Again, finally, Bruin fans have cause for cheer

Published: Tuesday, September 30, 1997

Tuesday, September 30, 1997

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.

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Mark Shapiro is a fourth year student and a Daily Bruin staff writer. Email responses to mshapiro@media.ucla.edu