COLLEGE FOOTBALL DAILY REPORT : UCLA : Merten Trying to Get Off the Hook

Bjorn Merten spent Sunday fishing, trying to get away from his problems, but they were there Monday when he returned to practice at UCLA.

After an All-American freshman season, he has missed six of his last eight attempts. Five of the misses have come from 40 yards or farther, but none has been short.

“Bjorn, in the game, is just not kicking like he is in practice,” UCLA Coach Terry Donahue said. “We’ve got to get him kicking that way. The last two weeks in practice, we’ve had him under pressure and he’s 23 of 24 or 24 of 24.”

The alternative is walk-on Greg Andrasick, who has never kicked in a college game.

The Bruins moved into field-goal range in their first two possessions Saturday at Seattle, but Merten missed from 40 and 46 yards. His third try, from 44 yards, was good.

“I thought I had it down then,” he said.

But he missed a 46-yarder, hitting the upright, shortly before halftime, and UCLA trailed, 10-3.

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Inside linebacker Shane Jasper has a hip pointer and is questionable for this week’s game at California. . . . No UCLA senior has ever played in a game in which the Bruins beat Cal. UCLA beat Cal 18 consecutive times from 1972-89, but the Bears have won all four games played in the ‘90s. They can be the first Pacific 10 team in 60 years to beat the Bruins five times in a row.