Things Go From Bad to Worse For Seniors

And so it ended, on Saturday at 4:09 p.m., under gray skies and curious circumstances.

DeShaun Foster, a hero in this game a year ago and on so many other occasions, was a scapegoat.

Danny Farmer, after one of the greatest careers ever for a UCLA receiver, went out with one catch for 16 yards, another for two, and a role in a lost fumble on what would be the last time he touched the ball.

The seniors who, along with the Class of ‘98, had played the major role in pulling the program to national prominence before this season’s back-slide, departed in defeat.

Against USC.

For the first time since 1990.

Just when UCLA thought its year--not the season, the calendar year--could not get any worse. The events at the Coliseum proved otherwise, or at least reminded that nothing Bruin gets out of ’99 alive, whether it be images or bowl hopes or intracity winning streaks.

Nine years and three days after it last happened, the Bruins lost to the Trojans.

The final was 17-7. The update is USC, one in a row.

“This is going to be a bitter loss,” strong safety Joey Strycula said. “It’s going to stay with me forever.”

Said linebacker Ryan Nece: “To be the team that ends the streak, people are going to remember that-- ‘It’s that ’99 team.’ That’s disappointing. And that hurts.”

At least he has another chance. The seniors, 13 of them, three of whom were injured, go out not only with a loss, but one to its biggest rival, in what for weeks had been the biggest game of the season.

The fifth-year seniors had been around for four previous wins in the series. Some had to get by with three in a row.

And now they leave in defeat.

The younger Bruins felt as if they had let them down, or at least sympathized with the predicament. Win, win, win, win . . . and then this:

USC fans ignoring the public-address announcements and rushing the field anyway.

A man in Trojan regalia with a small stuffed bear skewered on the end of his sword, raising it to the sky.

The table had been turned. Downright turned over, actually, right on top of the Bruins. Thirteen of them in particular.

Said free safety Julius Williams: “Really, the only thing you can say is, ‘I’m sorry. We didn’t want you to go out like this.’ ”

Several players actually said as much to the seniors, apologizing in the locker room afterward that their careers ended in defeat, to USC at that. After four of the five previous losses in the rivalry, throughout the 1980s and ‘90s, there had at least been a bowl game to fall back on.

Now, there was only the off-season.

“You just have to deal with this the whole year,” said Oscar Cabrera, who played the entire game at left guard on a day when the offensive line’s only substitution was Blake Worley for three plays at left tackle. “You have one chance all year, and this was it.”

Figure they all will think about it once or twice. That was Cabrera, after all, standing some 30 yards behind the end zone near the locker room tunnel, watching the Trojan celebration with tears in his eyes. Foster had a much different image to consider.

It was his fumble on a run up the middle on first and goal at the seven that cost the Bruins the chance to get within 17-14 with about 9:15 remaining. Trojan free safety Ifeanyi Ohalete got credit for the force and the recovery. Foster got the heat.

“That really put the nail in the coffin,” Coach Bob Toledo said.

Said Foster, who had four touchdowns last year against USC at the Rose Bowl: “It just dropped out somewhere, I guess. I really don’t remember the play.”

Consider it a good start on the future: all the Bruins trying to forget the entire day.