For the first time in three years, UCLA decided to just be quiet and play football.
Throughout the whole Rick Neuheisel era, he has been talking a big game but not really backing it up. This past Saturday, his defense and offense did all the talking.
There is a point where boys become men, and it looks like the UCLA Bruins did that last weekend with a victory against the Texas Longhorns, 34-12.
The Bruins have been searching for a victory that could kick start the Neuheisel regime and move them from out of the shadow of the USC Trojans.
Last Saturday, the odds were stacked against the Bruins. They came into the game as 15-point underdogs. There were 101,437 fans looking for revenge from the last time the two teams met, when the Longhorns lost 66-3.
The Longhorns also had the No. 1 rushing defense in college football. If that wasn’t bad enough, Neuheisel’s team happened to be facing the seventh-ranked team in the nation.
In the midst of all these obstacles the Bruins came out on top and finally showed they can hang with the big boys.
The defense was highly taunted and finally started to show its worth. Also, the Bruins forced five turnovers, which kept the Longhorns from establishing any type of rhythm.
The most surprising part of the game was the Bruins ‘offense. They held a usual explosive Texas offense to only 85 total yards. The Bruins probably came to Memorial Stadium just looking to gain 80 yards on the ground, but with the help of the always famous “Pistol” offense, they were able to run for 264 yards.
One could have predicted the Longhorns defense would end up like Swiss cheese by the end of the game.
Longhorn fans and players looked like they had no idea what hit them. The Bruins beat up the Longhorns from start to finish.
So, for at least one day, Neuheisel dominated the headlines.
His program looked better than the Trojans and also looked like a force for the rest of the college football season.
This is just one victory. If the Bruins do not maintain this momentum, they will be looked at as the same old losers.
But if they go on and win the Pac-10, this victory against the Longhorns could possibly be the game to remember and a turning point for UCLA.
