FanPost

No Excuses in Arlington: Longhorns Dismiss Six Players, UCLA Football Should Have Huge Advantage

Ronald Martinez

If there's one thing that is true of UCLA football, it's that our Bruins have never been afraid to play games in Texas, and with good reason - we win and we win big. Of course, there's the infamous "Rout 66" beat down of the Longhorns in 1997 by Cade and Company in Austin, and the more recent 34-12 upset over the #7-ranked 'Horns by the Kevin Prince and Johnathan Franklin ground assault in 2010 in Austin.

Now, our Bruins will head to Jerry World in Arlington for a "neutral" site game (thanks to our bumbling athletic director Chianti Dan Guerrero) to take on a Texas Longhorns team in transition under first year coach Charlie Strong. Not only are the 'Horns coming off of a 8-5 season that ended the Mack Brown era in Austin, but the Bruins head to Texas with one of the deepest, most talented rosters it has had in the past quarter-century. In 2010, the Bruins were hoping to simply not be humiliated; now, they look at Texas as just one hurdle on their march toward the Pac-12 title and a spot in the College Football Playoff.

Of course, while it already lined up perfectly well for UCLA, it just got even better for the Bruins: as of today, Charlie Strong has now dismissed six Longhorns for a variety of transgressions. First, junior WR Kendall Sanders (37 catches, 361 receiving yards, 1 TD in 2013) and redshirt freshman WR Montrell Meander were suspended indefinitely after the two were arrested and charged with felony sexual assault for allegedly engaging in a two-way rape on a female student.

Now, today it was announced that senior RB Joe Bergeron (272 career rushes, 1,392 career rushing yards, 25 career rushing TDs), starting senior safety Josh Turner, sophomore RB Jalen Overstreet (20 rushes, 102 yards, 2 TDs in 2013), and freshman DB Chevoski Collins have all been dismissed from the team for violation of team rules. While Collins won't be a huge blow, losing two running backs (one with significant game experience) and a projected starting safety is going to be a massive blow to Texas.

Our friends at SBN sister blog, Barking Carnival, have some good insight in how much this hurts their 'Horns, especially as to Turner, and as to Bergeron. The bottom line is that this Texas team is seriously hurting at some key positions, which lines them up to be the perfect whipping boys on national television for our Heisman Trophy candidate in Brett Hundley and our high-powered UCLA squad.

Nothing short of a complete and total victory over Texas, even at a "neutral" venue in Texas, would be acceptable given what bad shape the 'Horns are in. At this rate, the Bruins might be facing an entire team of walk-on players from the Austin intramural squads.

Let's get it done Bruins.

GO BRUINS

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of BruinsNation's (BN) editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of BN's editors.

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