Loss drives UCLA fans nuts

Did you hear the story about the football coach who had the top high school quarterback in the nation on his team, but chose to play a quarterback whose favorite target was the ground?

Needless to say, that football coach and his team got slaughtered by a mediocre Florida State team.

You can find this story in the fiction section of your local bookstore. It is obvious that you wouldn’t find it in the nonfiction section because a plot like this would never really happen.

LARRY LARSON

Torrance

Florida State’s spectacular Emerald Bowl fourth quarter masks when UCLA truly lost the game -- with 2:38 to go in the first half and fourth and one on Florida State’s two-yard line. That’s when the “coach” opted for a gimme field goal instead of inspiring the offense to rise to the challenge.

Why be chicken ... I mean, conservative? The UCLA offense had been running all over the Florida State defense, especially in the last two series. It’s a bowl game, a time to cast off caution and display leadership.

So what if they don’t make it? You’re up by seven. Going for it, at best, yields a touchdown or at least four more tries from the one-yard line; at worst the opponent is pinned back at its own two-yard line with just over two minutes to play in the half.

Instead, the message sent by the “coach” to the offense was: You can’t pick up one yard. The message sent to the defense was: You can’t keep a 6-6 team from going 98 yards in two minutes.

The seeds of defeat were sown by the lack of courage and leadership of the coach, long before the other team got hot.

DAVID VEIT

Pomona

While it is important to build a strong case highlighting an NCAA football conference such as the Pacific 10, it has become quite evident that without USC the conference would rival the WAC and Mountain West conferences (just to name two).

Take away USC’s national championships and all you have is three, dating to the early 1900s.

The Pac-10 may claim an “exciting” version of football, but the reality is that it continues to be weak in the grand scheme of things. Suggestion: Make USC an independent with a national schedule.

ART VALDEZ

Whittier

I know that this is going to hurt all of us UCLA fans, but the win against USC was a fluke.

The real UCLA team showed up at the Emerald Bowl. A team that can’t win on the road, can’t win against good coaches and played old-time UCLA defense, which is no defense at all. Dorrell’s “new season” ended the way his “old season” did -- with a loss. Still think Dorrell should be retained? I don’t!

WAYNE M. CUTLER

Los Angeles

OK UCLA fans, you can put all those hats, sweaters and shirts back in the closet. You know the ones you brought out from the mothballs just a few weeks ago after that win over USC.

That was a win that the Bruin faithful boasted was the start of a major turnaround for Coach Karl and the UCLA football program.

Looks like the only turnaround so far is what happened to them in the second half of the prestigious Emerald Bowl.

RICHARD WHORTON

Valley Village

After watching UCLA lose to Notre Dame and now Florida State, I am reminded of the popular Red Hot Chili Peppers song “Give It Away.”

JEFF BLACK

Beverly Hills

You knew it had to happen. Instantaneously crowned as the new geniuses in L.A. after the USC game, the Bruins’ coaches proved once again that they can’t convince their players to sustain a winning effort.

Playing a pretty ordinary 6-6 Florida State team, they reverted to being the familiar bumbling, toe-stubbing cross-town rivals that we saw so often during the season.

Unquestionably, the 13-9 win on Dec. 2 was a remarkable achievement. In reality, only when they can win consecutive pressure games will they deserve and receive the respect and attention they so desperately crave.

PHILIP V. MANN

Pasadena

From the penthouse to the outhouse in 60 minutes.

JERRY SELBY

Pasadena

What could have been a seminal moment for the Bruins was a moment for the Seminoles.

RONALD S. TURNER

Los Angeles

The time has come to retire the word “gutty” when referring to the UCLA Bruins and Coach Karl Dorrell. Henceforth, substitute the word “gutless.”

JOEL RAPP

Los Angeles

After seeing UCLA’s defense trashed for 44 points in the Emerald Bowl, I have one question: What did the Florida State offensive coordinator know that USC offensive guru Lane Kiffin didn’t?

JACK WOLF

Westwood

Hey Pete! The 6-6 Florida State Seminoles just dropped 44 points on DeWayne Walker’s overpowering defensive juggernaut.

Remember those guys? They held your possible national championship team to nine stinking points a couple of weeks ago.

I’m sure you can now see how horribly your offense was prepared and how poorly it was managed. If the “deer in the headlights” look didn’t catch your eye then, go take another look at the game film. I’m more disgusted now than I was then, and I hope your offensive line is too. A good team is next.

DAN JENSEN

San Clemente

Someone needs to do an investigation into whether this year’s USC-UCLA game was thrown. After watching the Bruins choke in the fourth quarter of the Emerald Bowl, I simply can’t believe that team beat USC without some help.

JOHN SMART

Los Angeles

After watching the Bruins give up 44 points to a 6-6 Florida State team after holding the mighty Trojans to nine points, I would say that it doesn’t bode well for the Trojans against the Wolverines in the Rose Bowl.

After Michigan trounces USC and Ohio State beats up on Florida, we will be that much closer to a playoff system, which is what everyone really wants.

MARC POPKIN

Brentwood