Bruins need Princely effort to overcome injury to top The Cougars to preserve Pac-12 hopes

By Gary Montgomery, BVN Staff –

Pasadena – It was pretty much a foregone conclusion that the loser of Saturday’s game between the UCLA Bruins (3-3;1-1) and the Washington State Cougars (3-2;1-1) would fall out of any hope for Pac-12 title contention and be relegated to out dueling Colorado for the bottom spot.

Early in the evening it seemed that the Bruins were about go quietly into to the bottom slot contest. For most of the first quarter it was three-and-out for the Bruins on every position. Thanks to the Bruin defense, Washington State could only muster field goals and take a 6-0 lead at 13:32 of the second quarter. UCLA starting quarterback Richard Brehaut was 4 – 7 for 28-yards when the Bruin strategy turned to quarterback rollouts.

After a 14-yard completion to Randall Carroll – his longest completion of the evening, Brehaut dashed around the left side for a 5-yard gain and took a hard shot from the Cougar secondary. For reasons only known to the Bruins brain trust, the designed quarterback rollout was called again. This time Brehaut could not return to the huddle and UCLA would have to call on former starter Kevin Prince.

Prince, the Bruins starter at the beginning of the season was unceremoniously benched last month after throwing 3 interceptions in the first quarter of 49 – 20 loss to the Texas Longhorns. Brehaut came in and picked up the starting duties and after that was able to guide the Bruins to a win over Oregon State and a pretty good showing against Stanford. Brehaut would leave the game with a fracture of the lower left leg.

“He will be back as soon as he can get back. If there is a tougher guy, I don’t know him. He’s a resilient son of a gun and I am proud of him too. There were a couple of balls earlier that could have been a little lower. We are going to miss Richard, but as in this case, the next guy has to be ready, and Richard will work his butt off to get back,” said Rick Neuheisel. Prince quickly validated himself by energizing the Bruins attack when he connected with wide receiver Nelson Rosario for a 41-yard reception to the 1-yard line. Derrick Coleman did the rest on a 1-yard plunge over left tackle to give UCLA its first lead of the game at 7-6.

The Cougars offense couldn’t get the ball into the end zone and had to settle for another field goal to regain the lead at half-time at 9-7.

“Certainly, they went up and down the field. But when we got them into the red zone, the way we stepped up, especially when they (after a penalty) three more downs, I thought that was awesome,” said Neuheisel about his defensive unit’s ability to stop the Cougar offense.

UCLA fans hadn’t forgotten Prince’s last appearance and greeted him with a faint chorus of boos which quickly dissipated after his 41-yard bomb to Rosario. Prince appeared to be fresh and playing with a confidence that wasn’t there early in the season.

“I don’t know if I am any faster or stronger, I was just happy to be able to help the team. I just approached it like this is something that I’ve done before. I’ve been out there before and have won some games before so it’s no different for me than before,” said Prince.

Washington State’s quarterback, Marshal Lobbrstael had just been named the Manning award winner for the week and a 376-yard performance against Colorado the previous week. The Cougar offense was averaging 379-yards passing per game and was ranked number 4 in the nation.

The second half turned into a dual of with both teams scoring a touchdown in the 3rd quarter. UCLA scored on another Derrick Coleman 1-yard run and the Cougars responded with an 8-yard toss from Lobbestael to Jared Karstetter to end the quarter with UCLA trailing 16-14.

The Cougars maintained a lead throughout the 4th quarter and with 3:35 remaining in the game and UCLA was trailing Washington State 25-20 and a 0-2 Pac-12 record starring the Bruins squarely in the face.

Just when UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel must have been thinking how many things can possibly happen to his team? At that moment Kevin Prince heaved a 58-yard pass downtown field nestling into the outstretched left hand of wide receiver Nelson Rosario and immediately changed UCLA’s night and possibly its season from one of explaining missed opportunities and what went wrong into an all out celebration and Kevin Prince, from a benched former starter to a hero.

“These are the kinds of things that can happen and serve as a catalyst for the season. Hopefully, some of our frontline guys will return to action. It’s great to have them celebrate like they are right now,” said an obviously relieved Neuheisel.

Saturday’s win was huge for the Bruins and will likely give them a boost going into their week off. The road ahead is tough but with an extra week to get some key people positions healthy they can make it a lot easier. UCLA will travel to Tucson in two weeks to take on the Wildcats in a Thursday night game.

