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When you win 11 games in a row, apparently you develop some repulsive trojan tendencies. The Cougars of BYU came into the Rose Bowl as 7.5 point underdogs, but fully expecting to win. They were cocky and arrogant from the moment they took the field. In the photos below, you can see them acting out during pregame warm-ups. And their fans, who showed up in droves, weren't the polite, God-fearing friendlies that you might have expected. Not that we thought they would all be teetotaling Bigamists, but we saw classless behavior in Lot H, ending with yours truly and two other Bruins breaking up a fight caused by a 20-something Cougar fan assaulting a guy who lettered for UCLA Crew in 1957!!
The trojan-like arrogance didn't stop with the fans and pre-game warm-ups. During the game, there was a terrible call against Trey Brown for Interference. When the UCLA crowd voiced their disapproval, the Cougars players went around taunting the crowd, asking them to boo louder.
They had a huge following, so they tried to turn the Rose Bowl into a BYU Home Game. And when they cut a 20-0 lead to 20-17, and had the ball and the momentum in the game'a final moments, they looked like they were going to pull it off.
But the Bruins' Defense, who had gone about two hours without playing up to their potential, came through in the clutch, to make sure that the Rose Bowl remains the property of UCLA.
Trey Brown and Bruce Davis were the highlight players for the Bruin D. Brown returned an Interception for a 56-yard TD in the First Half,and also recovered a fumble. For some reason, the Cougars kept throwing to Brown's area, and he usually made them pay. However, he was the one who was beat on both of BYU's TD's. Perhaps the absence of injured D-Backs Rodney Van and Brett Lockett (pictured below injured) made Brown have to work that much harder.
Speaking of working harder, All-American Bruce Davis bounced back from a quiet Opener and showed why he is a Superstar. He pressured the QB routinely, and got a a couple of huge sacks, including one that forced a late fumble that helped UCLA close the game out.
The Defense had to come through because the Offense was not able to develop any rhythm. 1-10 on 3rd downs is all you need to know. Ben Olson was off his game, perhaps nervous about facing the school he abandoned. He missed lots of short passes, and got sacked a couple of times, but he also had a few passes dropped, so it wasn't all his fault. One drop by Joe Cowan was a sure first down early in the game.
The running game was not too impressive either, with Kahlil Bell once again outplaying current Starter Chris Markey. The Bruins' inability to run successfully put Olson in bad situations, and he usually wasn't able to get out of them.
But the bottom line is WINNING, and when the final minutes were counting down, Olson came through with three straight first downs and a Markey TD to kill BYU's hopes.
For the second year in a row, Olson took a step backwards from Opening Day. However, if you see an Interception in the box score, don't blame it on him, blame it on pathetic referees. Olson's Receiver on that play was dragged to the ground before the ball passed over, but no flags were thrown.
That doesn't mean that everything is okay. The Bruins still need to work on their Offense. The palycalling was a little conservative, but not as bad as most people will probably complain. Even in the final minutes, when running to run out the clock would have been acceptable, the Bruins were still putting the ball in the air. And yesterday's Trick Play Du Jour? A Double Reverse. It gained only short yardage, but it's good to see that the Bruins are going to continue to be creative, at least once a game.
So yeah, we know that it wasn't pretty, and the Bruins were a little lucky to win. Although that big INT was due to a piss-poor call, the Cougs had a ton of big penalties, including two that gave the Bruins first downs in the game's deciding drive. So, no, it's not really time to celebrate too hard or for too long, but there were so many jerks in our faces yesterday, we're extremely happy that the Bruins knocked the smirks off of their faces.
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Below are 20 photos from the Game and Pre-Game Rally, including one of Josie Bruin, which reminds us to remind you:
ON SEPTEMBER 10TH, VOTING STARTS FOR THE CAPITAL ONE MASCOT CHALLENGE, AND JOE BRUIN IS IN THE RUNNING. PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO VOTE FOR HIM AS OFTEN AS YOU CAN. YOU'RE ALLOWED TO VOTE AGAIN EVERY DAY. IF HE WINS, HE WILL BE ABLE TO GET HIS OLD BEAT-UP COSTUME REPLACED!! PLEASE HELP JOE!! ...AND ENJOY THESE PHOTOS, starting with Trey Brown's INT TD.
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