Merten Won’t Kick Himself Over Woes

Richard Merten is an engineer who spent his Navy time working on nuclear submarines and tends to reduce things to numbers.

Kicking is solving a equation: wind plus distance plus grass or artificial turf plus weather plus holder plus snapper plus shoes plus time of the game plus fatigue plus protection equal field goal.

Terry Donahue is a football coach who also tends to reduce things to numbers. Success by Richard Merten’s son, Bjorn, means points, producing momentum and maybe a UCLA victory.

A lack of success contributes to the Bruins’ present plight: six consecutive losses.

Bjorn Merten understands both, and he also understands it’s assumed that, when he trots onto the field, the scoreboard will change. When it doesn’t, he is a failure.

It’s something he’s had to get used to.

As an All-American as a redshirt freshman last season, when he was successful on 21 of 26 kicks, Westwood was his. As a sophomore, successful on nine of 17 kicks for a 2-6 team, he doesn’t go out at night.

“It’s been a learning experience,” he said. “I’ve definitely become a better person for it. I’ve learned that you can’t let football, no matter how important it is, affect the other aspects of your life.”

It had.

A low-key, shy person, Merten doesn’t yell or throw things in times of stress. Instead, he becomes withdrawn.

“I was just real quiet, real closed and really on edge,” he said. “I was in a bad mood and a little thing would put me in a worse mood. I guess my friends and family had to walk on eggshells around me. They couldn’t tell me their problems because I was having problems. They have problems just as well as I do, but I didn’t want to hear their problems because I have big problems of my own.”

When the Merten family, or Bjorn’s girlfriend, has problems, they aren’t played out before 40,000 in a stadium and a television audience. They aren’t expected to be perfect, and their imperfections aren’t criticized by fans who paid $22 a ticket not to be disappointed.

The criticism isn’t returned in kind.

“It’s fair,” Merten said. “It’s why I’m out on the field--to kick field goals when the offense doesn’t put it in the end zone.”

Who saw it coming? He made four of five tries against Tennessee in the season opener, and one of two against Southern Methodist. But he missed a kick against Nebraska and another against Washington State, both games UCLA losses, and a trend had developed. He was booed off the Rose Bowl field.

His plight worsened at Seattle, where he made one of four tries against Washington. The last, from 47 yards, hit the upright at the end of the half.

He had missed seven tries in his first five games, and, although six of them were from 40 or more yards, his confidence was shaken.

So was Donahue’s.

He didn’t call for Merten in a 26-7 loss at California, and in the second quarter of a scoreless game the next week, the Bruins were on the Oregon State 29, fourth and three.

There was no hesitation. Daron Washington was sent into the line. He was stopped for no gain and the ball went over to the Beavers, who won, 23-14.

Was a 46-yard field goal contemplated?

“No,” Donahue said.

Was it anticipated?

“Yes,” said Merten. “I thought we would go for one, but that was a coach’s decision. . . . I’ve learned to put things behind you and get back to the basics of why you are playing this sport: for fun.”

It was a lot more fun a year ago. UCLA was winning, and when Merten, who won the job from Jason Lesley during the last week of preseason practice, was called upon, it was because the offense had stalled closer to the goal line than it has been this year. He kicked only five times from 40 or more yards last season, making three.

He became one of only four players to make All-American as a freshman. The others? Tony Dorsett, Herschel Walker and Marshall Faulk.

Through the winter and spring, he was still an All-American, and in summer he went to Phoenix to pose with Playboy bunnies as part of the magazine’s preseason All-American team.

“Very few people are lucky enough to receive the recognition I got last year, particularly as young as I was, as a freshman,” Merten said. “It was national. It was new and it was exciting.”

Eight weeks after the season started, he was kicking for his job in Tucson. As he warmed up Saturday to play against Arizona, walk-on Greg Andrasick was ready to replace him.

“I definitely knew if I didn’t warm up well, I could lose the job,” Merten said.

He warmed up well, then kicked a 19-yard field goal to cut Arizona’s lead to 14-10 as the first half ended. The Bruins came out to take a 17-14 lead in the third quarter, their first advantage since the losing streak began last month.

But Merten had kicked 21- and 22-yard field goals against Oregon State, and had missed from 32. A pattern had been formed.

“Bjorn Merten, Lord knows, has had a rough go of it, and it’s affected us,” Donahue said. “I really thought before the game I would go with Bjorn. . . . He’s upset. We’re upset. But I still think he’s the best kicker we have, and we’re going to stay with him until he gets out of it.

“But one of the things we’re going to make sure of is not to put him in a position where he’s going to have any extra pressure.”

That means, when it’s fourth down and a long field goal is indicated . . .

“Right now, we’re going to go for (the first down),” Donahue said. “But at some point, we’re going to have to get him to kick the field goal.”

Coaches aren’t kickers. They only know three points or no points. There is little a coach can do about it except to decide whether he has the confidence to try the kicker again.

Merten spent last Thursday with a kicking coach, Ismael Ordonez, in Carson. Ordonez found that Merten’s body was well ahead of his leg at impact, with his foot pushing the ball to the right.

That knowledge helped on Saturday. Will it help when the ball is farther out?

Who knows? But there is one thing Merten does know.

“I’m a good kicker, but I’ve been going through some rough times,” he said. “I’m three of my last four, so I think I’m on my way.”

Kicks Keep Getting Harder to Make

Game-by-game kicking statistics of UCLA placekicker Bjorn Merten and a comparison of the 1994 season with 1993, when he was an Associated Press All-American.

Game FGA FGM Pct. Distances (*made) XPA XPM Pct. Pts Tennessee 5 4 .800 *24,*45,44,*40,*23 2 1 .500 13 SMU 2 1 .500 *41, 44 2 2 1.000 5 Nebraska 1 0 .000 42 3 3 1.000 3 Wash. St. 1 0 .000 36 0 0 .000 0 Washington 4 1 .250 40,46,*44,46 1 1 1.000 4 California 0 0 .000 1 1 1.000 1 Oregon St. 3 2 .666 *21, *22, 32 0 0 .000 6 Arizona 1 1 1.000 *19 3 3 1.000 6 1994 (8G) 17 9 .529 Longest: 45 12 11 .916 38 1993 (12G) 26 21 .807 Longest: 47 35 35 .914 95