Tony Solorzano playing in the band
Wow, how fast the season flies. Today was Senior Day for UCLA and 20 seniors made their final appearance on the Rose Bowl’s field in uniform for the Bruins.
These notes are different from our previous entry as today’s notes were written from down in the stands, as I returned to my “roots” and rejoined my friends in the UCLA Alumni Band, as we concluded our 37th year as part of the UCLA Football experience. So here are a few things that caught my eye today as the Bruins closed out the regular season with the Cardinal.
GOODBYE, SO LONG, AUF WEIDERSEIN, GOOD NIGHT: Today’s Senior Day saw the final regular season home game for 20 Bruin Seniors today. Former starting quarterbacks Kevin Prince and Richard Brehaut were given standing ovations as they ran out of the tunnel through a line of their underclassmen teammates before the start of the game. Also getting ovations were Joe Fauria(TE), Jeff Locke (P), Sheldon Price and Aaron Hester (CB), Dalton Hilliard (LB) and oft-injured Jeff Baca (OL/C), but the biggest cheers came for the future Mayor of Los Angeles, Johnathan Franklin (RB), the school’s all time leading rusher.
ALOHA ‘OE: Speaking of Hilliard, I had an opportunity to meet with his parents before the game. Hilliard, who grew up in Mililani, on the Island of Oahu, Hawai’i, was a graduate of the famed Punahoe School. No word of the school’s most famous Alumnus was watching this afternoon in the White House, but considering his connection to Oregon State, He was probably watching the Civil War today.
ON THE LELAND STANFORD JR. FARM: With the win, the Cardinal not only sewed up the PAC-12 North title, but also earned the right to host the PAC-12 title game up at Stanford on Friday, or as it’s more affectionately known by alumni and rivals alike, as “The Farm.” Game time is 4:30 Friday and will be televised on Fox as part of their two-day “Championship weekend” of title games. Saturday, Fox will televise the Big Ten Title game between Nebraska and Wisconsin. Both winners will face each other in the Rose Bowl on January 1.
WE’RE GOING STREAKING: Stanford piled up an impressive number of streaks as a team. For the third straight year, they posted a 10-win season, stretching back to Jim Harbaugh’s final season as coach. Also, this is the fourth straight season the Cardinal have beaten both the Bruins and Trojans, a first for the school. The win was also the Cardinal’s third straight win over a ranked opponent. Stanford beat Oregon State (then ranked no. 13) on Nov. 10, Oregon (No. 1) last week and the Bruins (No. 15) today.
THE NORTH AND THE SOUTH: Although it ran the table to capture the South division, the Bruins did not fare as well against the North. In the four games played against the teams in the PAC-12 North, the Bruins went 1-3, losing to both Cal and Stanford as well as Oregon State. Their lone win against the North came on November 10 against Washington State up in the Palouse.
CALIFORNIA STATE CHAMPS: Stanford, with their win, completed the sweep of the other three PAC-12 Schools in California and won the “California Collegiate Championship,” in defeating UCLA, Cal and USC. This was the third straight year where the Cardinal ran the table on all three of its’ inter-state rivals in the conference.
ROAD TO NOWHERE: UCLA’s ground game was stymied by the Cardinal, held to 73 net yards rushing. Franklin led the rushers with 68 yards on 21 carries, his second-lowest total all season. His lowest total came against Oregon State, where he only managed 45 yards in the loss to the Beavers. Quarterback Brett Hundley was sacked seven times for losses of 38 yards, but did pass for 261 yards on 20 passes, throwing one touchdown, a 13-yard strike to Joe Fauria to tie the game 7-7 in the first quarter.
QUOTABLE QUOTES: Some selected post-game quotes from the game. Quotes courtesy of UCLA’s Sports Information Department.
UCLA Coach Jim L. Mora
“Congratulations to Stanford. They played a heck of a game, and they’re a heck of a football team. We have some things that we have to do to get better by Friday night. We will get right back to work.”
on the question if he felt the team didn’t play as hard as he felt they should have…
“We are competitors and those guys in there don’t spend all that time preparing for a game, with the sacrifices they make, to not try their best every opportunity they get. They tried their best to win. It didn’t matter. We wanted to win this game today. We came up short. To insinuate that our players didn’t give their best effort – I’ve never, nor did I ever do that.”
On the strengths the Cardinal had in the game…
“They’re very physical. They’re big. They have the same offense and same defense and they have been doing this for a long time. They have not had a lot of turnovers in their coaches. Yes, they lost Coach Harbaugh, but they kept Coach Shaw. They get off blocks well, they block well, and they are a very physical football team.”
They’re very physical. They’re big. They have the same offense and same defense and they have been doing this for a long time. They have not had a lot of turnovers in their coaches. Yes, they lost Coach Harbaugh, but they kept Coach Shaw. They get off blocks well, they block well, and they are a very physical football team.
IN MEMORIAM: I’m closing on a personal note. Last week, before UCLA’s win over USC, my friends in the UCLA Alumni Band lost one of our longest-serving members. Paul Hill died of a heart attack while he and his wife and fellow Alumni Band member, Diane, were preparing to head up to the game. When he wasn’t handling his duties as Communications Director for the Band, Paul was involved in Costa Mesa’s Citizens Emergency Response Team, as well as a Certified CPR instructor and taught classes in CPR and first aid. And he played a mean piccolo. Today’s game was the first one since his passing, not counting the USC game. His presence will be missed.
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