Bumped. GO BRUINS. - N

Ever since that post-Christmas Saturday 8 months ago when I read the ESPN ticker "UCLA hires Rick Neuheisel," I have been anticipating the first game of the Neu era in UCLA football. When the game was changed to Tennessee on Labor Day as the nationally televised climax of the opening weekend of college football, I could hardly contain my excitement. How could that be? We were undermanned and undersized and playing a game we should lose against an SEC power. Why would I be excited to watch what was likely to be a double-digit loss?

When I sat down last night to watch the game, the dread and detachment with which I had watched the slow death (train wreck?) of the misguided KD era was gone. In its place was an ingredient that had been missing since a dreary October day in 2001 when a heartbreaking 38-28 loss to Stanford in 2001 ended national championship dreams and ushered in 6 years of despair. That ingredient is H-O-P-E. The loss to Stanford began a 4-game losing streak  that also coincided with the first 4-game winning streak during Pete Carroll's tenure at Just 'SC. That loss was the start of an 8-9 finish to the Bob Toledo era and begat the regrettable, hopeless tenure of Neuheisel's immediate predecessor. The tables turned on that dreary October day. Just 'SC was the new national power. UCLA became an also-ran, yesterday's news, the team the entire country wondered why couldn't it win?

The hiring of Neuheisel (who was not my first choice) restored our hope. Since the hiring, Neuheisel has constantly intensified my hope that UCLA could be relevant again in college football, mostly by hiring Chow and Walker and sharing the spotlight with them and by stating at every possible moment that UCLA intends to compete with Just 'SC. So even as the injuries accumulated, I felt that all would be okay in the long run. Great coaching, I thought, would give us a few wins, even if the pieces are not there. Hope does that to you. I watched last night not expecting a W but thinking a W was possible, all because Neuheisel had given me hope.

We learned last night that Neuheisel has also given the players hope, as well as an understanding that it's not always the team with the best athletes or the most hype, or the most experience that wins. The team with the more heart and more cohesiveness (and excellent coaching) can overcome the odds and win big games.

I have never really liked the moniker "gutty little Bruins," but that might actually fit what we did last night. Or Tough Bruins. Our hope and Neuheisel's faith in his team were rewarded last night.

It could not have been scripted better than it played out. National TV in front of millions of viewers. Against a traditional power from the "nation's best conference" the SEC. Overcoming injuries and 4 freaking INTs. Playing with heart and passion. It took only one game for Neuheisel to back his strong words with results on the field, and the whole world saw it. So, we may be gutty little Bruins today, but this game spoke so loudly , more than any ad in the local fishwrap or any statement to the press about competing could have done.

I am not saying we are where we need to be as a football team, but we are a tough football team, with a tough football coach. Anyone who doubted whether we could compete with Just 'SC now knows that it's not a question of "if" but "how soon"? It took Neuheisel one game to do what his predecessor could not do in 5 long years: he has restored hope, confidence, and the inevitability of "UCLA Bruins football" and "champions" being uttered in the same sentence. Five-star recruits, fans, local and national media, climb aboard while good seats are still available on this bandwagon. Hope may be eternal, but the ride to the top is going to be faster and more furious than we could have hoped for.

Go Bruins!