Bruins Ready to Turn the Page

For a beleaguered UCLA football program, it is a day to rejoice.

November is in the rearview mirror.

The calendar has flipped, the page turned on a month of turmoil, deceit and humiliation.

Today brings an opportunity to end the regular season with a victory at home.

Today brings a chance to end a four-game losing streak and enhance a bowl berth.

Today brings December, and the first day of the rest of the Bruins’ lives.

“This is a fresh start and everybody is anxious to play,” tight end Bryan Fletcher said. “We’ve had enough trouble and disappointment. It’s time to look forward.”

The day will be bittersweet.

Either 22 or 23 seniors will be introduced in a pregame ceremony. As of Friday night, suspended tailback DeShaun Foster had not decided whether to appear. The one-time Heisman Trophy candidate has been ineligible since Nov. 7 for breaking NCAA rules by driving a 2002 Ford Expedition that did not belong to him.

Standing on the sideline as a spectator in shoulder pads will be junior quarterback Cory Paus, who was relegated to third string as punishment for not disclosing two alcohol-related driving incidents to Coach Bob Toledo.

The Paus situation came to light Nov. 15, two days before the Bruins were crushed by cross-town rival USC, 27-0.

But the tumult began Nov. 5, when longtime Athletic Director Pete Dalis announced his retirement, effective in June. The decision triggered conjecture on his replacement--Boise State Athletic Director Gene Bleymaier and Dalis’ lieutenant Betsy Stephenson are the leading candidates in a search that will extend into the spring--and rendered him less effective in dealing with the turbulent events that would follow.

On the day of his announcement Dalis said that before he retired he would increase the buyout amount in the contracts of Toledo and basketball Coach Steve Lavin. After the demise of the football team and the 2-2 November flameout of the basketball team, he might have second thoughts.

Events on the field were no less discouraging. After a 6-0 start and No. 4 national ranking, the Bruins lost for the first time Oct. 27 at Stanford.

But November triggered a free fall, first close defeats against Washington State and Oregon, then the dispiriting debacle against the Trojans.

There were injuries too. After nearly two months of excellent health, Bruins began dropping. Receivers Brian Poli-Dixon, Tab Perry and Ryan Smith, safeties Marques Anderson and Jason Stephens and offensive linemen Troy Danoff and Shane Lehmann went down.

No wonder the Bruins took Thanksgiving week off.

“When things started getting bad we couldn’t turn it around,” Toledo said. “That was probably the most disappointing thing to me. The landslide started and we couldn’t get it stopped.”

That was November in a nutshell. What will December bring? And 2002?

Will the Silicon Valley or Humanitarian bowls want UCLA? Is Toledo’s job as secure as it was a month ago?

“We’ll take it a day at a time and try to beat Arizona State,” Anderson said.

This game was originally scheduled for Sept. 15, a Pacific 10 opener between an Arizona State team with a new coach and a UCLA team with a new defensive coordinator.

Both teams had won their openers. Both teams had promise. It was an optimistic time.

But the events of Sept. 11 caused a postponement. Now the game is a last chance for seniors to play at home, an opportunity for Bruin fifth-year senior quarterback Scott McEwan to make his first start, and 60 minutes of film for coaches to evaluate younger talent.

Dirk Koetter, the first-year Sun Devil coach, has his own problems. His team has lost four in a row and is 1-6 in the Pac-10, including a loss last week to intrastate rival Arizona.

“We’ve lost four in a row and we’d like nothing better than to get this taste out of our mouths,” he said. “We’re going to reevaluate how we tie our shoes, how we take snaps from center, our game plan, everything.”

Phil Snow became UCLA defensive coordinator after nine years at Arizona State. He was fired along with Coach Bruce Snyder and the rest of his staff last year.

When this game was scheduled in September, it was a big deal to Snow. No longer.

November changed everything. It will be remembered as perhaps the worst 30 days in UCLA football history. And it will affect everything from recruiting to the type of person hired as the next athletic director.

As far as the Bruins are concerned there is only one good thing to say about November.

It’s over.