Tuesday, October 21, 1997
Football Notebook
Moving on up the national rankings
The Bruins (5-2, 3-1) just keep on climbing up the polls.
After their 34-10 victory over Oregon State Saturday, the Bruins
jumped four spots in the Associated Press poll to No. 13 – their
highest ranking since the third week of the 1995 season, and their
highest ranking this late in the season since 1993.
In the coaches’ poll – the USA Today/ESPN – UCLA jumped from No.
18 to No. 16.
They rank No. 14 in the Bowl Alliance poll, with the combined
votes of both the AP and coaches polls.
Crowd support disappointing
The attendance of 38,165 at the Oregon State contest was the
second consecutive home game that the Bruins have attracted less
that 40,000 fans.
And when you play in the 100,000-seat Rose Bowl, that makes for
a lot of empty seats.
"It’s disappointing for our football players – I realize there’s
a lot of things to do … but hopefully, we can get more people out
to the games," Toledo said. "If the people don’t want to see
exciting football, then it’s their loss."
No scoreboard watching here
If the Bruins retain any hope of earning a trip to the Rose
Bowl, Washington State must lose twice – but Toledo said they can’t
be concerned with Cougar game updates.
"We can only control our own destiny," he said. "We just have to
take care of business. First, we must qualify for a bowl and then
if we keep winning we can get to bigger and bigger bowl games."
With one more victory, UCLA will reach the NCAA-mandated six
wins to qualify for a postseason berth.
Bruins free from injury – kind of
The Bruins have remained relatively injury free, but still
suffer from minor injuries.
Tight end Mike Grieb sprained his hip and remains questionable
for this week’s game, tailback Skip Hicks’ bruised knee leaves him
day-to-day, while defensive lineman Damon Smith remains probable
for Saturday.
"We are in as good as physical shape as we possibly can be at
this point in the season," UCLA head coach Bob Toledo said.
You can’t see this one on television
If you’re not at the Rose Bowl Saturday, you won’t see the game
live.
The contest against California will be the first time in a
year-and-a-half that the Bruins won’t be televised live.
UCLA’s victory over Northeast Louisiana in the second week of
last season was the last time the Bruins were not on live
television. It has been over two years since a conference game
could not be seen live.
However, the game will be shown on a delayed basis – Saturday
night at 10:30 on Fox Sports West 2.
Stanford game set
The UCLA-Stanford matchup Nov. 1 in Palo Alto will kickoff at
3:30 p.m. so it can be televised by Fox Sports Net.
Compiled by Brent Boyd, Daily Bruin Staff.