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Nothing can take away the glorious 13-to-9 Upset of the Century which will forever define these Bruins. However, the 2006 Emerald Bowl will not live quite as long in the lore of UCLA.
The Wizard of Oz lived in the Emerald City, but for UCLA, last night was Emerald Sh*tty. And it seems that the Bruins hit the infamous POPPY FIELD and passed out early in the 4th quarter. The Bruins had a 20-10 lead, and a 27-23 4th quarter lead, but let them slip away. Florida State scored the last 21 points to run away with a 44-27 win that looks worse in the Paper than it really was.
This was a very competitive game, with 4 lead changes. But the Bruins' mistakes finally got the best of them. After an early Chris Markey (19 carries, 144[!] yards) fumble led to FSU's first TD, an Aaron Perez punt was blocked and returned for a TD. The punt was necessary only after a Motion penalty on William Snead negated a First Down. Then, the dagger was a Pat Cowan Interception returned for a TD. Take away those 17 points all due to Bruin miscues, and the score is tied.
And it wasn't all miscues. Cowan showed some real moxie out there, including a remarkable, Houdini-like escape culminated by a left-handed completion that went for a long first down. Cowan also completed two spectacular TD passes: A 78-yarder in the 1st quarter to Brandon Breazell, and a short slant to Junior Taylor in the very back of the End Zone.
But on a day when the Offense was doing well enough to keep Ben Olson on the bench in his UCLA woolen ski cap, the Defense wasn't living up to their hype. They had trouble containing Tailback Lorenzo Booker, and they let the Seminoles amass 325 yards through the air. In the Bruin Defense's defense, you can't forget that 17 points can be blamed on the Offense and Special Teams. But the Defense has to know: You just can't travel up North to the Gay Area and let a guy named Fagg beat you -- Then they'd have to call it the Femerald Bowl. Well, DeCody Fagg was the Seminoles' leading Receiver, with 6 Catches for 68 yards.
Fagg was the grease that kept the wheels of their Offense churning, but Lorenzo Booker was their MVP. He rushed for 91 yards and 2 TD's, and caught 5 passes for 117 yards. He made the trOJan Tailbacks look like schoolgirls in shoulder pads. In fact, FSU looked like a much better team than the trOJans that appeared in Pasadena earlier this month.
If the Michigan Wolverines saw the Emerald Bowl, they must feel good about how sc can be beat by a very beatable team.
So, if you know us, you know we don't like to dwell on the losses. SO, here are a few more new photos from the UCLA-u$c game -- Because THAT'S the game that we choose to remember at this time.
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