walker as the interim head coach. I don't know how much of a difference that will make today, but maybe these players will gain an extra ounce of effort to help Walker win his first game. Defensively, they should play well and I'm expecting the battle between BYU's offense and the UCLA defense to be pretty entertaining. It could get painful watching the last performance of Dorrell's WCO.

I guess that is the silver lining to today's Footnote Bowl. This will be the last time we get to see Dorrell's offense in action. It has sputtered and struggled for the better part of five years and I won't shed a tear when it walks off the field for the last time. Maybe in some strange twist of fate, these guys will figure it out and churn out some yards. A guy can dream can't he!?!

With Bruin fans almost 100% focused on Basketball and the coaching search, today's game probably wont garner much interest. But I'll be parked in front of my TV, cheering on this team. I hope they win for the seniors and all the guys who put in so much time and effort for this team. I'm sure they never imagined they would be playing in Vegas back when the season started in September. But they can still go out winners. That would be a Christmas miracle indeed.