Their system is sound one for opener
UCLA doesn’t play Axl Rose and Snoop Dogg songs at earsplitting levels in practice to better familiarize itself with the lyrics.
The Bruins are girding themselves for the noise they will hear at various stadiums throughout the season. Nowhere on their schedule figures to be as loud as Texas A&M’s Kyle Field, where a crowd of more than 100,000 is expected for the Aggies’ season opener against UCLA on Saturday.
Bruins Coach Jim Mora has favored using music at volumes suited for MTV’s “Headbangers Ball” instead of the simulated crowd noise preferred by some of his counterparts.
Ignoring the racket is only part of the team’s preparations. Communication between quarterback Josh Rosen and his fellow offensive players will be essential to avoid wayward snaps and false-start penalties.
“It’s always important to have a silent count and a couple of changeups when you get in an environment that is pretty extreme so that you can still function,” Mora said Tuesday on a conference call of Pac-12 Conference coaches. “We like to have different ways that we can manipulate the count.”
UCLA has not played in front of a crowd that reached six figures since a road game against Texas in 2010. But Mora said playing at Oregon’s Autzen Stadium, Utah’s Rice-Eccles Stadium and Washington’s Husky Stadium in recent seasons was good preparation for what awaits his team.
“Those crowds are as noisy as you get,” Mora said.
Rosen noted that scoring on the first drive on the road against Utah last season helped minimize the impact of the crowd during UCLA’s 17-9 victory.
There are only so many degrees of loud, according to Rosen.
“I mean, after like 50,000 [fans] it all sounds the same,” Rosen said. “You really don’t hear anything.”
Weathering it
The forecast for College Station on Saturday calls for a high of 89 degrees with a 40% chance of afternoon thunderstorms. The humidity level is expected to be 68%.
UCLA should be well prepared for everything except the humidity.
Asked about the hottest temperatures he had endured in a game, defensive tackle Eli Ankou said, “Actually, it wasn’t a game. It was San Bernardino.”
The sound bite probably would have pleased Mora. Discomfort was exactly the point of the Bruins’ week on the road for training camp.
Remembering Nick
Not all of the Bruins rested during the team’s weekend free from practices.
Quarterback Mike Fafaul participated in a 5K run/walk Sunday in San Clemente to raise money for the Nick Pasquale Foundation in honor of the UCLA walk-on receiver who was killed in September 2013 when he was struck by a car while walking home from a friend’s house.
Offensive tackle Conor McDermott, who showed up late after receiving treatment on campus, said he arrived shortly after Fafaul and former Bruins teammates Colby Cyburt, Taylor Lagace and Carl Hulick finished the race.
“They were all on the ground passed out, drenched in sweat,” McDermott said.
McDermott said a group of UCLA players visits Pasquale’s family in San Clemente throughout the year, including a summer pig roast.
“Nick had a tremendous impact on this program and he continues to have an impact to this day,” Mora said, noting that the Bruins end every special teams meeting by referencing his nickname with the saying, “Live like Paq.”