There are some questions that seem unanswered after the UCLA Bruins lost to Stanford at the Rose Bowl, like, what the hell happened? A lot. No defense, no offense and no execution marred by the pre-conceived notion that UCLA had already won the South Division. Reality came crashing down when the Cardinal once again silenced the Bruins for the fourth time in the Jim Mora era. UCLA has come a long way in that time, but they also proved they have a looooooooong way to go.
Betsided
The day was set-up for success. The Bruins were coming off a big win against USC, seniors were being honored before the game and UCLA was retiring the number of the great Troy Aikman. It was a day of exuberance and excitement, yet no one told the UCLA football team.
The Bruins started strong and actually looked to be in firm control, but that control slipped away, even after an uncharacteristic seven penalties by the Cardinal. The game was well in hand, but it was only a ruse. By who, I could not say. All I now is that after the Bruins scored first, The Cardinal took over.
Once again, UCLA could not climb the hill to make them Pac-12 elite. Once again the Bruins are out of contention for the Pac-12 Championship. Once again, they will not being playing in New Year’s Day Bowl. And it sucks.
But maybe UCLA needed this. The last two years it has been about the up-and-conning Bruins and how they are building something special under Mora. The previous losses were about the young Bruins going up against the experience of Stanford (and Oregon). Yesterday, it was about UCLA not ready to win the big games.
UCLA lost a lot with a defeat at the hands of the Cardinal, but that does not mean they are dead in the water. The fact that they went 9-3 on the roller coaster ride that was the 2014 season is remarkable. And let me be clear, this season WAS NOT a failure. This game was. The Bruins beat USC for the third straight year, fans broke attendance records and they had attained their third 9-win season in a row for the first time in Bruin football history. If you would have told me UCLA would do all this the moment Mora was hired, I probably would not have believed it.
Nov 1, 2014; Pasadena, CA, USA; UCLA Bruins head coach Jim Mora walks through his players as they stretch before the game against the Arizona Wildcats at Rose Bowl. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports
Bottom line though, this hurts and it will continue to hurt until they play their next game in a less than stelar bowl game. Still, things are better than ever for UCLA football, whether you want to believe it or not. It is just a shame that we now have to wait nine more months to start to see the results of that.
Go Bruins!