Though ranked third in Pac-10, Bruins have yet to prove worth

Could it be true? Are the Bruins really in third place in the
Pac-10? Is UCLA carrying an actual, bona fide winning streak into a
USC game? And doesn’t all this beg another question?

Just how good are these guys?

We’ve asked this last one about the Bruins before, of
course. But then, it had always been in that Bo Jackson-like
context, where you admired how good he was but always wondered how
good he could be.

This year is different. This year, it’s more of a push and
pull, between skepticism and hopefulness, painful memories and
potential redemption.

We really don’t know how good these guys are ““ on
the one hand, you see a 37-7 romp that is so one-sided and composed
it somehow manages to be (gasp) boring.

But on the other hand, you see it was against an Arizona team
that might have a tough time against the JV team from Ann’s
School of Typing.

On the one hand, you see a 4-2 Pac-10 record, a three-game
winning streak and a 5-1 mark in road games.

On the other hand, you see the four teams the Bruins have beaten
sitting in seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth places in the
conference standings.

On the one hand, you have two fairly comfortable freshman
quarterbacks brimming with confidence, 3-0 as starters with zero
interceptions.

On the other hand, you wonder if all this juggling by Bob Toledo
won’t become a bit frustrating if he can’t decide on
just one guy to be The Guy for the USC game.

The study in confusing contrasts goes on, but the Bruins are
focusing on the one hand and not on the other.

Defensive back Matt Clark tells us, “the games we lost, we
definitely should have won, and we’re definitely as good as
any team in the Pac-10,” and we want to believe him, we
really do.

But with UCLA, it’s always been a lot like the boy who
cried wolf. The Bruins assure us every time that they’re
ready to take on USC, that we won’t get stung again. And we
seem to buy in, only to get burned and swear we’ll never do
it again.

So when Tyler Ebell romps over 100 yards for the sixth straight
week, and when the defense makes itself look impossible to run on,
forgive us if we don’t book a restaurant for a post-USC
victory celebration just yet.

Prospects for that USC game ““ now just 11 days away
““ are far rosier than they were four weeks ago, back when
Cory Paus was lying on the Memorial Stadium turf, writhing in the
third quarter of a loss that now seems a little more distant.

But at the same time, even the most ardent of Trojan-haters must
admit that USC is clicking on a level it hasn’t been able to
reach in years. UCLA’s freshman QBs, accustomed to the soft
defenses they’ve seen the last three weeks, will no doubt
feel pressure from the top front line in the conference.

Still, though, you’re bound to hear the phrase, “in
a rivalry game like this one, you can throw the records out the
window” more times than Fox Sports Net aired that Rick Fox
playground basketball ad during the UCLA-Arizona game.

You’ll be hard-pressed to find someone who honestly feels
UCLA has superior personnel to the No. 9 Trojans, but you’d
also have a tough time finding a member of the UCLA team or
coaching staff who doesn’t feel like this team is in a good
place right now.

USC is the team with the 36-point headlines in the local papers.
UCLA’s articles are tucked away out of view, enjoying as much
prominence as those of teams three time zones away.

The Bruins have a week off and will probably continue to fly
under the radar while USC plays Arizona State at home, visions of
BCS bowl bids dancing in Trojan heads.

Just how good are these guys? It’s a complex question with
a simple enough answer ““ one we’ll know in 11 days.