BRUINS LEARN IT'S NOT THAT EASY.Byline: KEVIN MODESTI PASADENA - Their football team had been unbeatable. The Sons of Westwood were feeling bulletproof Refers to extremely stable hardware and/or software that cannot be brought down no matter what unusual conditions arise. See industrial strength. bulletproof - Used of an algorithm or implementation considered extremely robust; lossage-resistant; capable of correctly . Before UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX kicked off against Washington Saturday night, a couple of men in baby-blue caps watched the USC-Arizona State game on a TV set on a picnic table A picnic table (or sometimes a picnic bench) is a modified table with benches expressly for the purpose of eating a meal outdoors (picnicking). In the past, picnic tables were typically made of wood, but modern tables can be made out of anything from recycled plastic to beside an RV in the Rose Bowl parking lot. The weird thing was how content the two Bruins fans appeared as the hated Trojans completed their comeback victory. A passerby noted that for a while there, it looked as if the Bruins were going to be the only unbeaten football team in town. One of the men shook his head. ``We want them undefeated when we see them in December,'' he said, puffing a cigar. ``It'll be more meaningful when we beat 'em,'' his friend said. A perfect September and a rise to No. 20 in the nation will cause men to dream. But that was the easy part of the Bruins' bid for rebirth, the first chapter of a story they imagined including a victory over top-20 Cal next week and a - what was the word? - meaningful showdown with the top-ranked Trojans. The hard part arrived a little sooner than expected Saturday on an evening warm enough to turn the Arroyo even more Seco than usual. Against 1-3 Washington, they were shut out in the first half and went to the fourth quarter trailing 17-7. It was quite a comedown come·down n. 1. A decline to a lower status or level. 2. a. A feeling of disappointment or depression. b. A cause of disappointment or depression. , more for some than for others. Drew Olson Drew Olson (born April 6, 1983 in San Francisco, California) is a former starting quarterback for the University of California, Los Angeles football team, where he broke many of UCLA's passing records. , the quarterback, had been flawless as a senior. But against the Huskies he threw his first two interceptions of the season, both in the second quarter, after starting the game with five misses in six throws. Maurice Drew, the little tailback, had been bucking for comparison to Reggie Bush Reginald "Reggie" Bush, birth name: Reginald Alfred Bush II (born March 2, 1985 in San Diego, California), nicknamed 'The Human Highlight Reel' and 'The President', alluding to President Bush, is an American football player who plays for the New Orleans Saints of the NFL. . A year after he thrashed the Huskies with 300-plus yards and five touchdowns, Drew managed only 17 yards on seven carries in the first half. The defense, which had a lot to do with the easy victories over San Diego San Diego (săn dēā`gō), city (1990 pop. 1,110,549), seat of San Diego co., S Calif., on San Diego Bay; inc. 1850. San Diego includes the unincorporated communities of La Jolla and Spring Valley. Coronado is across the bay. State, Rice and Oklahoma, was burned for a 37-yard pass play that led to the Huskies' first-quarter field goal and a 20-yard run around left end for Kenny James' second-quarter touchdown. The Bruins went into halftime down 10-0, booed off the field by the fans over the tunnel, needing Karl Dorrell Karl Dorrell (born December 18, 1963 in Alameda, California) is the first black head coach in the history of the UCLA Bruins college football team, a position he took on December 18, 2002. to borrow some tricks from Pete Carroll's adjustments handbook. The easy part, huh? It had been coming together for Dorrell in his third year, as it should. Coaches need time to establish themselves, to print up their playbooks, to polish their cliches, to charm their own recruits. Year 3 has been good to every Bruins head coach since World War II. From Bert LaBrucherie (1947) to Bob Toledo Bob Toledo (born March 4, 1946, in San Jose, California) is an American football coach, recently hired as head coach at Tulane University. He is best-known as the thirteenth head coach at UCLA. (1998), seven in a row cracked the national rankings at some point, and from Bill Barnes William H. Barnes was a baseball player, playing as a center fielder in the 19th century. He played for the St. Paul Apostles of the Union Association, a replacement team which began play near the end of the 1884 season. (1961) on, five in a row finished in the top 10. Give the Bruins credit. They'd beaten three teams they should have beaten, the necessary first step. They'd impressed film critics like Washington coach Tyrone Willingham. ``We have already played two ranked teams (losing to Cal and Notre Dame),'' Willingham said during the week, ``(but) UCLA could be the best team we've faced.'' They'd begun to get national attention, including a story in Saturday's New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times. ``In Los Angeles, where the fan base can be fickle,'' the New York Times wrote, ``the alternative choice often becomes the trendy one.'' So people were saying nice things about the Bruins. They got some points back right after halftime, recovering a fumbled punt in Washington territory, Olsen hitting Marcedes Lewis with a 4-yard touchdown pass. But the Bruins kept having trouble tackling Washington's Louis Rankin, and when quarterback Isaiah Stanback dived for a 1-yard touchdown it was 17-7. Dec. 3, and UCLA-USC at the Coliseum, was feeling like a long way away. The hard part of the Bruins' season was right in front of them. |
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