Bruin Bites: Honoring Nick, Tailgates, Questioning Barr, & Dorm Sweet Dorm

It's Saturday game day, so let's kick off the day with a few notes from around the Bruiniverse

After an incredibly emotional weekend last Saturday in Lincoln, the Bruins worked to get back in their routine in Westwood this week as they prepared for New Mexico State. But U.C.L.A. will take the opportunity to honor fallen WR Nick Pasquale in front of the home fans at the Rose Bowl tonight. From Chris Foster and Hailey Bronson-Potts at the LAT:

There will be 20,000 Pasquale towels handed out Saturday when the Bruins play New Mexico State, and T-shirts will be for sale.

The shirts were donated by Adidas and the printing was arranged for free. All proceeds will go to the Nick Pasquale Foundation.

The 20-year-old's No. 36 jersey will also be on the Rose Bowl turf the remainder of the season.

At the Rose Bowl on Saturday, UCLA will present a framed jersey to Pasquale's parents and brother during the first quarter.

An earlier article mentioned there would be 30,000 towels. The fact is that there should be a towel for everyone entering the gates tonight. But besides that, good move by Adidas and the University on this one.

The Official Site hosted a Q&A with All-American OLB Anthony Barr, who showed everyone in Lincoln exactly why he deserved numerous defensive player of the week honors this week. Barr talks about how he got into football as a kid (thank goodness he did!) and the difficulties of changing positions (thank goodness he did!) He also talks about what he does to keep in shape and stay ready throughout the season which leads to a somewhat surprising answer as to what he would like to do with his life outside of football.

Before the game, there are some new tailgating options for Bruin fans. From the official site:

Bruin fans have new tailgating options at the Rose Bowl for UCLA football home games, including the Ralphs Ultimate Tailgate and Bruin Spirit Zone.

The Fan Zone presented by Ralphs is located in Lot H, just outside of Gate A & B along Rosemont Ave. and Arroyo Blvd. The Fan Zone is open four hours prior to kickoff and is free and open to all fans.

New in 2013 is the Ralphs Ultimate Tailgate, which offers fans unlimited food and nonalcoholic beverages beginning three hours prior to each game. Guests over the age of 21 will receive three free drink tickets, good for beer and wine. Admission to this area is $25 or FREE with a Ralphs receipt for $25+ of qualifying purchases. Fans can pay to enter the area on gameday with cash or credit card.

The football team starts their Bruin Walk at the Fan Zone, between the Chancellor's Tent and Food Zone, along Rosemont Blvd. and continuing through the middle of the Fan Zone toward the stadium. The Bruin Walk begins at approximately 2.5 hours prior to kickoff.

The Fan Zone also contains areas with televisions, a DJ, numerous food options, a kids entertainment area, and a UCLA Store outlet.

It should be a beautiful afternoon in the Arroyo Seco to enjoy some of the pregame atmosphere no matter where you choose to set up. I hope all Bruin fans will welcome the New Mexico State faithful the same way that Husker Nation welcomed the Bruins before last Saturday's game.

Hopefully that tailgaiting scene will include a lot more students this weekend. The LA CBS News affiliate Channel 2 talks about move-in week at U.C.L.A. With the addition of two new residence halls, the school will have a record 11,000 students living in on campus housing and most of them will be arriving this weekend.  DeNeve Drive is going to look like the 405 on a Monday morning.  New residents were welcomed yesterday by the UCLA Marching Band and other festivities prepared by On-Campus housing (which may differ slightly from the festivities that the students themselves will be hosting once the parents drop them off and drive away). I hope Dan can find a cheap and easy way to get them all to Pasadena on Saturdays to cheer on the Bruins. Eleven thousand students would help make for a great home field advantage in the Rose Bowl, and a great base of support in future years.

There may be one other visitor at the Rose Bowl tonight who is not a student. Yet. Note the ranking.

5-star RB Joe Mixon will NOT visit #Florida this weekend - Potential visit to #UCLA in works http://t.co/VDOi8k1pZM @JCShurburtt

— Justin Hopkins (@JHopkins247) September 19, 2013

Stay tuned to BN for our game day open threads as we watch the day's happenings and get ready for tonight's game against New Mexico State.

GO BRUINS!!