Again, finally, Bruin fans have cause for cheer

Tuesday, September 30, 1997

Again, finally, Bruin fans have cause for cheer

COLUMN: Past football blunders forgotten in hype of the new
season

By Mark Shapiro

Daily Bruin Staff

It was hard to believe what I was seeing last Saturday.

That offense stampeding up and down the field like something out
of Braveheart? Had to be the heat.

That defense turning Arizona’s quarterback into something out of
a Wes Craven movie? Had to be the humidity.

That mob of towel waving maniacs drowning out the miserly cheers
of the visiting fans? Had to be a basketball flashback.

Nope.

That otherworldly performance we witnessed at the Rose Bowl
wasn’t some mirage brought on by a day hot enough to make an
self-immolating protestor complain, it was a football team that has
grown into the expectations hanging over it.

You’ve got a quarterback, once a green freshman thrown into the
fire, coolly dissipating Arizona’s Desert Swarm defense.

You’ve got a tailback who has emerged as one of the top runners
in the country who can smell touchdowns better than bees and dogs
smell fear.

You’ve got an opportunistic defense that forced two fumbles in
two minutes, both of which leading to touchdowns that blew the game
wide open.

It’s hard to believe, but you’ve got a football team to get
excited about.

For the first time in three years, the UCLA football team has
emerged as a squad not just root for, but one to fill our days and
nights with dreams of bowl game glory.

And it’s about time.

It’s been a grim three years, friends, as we have watched the
high hopes that have accompanied each new campaign disappear in a
miasma of injuries, errors, and bad luck.

1994 ushered in a team with fresh memories of a trip to the Rose
Bowl, a bonafide Heisman trophy candidate in J.J. Stokes, and a
pre-season ranking in the top 15.

One seemingly innocuous charlie horse later, and the Bruin
season was a write off. With no J.J. to stoke the offense, my
freshman year was spent rooting for a team that stumbled to a six
game losing streak and out of the bowl hunt completely.

The 1995 season was also one full of high hopes, but you know
you are in trouble when your highest touted player is an offensive
lineman. You know you are in big trouble when said offensive
lineman can’t spring your all-world tailback into the end zone from
the one yard line on the last play of a game against a flock of
Ducks.

Sure, the Bruins reached a bowl game, but UCLA versus Kansas in
the Aloha Bowl doesn’t really constitute an epic showdown unless
it’s on a court with rims and an orange ball. Even the final score
of 51-30 was reminscient of a basketball game.

Thus the only postseason play that UCLA has competed in during
my tenure here was good only for giving us Jewish students
something to do on Christmas Day.

Last year brought us a team that could pull off the most
miraculous plays and the most stupefying errors, leaving us on the
knife edge of what could have been a great year but was instead as
mystifying as it was disappointing.

On one hand you have a comeback for the ages against USC and on
the other, a 21 point lead evaporating against Arizona St. when
their reptilian quarterback caught a touchdown pass. While that
kind of team keeps you interested, it’s hard to get excited about
them.

Which brings us to the current campaign and all the joy that it
is bringing.

Now with the next four games against mediocre opponents, three
of whom are in the Pac-10, our suddenly sturdy (and 22nd ranked)
Bruins have a legitimate shot at a 4-1 conference record going into
the November 1 showdown with Stanford.

Can you imagine the excitement? A conference game where UCLA
isn’t playing merely for pride, but for a run at the Rose Bowl? I
wonder if this campus would know what to do.

Even though we may be a bit ignorant in how to properly handle a
winning football team, now is the perfect time to learn.

***

Mark Shapiro is a fourth year student and a Daily Bruin staff
writer. Email responses to [email protected]