There are lot of things to be upset about from this loss.
We didn't need to give up that TD at the end of the first half (which turned out to be a difference).
We made a lot of mental mistakes costing us down the stretch. Our OL got savaged at the times. Our tackling was atrocious in stretches (not sure I have ever seen the SS struggled in same uniform worn by greats like Horton, Goodwin, Henderson, Turner, Darby et al). Our QB looked like a mediocre 3rd stinger (who is not capable of throwing beyond 10 yards) who was reminding many of us as the worst combination of Rob Walker and Brett Johnson (possibly two of the worst Bruin QB from last couple of decades):
Photo Credit: Rick Bowmer/AP (via ESPN)
BUT ... despite all of that ... I think the positives from this game ... outweighs all of the aforementioned negatives.
Even with an young team that was beat up and physically outmatched ... we fought to the finish. The final score was 24-31. Here is the box score.
The defense took it in the chin early (and other parts of the game) kept fighting. The offense kept chipping away. Even Kevin Craft despite all his struggles didn't give up and kept battling away.
This team is growing up infront of our yes. By "growing up" we are not paying lip service like it was done under previous regime. This team is much better than the team we saw getting humiliated last time it was on the road.
Now what this team has to do ... is finish one of these games. I think it will happen. I despise moral victories and I would advise everyone against celebrating a loss.
However, what we can do ... is to get fired up for the next game and fill up the Rose Bowl with everything we can muster from our collective passion buckets next Saturday because it was obvious to me that our boys gave everything they had tonight.
Oh ... say a prayer for Terrence Austin ... a Bruin warrior (like rest of his team-mates).
GO BRUINS.