G. Montgomery can be reached at sports@blackvoicenews.com

By Jon D. Gaede, BVN Staff –

Redlands - At 5-0, Redlands East Valley has been seeded at the top of most county high school football polls. These rankings don’t mean much when taking on a traditional powerhouse like Mission Viejo of South Orange County.

On Friday night, the Wildcats held off the the Diablos in a classic defensive battle, 10-7.

They became the first San Bernardino County team to beat Mission Viejo in twelve years.

The Diablos, most recently known for producing former USC and now New York Jet quarterback Mark Sanchez, came to the Inland Empire ranked as high as number three in the state and expecting to win.

The Wildcats benefitted from good fortune as a punt by Brian Sanchez bounced off a Diablo player and was pounced on by a Wildcat special team player, to take a 10-0 lead at halftime.

Mission Viejo may not have anticipated a relentless Wildcat defense that has only allowed 19 points all year. That defense shut down every Diablo drive, but one second half touchdown. The Wildcat defense would be tested as they led 10-7 in the fourth quarter.

Diablo quarterback Alex Bridgford, a tall lanky lefty, would launch several passes into the Wildcat secondary in that fourth quarter. REV’s offense managed only 170 yards on the night, so their defense would have to come up big.

The Wildcat defenders repelled several Bridgford passes over four late possessions. Wildcat defender Stefen Kirkland tipped a ball that was intercepted by Trevor Douglass. Unable to get a first down, REV punted to give the Diablos one last chance. On fourth down, with no timeouts remaining, Bridgford launched a desperation pass that fell incomplete into the end zone. The victory was complete.

By Gary Montgomery, BVN Staff –

LA Coliseum – It was a pretty safe bet that USC would use the hapless Wildcats as ointment to soothe their self-induced wounds from last week’s painful trip to the desert. Last Saturday USC turned a 10 point fourth quarter lead into a 43-22 loss. Back in the safe confines of the coliseum and facing a 1-3 team with a defense that has given up 140 points so far this season… fireworks were inevitable.

When asked why the two games were so different, USC receiver Robert Woods said, “We had a lot of turnovers last week; our offense was shaky. Today we showed we are a great offense, we just need to be consistent. Also, we had a great running game today with Curtis McNeal and the air game was there.”

Woods was right about USC’s air game. The two offenses combined for a total of 893 passing yards and 1,136 yards of total offense. USC’s Matt Barkley threw for 468- yards passing the previous single game mark of 448 yards set by Carson Palmer against Oregon in 2002.

Possibly a good omen for Barkley since Palmer went on to win the Heisman Trophy making him the best player in college football that season.

“It’s definitely and honor and it feels great. But at the same time, it didn’t feel like I was breaking a record because it was such a tight game going back and forth.

It’s a tribute to coach Kiffin’s play calling and Marquise and Robert and the guys coming up with great catches, and the line played huge for us today. I grew up looking up to Carson Palmer and hoping one day I’d be in this position.

It’s definitely a dream,” said Barkley.

Barkley was talking about Marquise Lee and Robert Woods his two dynamic receivers. Woods caught 14 passes for 255- yards and needed only five more to eclipse the single game receiving record of 260 -Yards held by R Jay Soward in 1996. Lee had 8 caches for 144-yards and one touchdown.

To no one’s surprise, Saturday’s game continued the same general pattern as USC’s games have since Kiffin’s arrival. The team starts fast, slows down after half-time and holds on at the end….if they can.

USC jumped out to its usual quick start when Woods took a short Barkley pass for an 82-yard touchdown on the second play of their first possession.

The Trojans ran out to a 17-0 lead before Arizona finally scored on a 4-yard pass from Nick Foles to Taimi Tutogi to make the score 17-6. Both teams would score again before half-time to give USC a 27 -12 lead at the intermission after Arizona’s Alex Zendajas missed both extra points.

The Trojans’ second half started much like the first and for a while it seemed that they would break away from the pattern. After a 28-yard toss to whom else but Robert Woods, USC stretched its lead to a seeming insurmountable 34-12. But, before the 64,707 USC fans in attendance could relax, Arizona’s Nick Foles started to get it going. Foles found former Corona Roosevelt star Austin Hill for a 1-yard touch. Foles also found Hill on the ensuing 2-point conversion and before you knew it USC had only a 7 point lead. The game ended with T.J. MacDonald corralling the Wildcat’s attempt at and on-side kick.

