BRUINS WATCHING THEIR BACK-TO- BACK UCLA HOPES TO SNAP LOSING STREAK.Byline: Brian Dohn Staff Writer CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Following a dreadful performance by UCLA's defensive line in the opener, stopping Illinois' running game today figures to be the Bruins' first chore. The second is stopping history, and not the kind looked upon fondly. 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 began the 1997 season with losses to Washington State and No. 3 Tennessee. Four seasons before that, the Bruins opened with losses to California and No. 8 Nebraska. Before that, the last time UCLA began a season with consecutive losses was 1971. ``We've got so much to prove, I can't wait,'' UCLA tight end Marcedes Lewis Marcedes Alexis Lewis (born May 19, 1984 in Los Alamitos, California) is an American football tight end who plays for the National Football League Jacksonville Jaguars. He was drafted from UCLA as the 28th pick in the 2006 NFL Draft. said. ``We're not going 0-2. We're not going 0-2. We worked too hard, so 0-2 isn't even an option. We're going out there looking to win a game and play one of the best games we've ever played.'' If UCLA fails, the historical comparison gets far worse. When the Bruins (0-1) were pushed around in the loss against Oklahoma State last weekend, the program's losing streak was extended to six games. It has been six decades since the Bruins lost more than six in a row. The 1942 Bruins fell in the Rose Bowl, and began 1943 with seven consecutive losses. ``This is a big game for us this week,'' Bruins quarterback 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. said. ``It's huge.'' And it's not as if UCLA is going against one of the top-ranked teams in the country. Oklahoma State, while powerful on the ground, had a one-dimensional offense and is considered a middle-of-the-road Big 12 team. Illinois hasn't beaten a Division I-A opponent since the 2002 season finale at Northwestern. Illinois' last two wins came against Division I-AA teams. It beat Florida A&M 52-13 in the opener, and defeated Illinois State 49-22 in the second game of the 2003 season. Those wins aside, Illinois has lost 11 straight to Division I-A opponents, and failed to score more than 24 points in those contests. Furthermore, the Illini has not won a nonconference game against a Division I-A team in nearly three years, dating back to a 34-10 triumph against Louisville in 2001. ``It's very important for us to win this game,'' UCLA receiver Craig Bragg Bold text Craig Milton Bragg (born March 15, 1982 in San Jose, California) is an American football wide receiver. He attended UCLA and Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose, CA. said. ``We worked so hard in the offseason and did a lot of things. It would be great to win any game, not just the next one. The one after that also, but we need to start somewhere and Illinois is who we have next.'' This is considered the easy portion of UCLA's schedule, so if the Bruins are going to make a push, this is the time to begin it. Next weekend, the Bruins travel to Washington, which was blown out by Fresno State last weekend, and then plays 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 and Arizona. The validation of UCLA's work the previous eight months is also an issue. Players with perceived poor attitudes were weeded out, and unconditional HEIR, UNCONDITIONAL. A term used in the civil law, adopted by the Civil Code of Louisiana. Unconditional heirs are those who inherit without any reservation, or without making an inventory, whether their acceptance be express or tacit. Civ. Code of Lo. art. 878. UNCONDITIONAL. commitment was required by everyone within the program during the offseason. Players remained on campus throughout the summer rather than go home, and belief in what Dorrell and his staff was doing became a rallying cry Noun 1. rallying cry - a slogan used to rally support for a cause; "a cry to arms"; "our watchword will be `democracy'" war cry, watchword, battle cry, cry catchword, motto, shibboleth, slogan - a favorite saying of a sect or political group 2. . A lackluster lack·lus·ter adj. Lacking brightness, luster, or vitality; dull. See Synonyms at dull. Adj. 1. lackluster - lacking brilliance or vitality; "a dull lackluster life"; "a lusterless performance" effort by the defense against Oklahoma State quickly brought the realization that hard work wasn't the cure-all, but Illinois is a different opponent. Oklahoma State specialized in running the ball, and that was UCLA's weakness. OSU (Open Source UNIX) Refers to the Unix variants that are maintained as open source, which were primarily BSD Unix and Linux until Sun made its Solaris operating system open source in 2005. had a veteran offensive line and a talented tailback tail·back n. Football The back on an offensive team who lines up farthest from the line of scrimmage. tailback Noun Brit a queue of traffic stretching back from an obstruction . Illinois, which went 1-11 last season, is trying to rebound from its second-worst season since 1969. The Illini do not possess a dominating offensive line, and although sixth-year senior quarterback Jon Beutjer gives Illinois a diverse offense, the talent level doesn't match that of OSU. Beutjer completed 16 of 18 passes for 228 yards and a touchdown in the opener, and Illinois' running game netted 296 yards against an overmatched opponent. ``They have a well-balanced offense with a good quarterback,'' UCLA linebacker Spencer Havner Spencer Rhett Havner (February 2, 1983 in Sacramento, CA) is a linebacker on the Green Bay Packers. High School Havner earned two varsity letters as an inside linebacker and tight end at Nevada Union High in Grass Valley, CA. said. ``I think we're going to see a little bit of their power running game, where they pull linemen and things like that. But their coach (Ron Turner For other persons of the same name, see Turner. Ron Turner is the name of:
Brian Dohn, (818) 713-3607 brian.dohn(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): photo, box Photo: UCLA's Spencer Havner (41) and the Bruins defense want to step up. Edna T. Simpson/Staff Photographer Box: UCLA at ILLINOIS |
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