UCLA Can’t Hide From Fact It Wasn’t Ready

They put a football stadium here in the middle of nowhere, I guess so Wyoming could feel at home in the Las Vegas Bowl.

But more than that, it was the perfect out-of-sight, off-the-main-strip hide-out for a stumbling, bumbling team like UCLA, which showed both a lack of class and discipline in finishing off a mediocre season with a shocking loss to the Cowboys.

Coach Karl Dorrell said a day earlier in a press gathering that his team could “beat anyone in the country if ready to play,” and he said it was his job to make sure the Bruins were ready to play.

Wyoming then jumped out to a 10-0 lead on UCLA..

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THE BOWL folks put Wyoming downtown in the Golden Nugget, an obvious marketing ploy, figuring the fans who followed their team from the hinterlands by wagon train would appreciate the cheaper feel downtown.

And the Cowboy faithful whooped it up. They bought almost 8,000 tickets, one Las Vegas newspaper noting that meant one out of every 67 people living in Wyoming was here, and partied like they had never seen a big city before.

The Bruins, meanwhile, stayed at the Hard Rock, a Starbucks just inside the door to provide them the comforts of Westwood. UCLA sold fewer than 4,000 tickets, and another 4,000 will have to be purchased by the Pac-10 to make good on their agreement with bowl officials. I’m not surprised fans aren’t interested in the Bruins.

Now you would have thought the glitz and glitter of Sin City would have done in the Cowboys, but it was the Bruins who sent two players home to start the week for disciplinary reasons. It was a harbinger of what was to come.

UCLA’s Justin London and C.J. Niusulu should have been ejected for first-half cheap shots, and later Brandon Breazell was hit with a 15-yard penalty for tossing an elbow after the whistle.

Wyoming tight end John Wadkowski caught a nine-yard pass, Tim Warfield tackled him and then stood over him like he had just made a great play holding him to nine yards. Later, Wadkowski caught the game-winner.

Fewer than a dozen Bruins went to mid-field to congratulate the Cowboys, while the rest of the losers ran to the locker room as fast as they could.

Throw in the penalties for sloppy play and the dropped passes, and so much for the respect gained in a close loss to USC.

Dorrell said a good win over Wyoming might earn the Bruins “Top 30 or 25 attention in the preseason polls,” but the Bruins lost to a team picked to finish last in the Mountain West Conference, who managed to win six games -- including wins over Appalachian State and Louisiana-Monroe -- with three seniors on the roster.

If the Bruins were making a statement of what to expect next season, no thanks, we’re in for another disaster.

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TWO YEARS ago, the Bruins won here with the Towel Waver (Ed Kezirian) as their head coach. He retired 1-0, and the Bruins went to Dorrell, who is now 12-13.

UCLA rewarded Dorrell with a two-year contract extension through 2010 for keeping the score close against USC. I wonder what he gets for keeping the score close with Wyoming?

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GOT AN e-mail from someone who raised an interesting point: “What was different with [USC basketball coach] Henry Bibby this year versus previous years -- same turmoil, same benchings, same defections, etc.

“The only difference this year,” the e-mail continued, “is that two to three weeks prior to Bibby’s firing, USC started a campaign to sell seat licenses to the new arena at $7,500 to $10,000 per seat. No one was going to buy unless USC had a program with a big name coach. [Mike] Garrett, needing the seat license money to complete the arena financing, panicked and fired Bibby.”

I checked with USC. A spokesman said there is a group of donors who met with the athletic development people and they made copies of a draft for seat license applications -- ranging in price from $2,500 to $10,000 a seat in the new Galen Center. Some people took the mock application, the USC spokesman said, and submitted it to the athletic department to secure seats. The school is holding the applications but said it’s not acting on them and these people will not receive any kind of priority. Some time after the Orange Bowl, the school hopes to send out the final draft of the seat license application.

The money from the seat licenses will be used to finance the Galen Center and an adjacent practice facility.

As for linking the firing of Bibby and the hiring of a big-name such as Rick Majerus in the hopes of selling more seat licenses, I don’t know where anyone could get such an idea.

As for linking the firing of Bibby, the hiring and departure of Majerus and the quick move to hire Tim Floyd in the hopes of selling more seat licenses, I don’t know where anyone could get such an idea.

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BARRY RESNICK e-mailed with this observation: “This is no joke. Is it just a coincidence that the McCourts are seeking membership in the Jonathan Club while the club itself is currently seeking to employ a parking valet?”

Resnick included the Jonathan Club Internet advertisement for a part-time parking valet, and that’s bad news for everyone else. I can’t imagine anyone having the credentials to compete for the job with The Boston Parking Lot Attendant.

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TODAY’S LAST word comes in e-mail from Tammie Haller:

“I relish the thought of ‘Grandpa’ changing dirty diapers while drenched in spit-up and baby dribble.”

I spend a lot of time with pro athletes; baby dribble is nothing new.

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Simers can be reached at t.j.simers@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Simers, go to latimes.com/simers.