UCLA FOOTBALL: Bruins don't find Kraft Hunger Bowl a laughing matter

SAN FRANCISCO - Cue the laugh track, folks.

So many jokes have been told since the announcement of the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl on Dec. 4 that Henny Youngman would be proud. College football writers became Catskills comedians while using UCLA and Illinois as punch lines.

Here are two teams that back-doored into the postseason, further proof the bowl system is a farce, two teams with interim head coaches who will not be retained, two teams that have elicited more guffaws than a season of "Saturday Night Live."

Just don't tell the players.

"We're both teams who've had up-and-down seasons, both coaches have been fired, we're both in the same spot," UCLA junior quarterback Kevin Prince said. "And in bowl games like this, it's the team who wants to win it the most that does. The team that wants to be here.

"We have to make sure that we're that team."

The teams may find themselves in similar circumstances, but their respective paths varied greatly.

UCLA's season was a rollercoaster, the peaks and valleys of a mountain range, the ride so nauseating fans turned purple in the face. Just when all appeared lost and a 48-12 loss to Arizona in Week 7 indicating a tailspin, the Bruins surprised everyone by winning two in a row over Cal and Arizona State and eventually headed to USC in Week 12 on a 3-1 streak.

What followed was nothing short of a disaster - a 50-0 loss to the Trojans that spelled the beginning of the

end of the Rick Neuheisel era, followed by a 49-31 loss to Oregon in the Pac-12 championship game, after which offensive coordinator Mike Johnson assumed the role of interim head coach.

In the beginning some players were questionable about being at school for another month, but now they are "all in," running back Johnathan Franklin said.

"You look at the last two games we played, 50-0, then losing to Oregon to go to the Rose Bowl, and we definitely need a win. Losing? Being 6-8? No," Franklin said.

Illinois, meanwhile, had one big rise and a similar fall.

The Illini started the season 6-0 behind a relentless defense that ranks seventh out of 120 FBS teams in total defense, fourth in pass defense, ninth in sacks and fifth in tackles for loss. To that point, Illinois' offense had been keeping up its end of the bargain while ranking 33rd nationally.

Then came a six-game slide against a brutal schedule that included losses to Ohio State, Wisconsin, Penn State and Michigan and, ultimately, the termination of Ron Zook a day after Neuheisel's firing and the subsequent promotion of defensive coordinator Vic Koenning as interim head coach.

"We have a clear mind of who we're playing and what we're going up against," UCLA junior cornerback Andrew Abbott said. "We know what their season was like. We respect them, but this game is more about us. It starts at home."

It starts at home and, more specifically, it starts up front.

UCLA (6-7, 4-3) picked a poor time to have its offensive line reeling from injury and suspension as Whitney Mercilus leads a ferocious front four into AT&T Park. UCLA junior offensive tackle Brett Downey, a former walk-on, will make his first start against the Illini defensive end who led the nation in sacks (14<MD+,%30,%55,%70>1/<MD-,%0,%55,%70>2) and forced fumbles (nine).

Downey will get a little help, though.

"It will be a test, and a lot of it will fall on my shoulders," Prince said. "I'll have to make sure we're in the right protection and that guys know where they're going. It's going to be on me that when we are throwing the ball, that I'm getting it out fast and that I know where I'm going with it."

So often this season, that has been Nelson Rosario.

The senior wide receiver perhaps has the most to gain among the Bruins, already over the 1,000-yard mark but with a chance to boost his NFL draft stock with an impressive showing.

And Prince is sure to go to him early and often because that's what you do when everything around you is tumbling down. You stick with what you know and who you know, and hope everyone rises to the occasion.

And you try to make everybody stop laughing.

"It's been weird; any time you have a coach who's fired, it's strange," Prince said. "The way we have practiced has been different. The way we're coached is different. Being able to adjust to that and get our focus on to this game has been tough, but I think we've done it.

"We're here, we're in San Francisco, and we have the feeling that the game is right here for us."

Source: http://www.dailynews.com/ci_19650809?source=rss_viewed

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