The 2008 UCLA Bruins football team represented the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in the 2008 NCAA Division I FBS football season. They opened the season at home against Tennessee under new head coach Rick Neuheisel, at the Rose Bowl stadium in Pasadena, California.UCLA Football 2008 Fan Guide The Bruins played six of the Top 25 teams in the 2007 final Associated Press rankings. More than half of the opponents had won nine or more games during the 2007 season.
The Bruins had seven home games and five away games this season, UCLA's 90th season in college football and 27th season at the Rose Bowl. Since moving to the Rose Bowl, the Bruins had a 109–46–2 record, winning 70% (prior to this season).
On Monday, August 19, Neuheisel named Kevin Craft (#3) as starting quarterback for the first game of the season. Both Ben Olson (#7) and Patrick Cowan (#12) were injured in pre-season practices. Other available quarterbacks were Chris Forcier (#8), Osaar Rasshan (#11), and Nick Crissman (#18).
Alterraun Verner and Aaron Perez were named to the 2008 All-Pacific-10 Conference football team. Verner majors in mathematics and Perez is a sociology major.Inside UCLA Sophomore place kicker Kai Forbath was named to Associated Press' All-America third team.
Schedule
Coaching staff
Rick Neuheisel MVP, 1984 Rose Bowl game Played for USFL San Antonio Gunslingers Assistant UCLA football coach Played for NFL San Diego Chargers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers Head coach, Colorado & Washington Quarterback Coach and Offensive Coordinator for NFL Baltimore Ravens
DeWayne Walker
Defensive coordinator Walker's defensive unit ranked best in each of his first two seasons. UCLA ranked 14th in rushing defense (109.2 yds/game) and 29th in total defense (343.23) in 2007. The Bruins also ranked second in tackles for loss per game (8.7), third in thirddown conversion defense (29.1%), tied for 15th in sacks per game (3.0) and tied for 17th in fumbles caused (14). The Bruins ranked tied for ninth in the nation in rushing defense (91.08) and ranked fifth in third-down conversion defense (28.4%) in 2006.
Norm Chow
Offensive coordinator Chow has worked with several of the NCAA's all-time career pass efficiency leaders. He has mentored six quarterbacks selected in the first-round of the NFL draft (Carson Palmer, Matt Leinart, Philip Rivers, Steve Young, Jim McMahon, Marc Wilson).
Other members of the coaching staff include: Wayne Moses, running backs coach; Bob Palcic, offensive line coach; Reggie Moore, wide receivers coach; Todd Howard, defensive line coach; Chuck Bullough, linebackers coach; Tim Hauck, secondary coach; Frank Gansz Jr., special teams.
Players
Depth chart
+ Defensive starters FS Aaron Ware (27) Glenn Love (20)
WLB MLB SLB Kyle Bosworth (54) Reggie Carter (51) John Hale (12) Sean Westgate (21) Steve Sloan (43) Akeem Ayers (40)
SS Rahim Moore (3) Tony Dye (6)
CB Michael Norris (22) Aaron Hester (9)
DE DT DT DE Tom Blake (56) Brian Price (92) Brigham Harwell (93) Korey Bosworth (55) Reginald Stokes (91) Jerzy Siewierski (90) Chase Moline (50) David Carter (85)
CB Alterraun Verner (1) Courtney Viney (7)
+Offensive starters
SE Dominique Johnson (19) Taylor Embree (82)
LT LG C RG RT Micah Kia (73) Nick Ekbatani (75) Micah Reed (58) Sonny Tevaga (55) Nate Chandler (68) Brandon Bennett (69) Darius Savage (77) Jake Dean (57) Scott Glicksberg (66) Mike Harris (65)
TE Logan Paulsen (86) Ryan Moya (15)
FL Marcus Everett (9) Terrence Austin (4)
QB Kevin Craft (3) Chris Forcier (8)
FB Trevor Theriot (31) Tobi Umodu (45)
RB Kahlil Bell (36) Raymond Carter (20)
SPECIALISTS: PK – Kai Forbath (25), Jeff Locke (49); KO – Jimmy Rotstein (37); P – Aaron Perez (17), 39 Danny Reese (39); LS – Christian Yount (52); H – 17 Aaron Perez (17); PR – Terrence Austin (4), Ryan Graves (2); KOR 4 Terrence Austin (4), Raymond Carter (20).