“The game was a little bit as we expected for us, because of Arizona’s great quarterback and receivers. We wanted to make sure that these guys didn’t come out and make big plays on us. We tried to scheme against them. We wanted to make sure their great receiver didn’t get big plays on us like they have in the past. Credit our defense a bit. In the first half it worked, we got two interceptions against Foles who hadn’t thrown a pick all year,” said Lane Kiffin in response to the apparent lack of defense. As they say, the Devil is in the details. Listen carefully and year will hear Kiffin’s long term strategy unfold.

USC’s secondary is extremely young, inexperienced and currently fighting through some key injuries. The offensive unit is by far the more potent weapon now although it has struggled with consistency at times. By opening up the offense and applying pressure to the opponent and getting early leads, the defense can remain conservative particularly in the secondary.

After opening up a 15 point lead on Saturday, USC’s defense shifted into an extremely conservative defensive coverage scheme throughout the second half allowing Arizona to move the ball but minimizing the quick strikes.

A Simple but effective strategy as long as the offense can respond when the opponent scores. New additions to the defensive unit like former Fontana Kaiser Star Anthony Brown paid immediate dividends.

Brown had 10 tackles in his first star. “Coach Kiffins told me on Tuesday that I was only an injury away from starting and to get ready I would probably start on Saturday,” said Brown.

The Trojans have a bye week before heading up to Berkeley and squaring off against Cal. With the half way point of the season approaching and a 4-1 record the Trojans’ strategy by all measures is working.

If USC can merely duplicate those results in the second half of the schedule it will yield a pretty successfully season record.

G. Montgomery can be reached at sports@blackvoicenews.com

COMMENTARY

By Leland Stein III –

Sports aficionados who enjoy the seasonal changes that athletics usher in, have just endured a long and protracted NFL lockout, and now it is the NBA’s turn. The NBA protracted negotiations is reaching the critical point.

Its 66th NBA season is contingent upon the adoption of a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between the owners of all 30 NBA teams and the NBA’s players.

The previous CBA expired in July, and the expected lockout ensured.

I sure hope the NBA owners and NBPA were watching what happened with the NFL’s CBA. But I think the issues are even bigger with the NBA players.

There are some truths that simply exist do not exist in the NFL. First, NFL players wear helmets, are far away from the crowd and have 22 players on the field at the same time. I honestly feel that even though the NFL like the NBA has a majority of African-America players, the preponderance of NFL fans have got to the point where the jersey is the main rooting point.

Sure there are the exceptions like Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees and Ray Lewis who are recognized by most NFL fans. But the truth is when the players come out the locker room I cannot tell who most of them are without a number on their back.

Now in the NBA, the games are contested in intimate arenas where the players do not wear helmets (maybe face masks to protect broken noses or jaws) and there are only 10 athletes on the court. That means the fans can really see and know the players’ faces.

Also the NBA is more about the players and not the numbers on their back.

Unfortunately, I believe many in the media and talk radio with not have any sympathy for tall, African-American millionaires. A protracted debate will find its way to retorts like: “They make enough money and they are greedy.” Driven by the media the public will be less tolerant of the NBA players.

That is why the NBA does not need a mean spirited, public spat.

“It’s unfortunate, to be honest, because we have great momentum right now,” acknowledged Kevin Garnett. “I think the league is, as far as anticipation and the leading stories and the careers that you can follow, you know Dirk (Nowitzki) finally winning, I mean there’s multiple stories that are intriguing right now. It’s just unfortunate that we’re all going through this right now to sort of slow that down.”

It appears from the outside looking in, that both sides are entrenched. In a recent showing of solidarity over 60 players gathered at a press conference, where NBPA union president and Laker Derek Fisher said that players won’t accept a bad deal to avert a work stoppage. “We’d love to avoid a lockout,” he told reporters, “but we’re unified in the sense of not being afraid if that’s what we’re faced with.”

The owners want a “flex” salary cap, but the players still consider their proposal a hard cap. It’s similar to the NHL’s salary cap system, which NBPA executive director Billy Hunter called “the worst deal in all of professional sports.”

Hunter said the NBA owners want to break the union like the NHL owners did. “The owners want to impose the same kind of damage on us, break the spirit and will and resolve of the NBA players in order to achieve what they want.”

The players say their proposal called for them to give back $500 million in salary over five years by reducing their share of guaranteed revenues from 57 percent to 54.3 percent.

The owners have projected $300 million in losses this season and claim 22 of its 30 teams will lose money. Players point to record TV ratings and increases in merchandise and ticket sales and wonder where all the money has gone.

I don’t really see where the compromise will come.

So now the million dollar question . . . will the NBA season start on time on November 1? I sure hope so, but probably not!!

Leland Stein can be reached at lelstein3@aol.