Bruins Benumbed by Season-Ending Loss

There were no tears. No one screamed. No one kicked, threw or punched anything. Or anybody.

UCLA’s players didn’t show any signs of great pain or outrage after they lost to Wisconsin Friday in the Rose Bowl.

Maybe that settles in today. This is new ground. There’s not a lot of data on teams that have turned 10-0 seasons into 10-2.

Benumbed might better describe the quiet UCLA locker room, about 45 minutes afterward.

Andy Meyers, UCLA’s 315-pound senior offensive tackle, talked about the disappointment of it all, of seeing his team stumble twice at season’s end.

“Sure, there’s pain,” he said.

“But it’s indicative of life--you pick yourself up and get on with your life.”

How would he deal with the 0-2 finish to a memorable season?

“I’m going to leave, that’s how I’m going to deal with it,” he said.

“I’ll try playing in the NFL now. Life is unfair sometimes. Bad things happen. I knocked a Wisconsin guy down and they called me for holding. Some days just go like that.

“But there are a lot of young, very talented players on this team. Their job is to learn from mistakes we made today and come back better next year.”

Quarterback Cade McNown, who threw the fourth-quarter interception that took UCLA out of the game, talked to reporters outside the locker room and seemed to echo Meyers.

“It’s disappointing, sure,” he said.

“But am I on my hands and knees, crawling to a bucket to drown myself? No. Am I going to say to you: ‘Jeez, what a terrible season we had.’ No, I’m not. In fact, I’ll probably go out tomorrow and throw a little bit.”

UCLA’s players seemed to agree on something else: That 49-45 loss at Miami on Dec. 5 had nothing to do with anything that happened Friday in Pasadena.

Many observers wondered if the Bruins could summon sufficient attitude after reaching the fringes of a possible national championship, then coming up short.

“That was not a problem at all,” said offensive coordinator Al Borges.

“Our players played their butts off today. It’s really hard to accept, finishing a great season with two losses, but our guys didn’t leave a thing on the field, I know that. These kids deserved a better fate than this.”

All seemed to agree on another point, that the 46-yard interception return for a touchdown by Wisconsin’s Jamar Fletcher was the killer play.

Said offensive tackle Kris Farris: “They got great outside pressure on that play and [Brian] Polak got knocked into Cade’s back when he threw and he had no follow-through on the pass,”

Farris said the Bruins hit their peak in a victory over Arizona [on Oct. 10].

“Then we kind of lost some focus,” he said. “I don’t know why, that’s for the coaches to figure out.”

It’s a healing time, said senior center Shawn Stuart.

“We need a mending process, to figure out why this [0-2 finish] happened.

“We were ready to play, in my opinion, we just had two huge turnovers that killed us. You can’t give up fumbles and interceptions and expect to beat a very good team like Wisconsin, not on a day when they’re playing really well.”

Said senior linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo: “We’d have been OK if we’d done what we talked about--wrapping up [Ron] Dayne and tackling him.”

Borges, the offensive coordinator, expressed disappointment at the Bruins’ running game. UCLA had 120 net rushing yards, less than half Dayne’s 246.

“We weren’t God-awful, but we didn’t run as well as I wanted,” Borges said. “Actually, we moved the ball OK. But those two turnovers--one where we gave up points and one where we lost points [DeShaun Foster’s fumble at the Wisconsin six in the third quarter]--that’s the ball game.”

The head coach agreed.

“Our defense rallied in the second half and only gave them one touchdown,” Bob Toledo said.

“We fumbled the ball and threw the interception that was run back for a touchdown and that was pretty much the nail in the coffin.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

UCLA LOG

FINAL RECORD: 10-2

*--*

OPPONENT RESULT SCORE TEXAS Won 49-31 at Houston Won 42-24 WASHINGTON STATE Won 49-17 at Arizona Won 52-28 OREGON (overtime) Won 41-38 at California Won 28-16 STANFORD Won 28-24 at Oregon State Won 41-34 at Washington Won 36-24 USC Won 34-17 at Miami Lost 49-45 Wisconsin (Rose Bowl) Lost 38-31

*--*

BOWL RESULTS

*--*

YEAR BOWL RESULT 1943 Rose Bowl Georgia 9, UCLA 0 1947 Rose Bowl Illinois 45, UCLA 14 1954 Rose Bowl Michigan St. 28, UCLA 20 1956 Rose Bowl Michigan St. 17, UCLA 14 1962 Rose Bowl Minnesota 21, UCLA 3 1966 Rose Bowl UCLA 14, Michigan St. 12 1976 Rose Bowl UCLA 23, Ohio St. 10 1976 Liberty Bowl Alabama 36, UCLA 6 1978 Fiesta Bowl UCLA 10, Arkansas 10, tie 1981 Bluebonnet Bowl Michigan 33, UCLA 14 1983 Rose Bowl UCLA 24, Michigan 14 1984 Rose Bowl UCLA 45, Illinois 9 1985 Fiesta Bowl UCLA 39, Miami 37 1986 Rose Bowl UCLA 45, Iowa 28 1986 Freedom Bowl UCLA 31, Brigham Young 10 1987 Aloha Bowl UCLA 20, Florida 16 1989 Cotton Bowl UCLA 17, Arkansas 3 1991 John Hancock Bowl UCLA 6, Illinois 3 1994 Rose Bowl Wisconsin 21, UCLA 16 1995 Aloha Bowl Kansas 51, UCLA 30 1998 Cotton Bowl UCLA 29, Texas A&M; 23 1999 Rose Bowl Wisconsin 38, UCLA 31

*--*