Bruins’ Fall May Well Be Precipitous

Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time.

The agreement to play Alabama was made in 1988, when UCLA went 10-2, beat No. 2 Nebraska, No. 8 Arkansas and No. 16 Washington and finished ranked sixth in the nation.

The deal to play Michigan two weeks hence was struck in 1986, when UCLA was 8-3-1 with a loss to No. 1 Oklahoma and wins over No. 10 USC and No. 11 Arizona. Prosperous times.

But accounts have become payable in 2000, and these are more like phosphorus times, with the threat of getting lit up twice in the first three weeks of the new season. It’s Alabama, the No. 3 team in the nation, at 12:30 today, then the No. 6 team, Michigan, Sept. 16.

Both games, at least, will be at home, before what could be massive crowds by UCLA’s regular-season standards. Estimates are reaching beyond 80,000 for today, reducing at least some of the potential problems. For instance, there was no long trip that could have meant a Thursday departure. The Bruins are not opening in hostile territory. And they will have all the cars right outside the Rose Bowl for easy arrangement of the funeral procession.

That last part depends entirely on the Bruins--and that means not only today but also against Michigan. A 1-2 start is not unrealistic--Fresno State comes to Pasadena next Saturday--so the real question might be what state of mind UCLA will be in for the Pacific 10 opener Sept. 23 against Oregon in Eugene.

Battle tested?

Battle weary?

The Bruins of 2000 are facing such questions because of what happened to the Bruins of 1999.

The impact of the handicapped-parking scandal last season went well beyond the two-game suspensions, actually creating an emotional fallout that carried the entire season.

The screen pass that became a game-winning 49-yard touchdown for Arizona State with 23 seconds remaining inflicted a devastating defeat in the fifth game of the season. No less an authority than Coach Bob Toledo felt it was a defeat from which the Bruins never recovered.

So the doubts are there. Not only concerning the Bruins’ chances today and in two weeks, but where those games will leave them.

A 1-2 start would be no great surprise but its impact might be significant, in the wake of last season’s 4-7 finish. Taking it a step further, 1-2 would mean a 5-11 record since the end of the school-record 20-game winning streak that fateful afternoon at Miami in December 1998.

How the fans and media would react might no longer be the issue. The greater worry around Westwood could very well be how the Bruins themselves respond to the adversity, if everything happens the way the pollsters suggest when the highly ranked play the unranked.

Right now, the Bruins are up.

“I think last year was tougher mentally than physically,” linebacker Tony White said. “Our team chemistry never jelled. But since last season, we’ve grown together and worked harder. And even if something bad does happen against Alabama and Michigan and we come up short, we know that those are two of the best teams in the country. So that will help us even more with our confidence.

“There’s a lot more senior leadership now, with guys like Oscar Cabrera and Jermaine Lewis and Kenyon Coleman and others. But there’s also some guys helping out with that who are not seniors, Marques Anderson and Robert Thomas and people like that. The other day, we had a bad practice and you could hear Brian Poli-Dixon screaming all over the field.

“You just didn’t see that kind of thing last year. That’s something different. That’s something that will play a big part this year.”

Meaning there will be no team fractures?

“I have no doubt,” Thomas said. “It’s a lot of little things. Guys are patting each other on the back more. Guys are getting on each other when that’s needed. The coaches don’t have to get on us as much as last year because we’re on it ourselves. Those things add up.”

Said Toledo, “It’s just a feeling you get. They’re saying [the chemistry is better]. They’re saying, ‘Coach, we really feel good.’ They weren’t saying that the year before.”

UCLA has not played two ranked nonconference opponents at home--discounting a Jan. 1 Rose Bowl--since 1993, when it lost by a point to No. 8 Nebraska and routed No. 19 Brigham Young. But the games that year were three weeks apart and interrupted the conference schedule of a team that tied for the Pac-10 title.

This year the big nonconference games are rapid-fire and at the very start, for a team that is coming off a poor season and is picked to finish fourth in the conference. It’s much more reminiscent of 1996, the start of the Toledo era, when the new coach’s schedule began at No. 2 Tennessee, at home to Northeast Louisiana, then at No. 6 Michigan.

That made for a 1-2 start. And, eventually, a 5-6 record.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Holy Toledo?

The Bruins’ record under Bob Toledo, left, in various categories:

VS. TOP 25 (8-7)

1996: 1-4

1997: 3-1

1998: 3-1

1999: 1-1

NONCONFERENCE (7-5)

1996: 1-2

1997: 2-1

1998: 2-1

1999: 2-1

SEASON OPENERS (2-2)

1996 at Tennessee: L, 35-20

1997 at Washington St.: L, 37-34

1998 Texas: W, 49-31

1999 Boise St.: W, 38-7

AT HOME (17-5)

1996: 3-2

1997: 5-1

1998: 5-0

1999: 4-2