COLLEGE FOOTBALL DAILY REPORT : UCLA : Sun Devil Coach Tries a Pep Talk

It was the beginning of a week of preparation to play UCLA, and Arizona State Coach Bruce Snyder decided his team needed a talk about perspective.

Getting ready for a game between two 3-6 teams in November seemed to demand it.

“This is what I said to my team and I really mean it,” Snyder said Tuesday. “When I’m asked how am I doing, I say I’m doing fine. When I’m asked how my team is doing, I say they’re doing fine. I say it for this reason: I signed up to be a college coach in the Pac-10, and that’s what I’m doing, and I have a game this weekend and it’s on national TV. Now, if that doesn’t make everything OK, I don’t know what does.

“Now, in terms of the team, I asked them, ‘How many of you guys would stop playing college football if the bowl system was outlawed? If you only play 11 games and you’re done, how many of you would quit? None of you would. It’s because you are football players. You’re doing what you like to do. We’re playing for pride, for the love of the game--really for the original purpose why the game created.’ ”

Think it will work?

“Well,” Snyder said, “you know when you talk, they say that only 10% of the people hear 10% of what you said.”

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UCLA linebacker Shane Jasper is scheduled to play in the Blue-Gray all-star game in Montgomery, Ala., on Christmas Day. Defensive back Carl Greenwood, who broke his ankle in the second game of the season, is scheduled to return for the Hula Bowl in Honolulu. Wide receiver J.J. Stokes, injured most of the season but sound now, has indicated that he will not play in any postseason game.