A Call To All UCLA Students/Alums: Drive Up Bruin Turnout @ Rose Bowl On 9/11

Bumped. Not sure if this post apples to the bandwagoners and drive by trolls who show up to comment on BN only on game days. GO BRUINS. N

I am going to deviate a little from what has been our protocol on BN over the years which is always to keep the focus on our next opponent. Everyone here cannot wait till the kickoff moment against Kansas State. It is going to be a big game against one of the best coached and fundamentally sound teams in the country. While we handled those guys last year at the Rose Bowl (without Prince), I think in Manhattan, in Kansas heat and in front of crazed Wildcat faithful, the Bruins will be underdogs in a winnable game.

That said, I think the early season game that has the potential to set the tone for the entire year is the game after Kansas State against Jim Harbaugh's Stanford Cardinal. This game has a lot of ramifications. Jim Harbaugh has gotten a lot of hype last couple of years thanks the exploits of Toby Gerhart, which he has used to gin up  recruiting momentum (despite dealing w Stanford's academic requirements).

We beat him at the Rose Bowl (w Kevin Craft and combination of one legged Kahlil Bell/Chane Moline) two years ago. We came short against him last year in Palo Alto without our starting QB. Although, I still wonder what would have happened if had scored TDs early in first quarter instead of settling for FG and Rahim Moore had not gotten trapped into a PI/personal foul call b/c of losing the ball in sun late in first half. Anyway, that was last year.

This year Stanford doesn't have Gerhart. However, the Cardinal are getting a lot of early hype because of a pro caliber QB in Andrew Luck. I think they will be the ones who will come in as "favorites" against UCLA. Still I like our team and our chances against those guys with the young talent we have on both sides of the ball. I will feel even better if we have a healthy Kevin Prince.

Now, what will really really help UCLA is if we can pack our student and alumni section, and have a crowd at the Rose Bowl that is over 70,000 decked out in true Bruin Blue. The question is if it's possible to pack the Rose Bowl with True Blue before students get into town?

We did it against Tennessee two years ago when we had a jacked up crowd against the Volunteers to take in the debut of CRN. I think we need to have the students and alum come out in force. It is going to be tough for the students because school will not be in session yet. Still if we start getting the word out now who knows perhaps we can get a strong showing at the Rose Bowl this year.

So what can we do to get the word out? For starters, it looks the Den is getting started early this season. If you have not read bk bruin's post, please make sure to do so by going here. If you have specific ideas on how to get the entire Den Crew out and more students flooding this game, please share ideas with him in that thread and also in this one.

As always, you should retweet and Facebook this post and share this with all of your student and alums and implore them to come out. If you are a student living in the apartments in Westwood, I hope you guys will be inviting friends to come in and crash at your places to get ready for the game. It's a perfect opportunity to have preschool parties a little early around Landfair, Kelton, Midvale and Strathmore.

I wonder if the Greek system can also get their networks activated early to make sure all the Houses can have strong showing for this game. As for the alums, well if you are around in California, I really hope you make a point to get down to this game. Again, I realize we are preaching to the choir here on BN. Everyone who reads this blog and live around California will be going to the game. The question is how we can get more of our friends who might not be as hardcore as all of us to come out.

Besides getting the word out online through our social networks (again please do that simple part by retweeting and Facebooking this post by using the buttons at the top of this post), what else can we do?

If you have ideas/thoughts on how to drive up the turnout please share in this thread.

GO BRUINS.