DANIEL WONG/ Daily Bruin Senior Staff Craig
Braggs and the rest of the UCLA football team hope to
return to winning ways by defeating Washington State Saturday.
By Adam Karon
Daily Bruin Staff
If the true sign of a team is how it reacts after tough losses,
then this weekend’s game between UCLA and Washington State is
a billboard for the rest of the season.
Both teams started last weekend undefeated and finished with
tainted records and dashed national championship hopes. Another
loss will be devastating and erase any hopes of a Pac-10 title.
“The winner of that game is going to be in the race and
the loser is going to be out,” said UCLA head coach Bob
Toledo.
The ninth-ranked Bruins (6-1, 3-1 Pac-10) have a lot of question
marks heading into the contest. Nine players are nursing injuries,
including starting quarterback Cory Paus and backup Scott McEwan.
Toledo said earlier in the week that any of the three could see
considerable time on Saturday.
For No. 16 Washington State (7-1, 4-1), the quarterback
situation is much more stable with Jason Gesser. The junior from
Honolulu has been the heart and soul of the Cougar offense. He
averages nearly 270 yards of total offense, good for 16th in the
nation. Earlier this year against California he passed for 432
yards, a WSU record.
“Their offense is really explosive,” linebacker Ryan
Nece said. “They find different matchups that favor them, and
that’s how they make plays.”
The Cougars will face a Bruin defense that is missing its
starting strong safety, Jason Stephens, who is out with a case of
turf toe. He is replaced by redshirt freshman Ben Emanuel.
Bruin wide receiver Brian Poli-Dixon has been officially ruled
out for the game. He suffered a shoulder injury two weeks ago, and
practiced lightly this week.
Offensively, UCLA will be looking to exploit the Cougars soft
run defense. Last week, Oregon rushed for 446 yards on their way to
565 yards of total offense.
With Heisman Trophy candidate DeShaun Foster coming off his
second lowest output of the year, the Bruins are hoping to
jump-start the ground game.
UCLA is also hoping to jump-start the second half of its season.
Though Toledo talked about “moving on” earlier this
week, the Bruin’s hopes for a national title are all but
gone. The team has an outside chance to make the BCS championship
game, but it must sweep the rest of the season and get some
help.
This game is the second in a string of three tough contests for
the Bruins, starting last week with Stanford. WSU is similarly in
the midst of a tough stretch, having played Stanford three weeks
ago and Oregon most recently.
The Bruins, who lead the all-time series against WSU 34-12, lost
the last meeting in Pullman during their 1997 run to the Rose Bowl.
Only four current Bruins, Brian Poli-Dixon, Kenyon Coleman, Marques
Anderson and Ed Ieremia-Stansbury, played in that game.
This contest will prove the character of both teams, with the
winner contending for a championship and the loser out of the
race.
“This is our biggest game so far,” redshirt freshman
lineman Eyoseph Efseaff said. “It’s a gut check, a game
where we reach inside and find out what we’re made
of.”