Bruins on a Nice Roll, but Talk Is Half-Baked

How can the UCLA Bruins be called “the best team in America today,” when so far they have not defeated a single team ranked among college football’s top 10?

How can the USC Trojans be given “no chance” to win Saturday, in the same week that the 0-10 Indianapolis Colts defeat the Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers?

It never ceases to amaze me, the things people say.

A twice-defeated team (UCLA) steps onto its home field and defeats a 13th-ranked opponent (Washington), and this makes it a better football team than anybody else’s in the country? Better than 10-0 Michigan, which made mincemeat of unbeaten Penn State at Penn State? Better than 10-0 Florida State, which creamed unbeaten North Carolina at North Carolina?

Do you mean to tell me there’s no way that USC--a one-touchdown loser to No. 2 Florida State--can defeat UCLA at the Coliseum? Is there any logic in the world that would explain why the Trojans are listed as a 9 1/2-point underdogs for Saturday’s game, on their own field?

Look:

UCLA looks great. You don’t rattle off 41.7 points per game without doing a lot of things right. Coach Bob Toledo has done a wonderful job. He has ingenuity, he has moxie and he has backbone, as was obvious this week when Toledo told a starting defensive tackle, Damon Smith, to take a hike after causing a ruckus at practice.

But before we get carried away and nominate UCLA as the greatest team in college football, relax. Take a deep breath. An eight-game winning streak is a many splendored thing. But it came against Texas, Arizona, Houston, Oregon, Oregon State, California, Stanford and Washington, not one of which is vying for a national championship. (Washington is the only one in the nation’s top 25.)

“We haven’t won anything yet,” UCLA running back Skip Hicks reminded everybody after the big Washington game, and with good reason.

Should Bruin followers be thrilled?

Why not? This team can score, score and score some more. Gadget Bob has a bottomless bag of tricks. In his two seasons as coach, only once--on Sept. 14, 1996, at Michigan (38-9)--has UCLA failed to score 17 points. That is some stat. I thought the wildest thing about last Saturday’s Washington game was that the Bruins scored 52 even though kicker Chris Sailer missed a chip-shot field goal and Jermaine Lewis had a touchdown poked from his grip on his last step.

Then it began. UCLA was playing “the best football of anybody in the country,” I encountered more than once, on ESPN, on CNN, in my own paper. Oh, really? I guess that Nebraska team must have just got lucky at Missouri. I guess going 10-0 by scoring 77 points on Iowa State last week couldn’t compare to a twice-beaten UCLA team defeating a now thrice-beaten Washington team.

Well, I get it.

We all get smitten with what we see, right in front of us. We see UCLA win eight straight--no game closer than eight points--and we fall all over ourselves. We overlook that five opponents have scored 27 or more points against UCLA’s defense, which has now been stripped of a starting tackle. We scoff at USC’s chances, as if Coach John Robinson couldn’t figure out a way to defeat UCLA’s so-so teams, so how could he defeat this one?

Let me tell you something: Any team that falls to Florida State by only 14-7 is dangerous. Any team that wins at Notre Dame--I don’t care what Notre Dame’s record is--is dangerous. We are not talking Prairie View A&M; here. USC has defeated Oregon, a team that defeated Washington. So, excuse me if I don’t look at UCLA’s subsequent conquest of Washington as a giant leap for mankind.

UCLA lost to Washington State, 37-34.

USC lost to Washington State, 30-24.

And yet, you believe the Bruins are going to wipe up the Coliseum field with the Trojans, easy as pie, a no-brainer, case closed? Based on what? UCLA’s ability to score 41.7 points per game? Well, we’ll see. No USC opponent has scored 40. Only two have scored 30. Both of those foes--Washington State and Arizona State--are ranked among the nation’s top 15.

I suspect USC’s defense will dig in. Robinson will not have to do much to motivate his tacklers, other than to write UCLA 41.7 PER GAME on a chalkboard. But maybe the Bruins are as good as people say. Maybe they will score 77 points. Maybe Hicks will go through the Trojans like sauce through a Thanksgiving goose.

USC thought “the best team in the country” was the one it had to play in the first game of the season, Florida State. Maybe not.