UCLA Football Game Preview: California Golden Bears

THIS WEEK’S OPPONENT:  California Golden Bears, Memorial Stadium, Berkeley, CA – Saturday, October 6, 7:00 p.m., Pac-12 Networks

LINE:  UCLA by 2

To be brutally honest, I don’t care that California’s Golden Bear football team currently stands at one win and four losses.

Sept 29, 2012; Boulder, CO, USA; UCLA Bruins quarterback Brett Hundley (17) runs with the football in the first quarter of the game against the Colorado Buffaloes at Folsom Field. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-US PRESSWIRE

I don’t care that the Bears’ one win was against FCS level Southern Utah – and that they had to score 30 points late in the game to achieve even that.

I don’t care that Jeff Tedford, the Cal head coach, is currently on the hot seat.

And I don’t care that on paper and going strictly by the statistics, UCLA is clearly the better team.

This upcoming battle between the two flagship schools in the University of California system will be a tough challenge for the Bruins, for one significant reason:

1998.

That year marked the last time that UCLA beat their older U.C. brothers in Cal’s newly-renovated Memorial Stadium; Cade McNown was the quarterback at that time.

That’s how long it has been, as the Bruins are on a six-game losing streak in Berkeley.

The 21st century has seen the home team win in this longtime series, and I’m sure that those Cal Bears will desperately want to see that pattern continue and will be extremely motivated to do just that, like they have done in every even year dating back to 2000.

Especially in light of the kind of season they’re having to this point.

As was said, on paper Jim Mora’s team has the clear advantage, particularly at quarterback and running back as Brett Hundley and Johnathan Franklin have clearly outplayed Zach Maynard and Isi Sofele so far, respectively.

Hundley has more than twice the number of touchdown passes as Maynard, 11 to 5. Plus his completion rate, 66%, is better than Maynard’s 57.6%

Like the Bruins’ redshirt freshman quarterback, Franklin currently has twice the rushing yards as his Golden Bear counterpart, Sofele, and the senior’s 7.5 yards per carry far outweighs Sofele’s 4.9.

Cal’s clear go-to guy is wide receiver Keenan Allen, with his 33 receptions and 338 yards, which outpaces any of UCLA’s receivers due to Bruin offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone’s preference to spread the ball around. Allen will pose a threat and defensive backs Sheldon Price, Aaron Hester and company will have to be on their “A” game.

As will the defense, even though on paper they have far outperformed Cal, having nearly twice as many sacks and interceptions as the Bears. Looks for the Bruins to put pressure on Maynard and give him as little time to throw as possible.

If  coordinator Lou Spanos’ defense can do that, UCLA should be OK.

Provided that they don’t make any mistakes like turn the ball over and (especially) commit costly penalties that would give Cal monentum and set their fan base loose; that’s the last thing the Bruins need.

Oh yeah, it wouldn’t hurt to see Ka’imi Fairbairn make some field goals from beyond 40 yards. He’s currently 0 for 2 from that range with his longest field goal being from 35 yards; that will have to change and improve.

The bottom line to this game is, though Cal will battle like a cornered dog I think UCLA should win IF they play smart and execute.

This game is a turning point of the season as it hits the midway point; how UCLA will do for the rest of 2012, with tough opponents like Arizona State, USC and Stanford coming up, may well rest on how they perform in Strawberry Canyon, with it’s Tightwad Hill and that little cannon perched on top of that hill that fires whenever those Golden Bears score, this Saturday night.