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closeAt first glance, the similarities between the UCLA and Washington State football programs seem minimal. After all, the Bruins are glitz and glamour, appearance without substance and all that clichéd existence that Southern California embraces.
Meanwhile, the Cougars plod along in relative geographic seclusion in an Eastern Washington town with a population smaller than that of the Greek community at UCLA.
There is little glitz on the Palouse where a lunch-pail mentality is the only mentality embraced and accepted.
But if you dig a little deeper, and watch closely when the two teams meet today at the Rose Bowl, you'll see two programs more alike than different.
"I think there are a lot of similarities," Washington State coach Paul Wulff said.
It starts with the coaches. Both the Cougs and Bruins have new leadership this season. Of course, the hiring of Wulff to replace Bill Doba was far less noteworthy than the hiring of former University of Washington coach Rick Neuheisel, the former Bruins quarterback, by UCLA.
Still, UCLA and WSU were the only programs in the Pac-10 to change head coaches this season. And with those changes, predictably growing pains have followed.
"If you watch film of both teams, you can see why there were some changes that needed to be made and still need to be made," Wulff said.
So far, those changes haven't equated to victories. Both teams have just one.
"When we're in the situation we find ourselves in, all the focus is on improvement," Neuheisel said.
Indeed, and both coaches have started that improvement process early by playing a number of young players.
For UCLA, a total of 26 players have seen their first game action this season. Of those 26, 11 were true freshmen and eight were redshirt freshmen.
For the Cougs, 22 players have made the first start of their college careers. And in most cases, those starts were the first significant playing time for those players.
"It's something we knew coming in," Wulff said.
Perhaps, but a major reason for both teams having to play younger players is the rash of injuries.
UCLA has had been hit hard by injuries going all the way back to spring practice, losing veteran players at a variety of positions. The Cougs were inundated all fall with nagging injuries that have carried over to the regular season, along with a few major injuries.
Both teams will start their third string quarterbacks today. UCLA’s Kevin Craft is a junior college transfer who was expected to redshirt and have some time to get adjusted behind Ben Olsen and Patrick Cowan. But Olsen and Cowan suffered major injuries and could miss all season. Not surprisingly, Craft has been up and down so far. His four interceptions in the first half of the season opener against Tennessee was far from ideal. But since then, he's only tossed one interception while passing for 720 yards and two touchdowns.
"Kevin has improved," Neuheisel said. "He's making much better decisions."
The Cougs will be starting Marhsall Lobbestael for the second straight week. Senior Gary Rogers is lost for the season with a cervical spine fracture and junior Kevin Lopina is out indefinitely with a cracked vertebrae in his back.
"For his first career start, Marshall did a lot of good things," Wulff said of last week’s game against Oregon.
Need more similarities? Check out some of the numbers:
Points per game — WSU 19; UCLA 17.
Total offense — WSU 322.40 yards per game; UCLA 276.75.
Points allowed per game — WSU 44.4; UCLA 37.5.
Total defense — WSU 436.00 yards; UCLA 415.75.
It goes beyond the numbers. It's the mentality. Both teams are looking down their schedules for teams they can possibly beat. And both share the mindset that Saturday is a winnable game.
"We certainly aren't in the place to overlook anybody," Neuheisel said. "Washington State might be looking at us, and thinking 'finally, we get somebody we should beat.'"
Neuheisel might be right.
Said Wulff: "I think our kids probably believe we can beat them."
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