UCLA vs. USC rivalry revives Bruins’ lackluster season
LOS ANGELES — A 2-8 team practices under the midmorning sun. Its postseason hopes are long gone. National reporters have barely sniffed the Westwood campus in months, not since the initial curiosity of Chip Kelly wore off with five consecutive losses to open the season.
But there’s still “a little more pep in our step in practice,” UCLA linebacker Tyree Thompson insists.
It must be rivalry week.
The struggling Bruins meet another slumping team in crosstown counterpart USC today at 12:30 p.m. at the Rose Bowl. It’s the first time since 2010 neither team was ranked entering what Kelly called one of the “iconic games” of college football.
The Bruins (2-8, 2-5 Pac-12) and Trojans (5-5, 4-4 Pac-12) have 13 losses between them coming into the game, the most ever in the rivalry’s history.
But with bragging rights on the line and old high-school feuds to settle, there’s still something to play for this weekend as the Bruins have lost three in a row to USC.
“It gets the hype up,” safety Quentin Lake said.
During this season especially, UCLA could use some hype.
When UCLA has the ball
UCLA was so thin at offensive line when Kelly took over that the first-year head coach issued a half-joking plea to reporters during spring practice. If any of them knew any offensive linemen, tell them to come to Westwood, he deadpanned. Kelly reinforced the group with a grad transfer, a former defensive lineman and a handful of walk-ons.
Suddenly, the Bruins feel like they have a wealth of serviceable linemen.
To spell two starters last week, freshman Alec Anderson and redshirt freshman Sam Marrazzo rotated on the line against Arizona State, making their first appearances on offense this season. For Anderson, it was his UCLA debut.
“They’ve earned their playing time,” Kelly said. “Alec has improved really dramatically as this season has gone along and has pushed [others], so it’s good for us that we’re continuing to develop some depth along the front.”
Anderson, an Etiwanda grad, subbed for right tackle Jake Burton briefly in the third quarter, while Marrazzo, a walk-on redshirt freshman from Aliso Niguel High, came in at right guard for Michael Alves on UCLA’s third-quarter touchdown drive. Offensive line coach Justin Frye made it a habit to rotate offensive linemen early in the season as well, switching Alves for redshirt junior Josh Wariboko-Alali.
Alves hinted more new faces could be making their debuts this week. Freshman Jon Gaines appeared to take backup center reps in practice this week. Alves said. Gaines, Anderson and Baraka Beckett could grow into key pieces for the Bruins in coming years.
“All of those guys are very talented, they just have to get a little more experience under their belt,” the redshirt sophomore said. “In high school, it’s not as strict, the practice isn’t all that, so you kind of get recruited more off of talent than technique . ... Once they get a year under their belt and they get a full offseason, their technique’s going to improve a lot and I think we’re going to be able to see their potential.”
When USC has the ball
Thompson always hoped he’d have a chance to play in this rivalry. The Bishop Alemany alumnus saw the way it lit up the city. It even divided his own house.
The junior college linebacker was a lone UCLA Bruin in his family of mostly USC fans. But since he signed with the Bruins, Thompson got his family to flip its allegiance. “We all switched over,” he said with a smile. In his first year of FBS football, Thompson took over the starting job after a training camp injury to senior Josh Woods. Thompson, whose circuitous route to UCLA went through Sacramento State and LA Valley College as he doubled as a night-time janitor with his father, is now UCLA’s fourth-leading tackler with 47 stops and three tackles for loss. In UCLA’s injury-ravaged linebacker group, Thompson is one of the few to remain healthy all year.
But the 6-foot-1 redshirt junior gave himself just a “decent” grade for the year. He’s excited when the defense executes and rallies to the ball, but he’s disappointed when he misses a tackle, which has been an ongoing problem for the entire defense during the past month.