By Gary Montgomery, BVN Sports Editor –
The UCLA football program currently has two immediate goals: regain national status and beat cross-town rival USC.
Saturday’s 79th meeting of the two rivals may have flipped the order of importance for these two goals. These elusive targets have seen the demise of two head coaches and a host of assistants over the past few years.
When Rick Neuheisel took over the head coaching duties last season he promised to accomplish both goals. At the end of his second season he has finished with a 4-8 record last season and 6-6 this year with two season ending losses to USC.
Former Colton Star Allen Bradford took up the slack after Joe Knight injured an ankle. Bradford rushed for two touchdowns in USC's 28-7 win over UCLA.
Many thought this year’s meeting between the two teams would be Nueheisel’s best chance to topple his rivals. With USC coming off a humiliating loss to Stanford, three Pac-10 losses, no Rose Bowl or national implications at stake, just bragging rights at stake might skew circumstances in favor of a Bruins’ upset.
That hope remained alive for most of the evening as the two team jostled back and forth in relative boring contest.
USC linebacker Malcolm Smith intercepted a Kevin Prince pass on UCLA’s second possession and rumbled 62-yards to give the Trojans a 7-0 first quarter lead. Neither team scored in the second quarter.
After being knocked out of the game briefly and returning, UCLA quarterback Kevin Prince was intercepted by USC safety Will Harris at the USC 32-yard line.
USC’s offense put together one of its best drives of the evening, 7 plays, 78-yards in 4 minutes capped by a 1-yard touchdown run by former Colton Star Allen Bradford to give USC a 14-0 lead.
“We did exactly what we could not afford to do…turn the ball over,” said UCLA head coach Rick Nueshiel. “They made the plays and we didn’t. These teams are not that far apart. We have just got to get better……and we will. Right now they are just a little bit better than we are,” continued Nueheisel.
UCLA senior quarterback Kevin Craft came into the game after starting quarterback Kevin Prince gave in to his injured shoulder. Craft was able to guide the Bruins on a 15 play scoring drive culminating with a 2-yard run by Shane Moline to bring the Bruins with a touchdown at 14-7 With 5:41 left to play in the game.
Starting on its own 27-yard line the USC offense mounted an 11 play scoring drive capped by a 2-yard touchdown run by Bradford for his second touchdown giving the Trojans a 21-7 advantage with 1:30 left to play and likely sealing the win.
With fans streaming out of the stadium, USC kicked off to the Bruins. After four incomplete passes by UCLA, USC took over on downs and prepared to run the remaining 0:54 seconds off the clock.
USC quarterback, Matt Barkley received the snap and dropped to one knee. At that point, UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel called one of his three remaining time-outs and likely started a controversy that will certainly be revisited many times in the future of this game, particularly as long as these two coaches are on the sidelines.
When play resumed, instead of taking another snap and dropping to one knee, Barkley dropped back and hit wide receiver Damian Williams for a 48-yard touchdown strike catching the UCLA defense completely unprepared and creating an embarrassing moment that the UCLA team is unlikely to forget anytime soon. The charged toward the USC bench but were restrained by coaches and the security team.
“Jeremy (Bates) had the call.When it came over the headset, I thought it was a great idea and we did it. The truth is, it was just a great call and it worked perfectly.I wasn’t rubbing it in. It was two teams competing,” said USC head Coach Pete Carroll.
UCLA players were didn’t see it that way nor did UCLA head coach Rick Neuheisel judging by the expression on his face after the play.
“I don’t have a problem with it (the play), I called the time-out. They called the play and we didn’t defend it.”
Although Nuehisel said all of the right things you can bet this won’t be last we’ll hear about ‘The Call’.
gmontgomery can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
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