UCLA 2011 SEASON REVIEW By Jim Gigliotti F
lash back to 1983. The UCLA Bruins open the season with an interconference loss on the
road. A couple games later, they are blasted by a team from the Big 12 (the Big 8 at the time). But after a disastrous 0–3–1 start to the year, UCLA fi nds its footing and reels off fi ve victories in a row. The Bruins’s last-season rally ends up on a positive note as they to win an unlikely Conference championship. Now fast forward back to the present.
The Bruins open the 2011 season with an interconference loss on the road. A couple weeks later, they are blasted by a team from the Big 12. But over the sec- ond half of the season, UCLA fi nds its footing and reels off four victories in fi ve games. Another late-season rally ends up with the team capturing an unlikely spot in the inaugural Pac-12 Champion- ship Game. The common denominator in these
two stirring UCLA seasons is Rick Neuheisel. He was the starting quarter- back as a senior for the 1983 Bruins, and is the head coach at his alma mater now.
Neuheisel’s fourth season at the helm
got off to an inauspicious start with a 38– 34 loss at Houston. The home team’s quarterback, Case Keenum, who suf- fered a season-ending knee injury in the Cougars’ loss to the Bruins at the Rose Bowl in 2010, returned to the fi eld and passed for 310 yards and a touchdown. The Bruins rallied from a 17-point half- time defi cit but couldn’t quite make it all the way back. Kevin Prince, a solid runner, started the game at quarterback for UCLA but suffered a concussion in the second quarter and was replaced by pass-oriented Richard Brehaut, who
threw for two touchdowns and ran for another. One week later, the Bruins found themselves locked in a surprisingly tight battle with San Jose State in the home opener at the Rose Bowl. Running back Derrick Coleman came to the rescue with 135 rushing yards in the second half, including a 24-yard
Randall Carroll 54
ASUCLA Photography
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