So after what Bellerophon rightly called "a disgraceful performance" where do we go from here? I don't know - and what's worse, Jim Mora may not know - but I have a problem on my hands.
Two weeks ago, I mentioned my plans for a game-by-game comparison of this year's team and the 1954 Bruins, who shared the national title with Ohio State. After we almost got our ass whipped today, I don't feel comfortable posting an account of the first game of 1954 (against the San Diego Naval Training Center) side-by-side with today's meltdown.
It's not just how close we came to losing; it's a myriad of things. Jake Brendel's absence is a case in point. We missed him, but the coaches are supposed to have a replacement - get it, a replacement? - ready to fill in when he's hurt. It didn't happen.
I still want to post comparative game stories, but if we're remembering the pride and purpose of 1954, we need to have a point of ... you know ... comparison. I'm thinking of something wild, like a team determined to exert its will regardless of circumstances.
Going into the season, there were a number of posts on BN about the excitement CJM's team was generating. For my part, I said:
I'm beginning this project because I think the current team is potentially the most talented group of football players at UCLA that I've seen in my lifetime. (The Sanders era was over by the time I entered UCLA in 1959, and what I know of it comes from reading. I never saw a team coached by Red Sanders play, so I'm not including his teams in this sweeping comparison.)
And to me, the operative word was potentially. Maybe the team and coaches can turn this around, but there are a lot of doubters after today.
As for the 1954 stories I purchased from the L.A. Times, the numbers still work for purposes of comparison. There were nine games in 1954; there are 12 this year, and I was going to take a break for a vacation (the Texas game) anyway.
Many, probably most, readers of Bruins Nation have heard it said that "a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." (And familiarity with the quote doesn't make it less true.)
So, here's the task for CJM, other coaches and, most of all, players: Take the first step.