Media In addition to the games on TV, the football games were broadcast on the UCLA ISP Sports Network (AM570 Sports, in Los Angeles), with Chris Roberts, Matt Stevens and Wayne Cook. 2008 marked the 17th year of the voice of the Bruins for Roberts, 12th season for Stevens, and 7th year for Cook. Both Stevens and Cook are former quarterbacks for UCLA.
Game summaries
Tennessee
This was the season-opening game for both teams. Tennessee held a 7–4–2 record on the Bruins before game time. Only San Diego State had more games with the Bruins in a non-conference series history. The 1996 game against Tennessee set an attendance record with a crowd of 106,297 at Neyland Stadium.
UCLA and the University of Tennessee agreed to move up their football game to Labor Day in order to have the game nationally televised on ESPN as one of only two football games played on the final day of college football opening weekend. The game was originally scheduled for September 6. The game kicked off from the Rose Bowl at 5 p.m. Pacific Time in the ESPN Monday Night Football time slot, which for the rest of the season was devoted to NFL professional football. The moving of the game altered the schedules of the two teams. Tennessee was scheduled to begin the season on August 30 against the University of Alabama-Birmingham, but that game was moved to September 13. UCLA changed the September 6 slot to be an open date.
UCLA went ahead in the first quarter when Sean Westgate returned a blocked-punt for a 17-yard touchdown. After throwing four interceptions in the first half, Kevin Craft threw a 3-yard pass to Ryan Moya in a 70-yard drive that gave UCLA the lead late in the fourth quarter. Then Tennessee's Daniel Lincoln's 47-yard field goal tied the game with no time in regulation. But Kai Forbath kicked a 42-yard field goal to give the Bruins a 27–24 lead in overtime. The Volunteers were unable to match the Bruins in overtime when Lincoln's field goal attempt went wide left.
The win made Rick Neuheisel, a former UCLA quarterback who was the 1984 Rose Bowl MVP, only the third head coach to win in the first game. The win also marked the first win as a Bruin offensive coordinator for Norm Chow.
Tennessee Head Coach Phil Fulmer has a season opener record of 14–3, with all three losses coming to teams in California: a 25–23 loss to UCLA at the Rose Bowl in 1994, a 45–31 loss to California in 2007, and this game.
BYU
It was a homecoming for Norman Chow, who was an assistant coach at BYU for many years. Dewayne Walker also coached the Cougars as defensive coordinator. The Bruins held a 7–2 record on the Cougars prior to the game. BYU was ranked No. 18 in the AP Top 25 poll and No. 15 in the USA Today/Coaches Poll. Former BYU quarterback Ben Olson did not play due to injuries. In his first career start at San Diego State, Kevin Craft completed 20 of 32 passes for 216 yards against BYU.
BYU scored first on a Max Hall pass to Dennis Pitta for 10 yards for a touchdown; then another Hall pass to Austin Collie for a two-yard score in the second quarter. UCLA fumbled the ball and the Cougars recovered, which led to Hall's pass to Collie for the third touchdown. The Bruins again fumbled and Hall had his 4th touchdown pass to Michael Reed. Another Bruins' fumble gave Hall his 5th pass touchdown. Before the end of second quarter, Hall threw his 6th pass (2 yards) to Pitta.
In the second half, Max Hall passed to Harvey Unga for a 6-yard touchdown, Mitch Payne kicked a 24-yard field goal and Wayne Latu rushed for a 13-yard touchdown to give BYU the 59–0 win. This was the worst loss the Bruins endured since a 76–0 defeat in the very first UCLA–USC rivalry football game.
Arizona
The Bruins held a 19–11–2 record on the Wildcats at game time. On a day when the Bruins were woeful in punt coverage and bad in third down conversions, the Arizona Wildcats won 31–10 in the Rose Bowl. Arizona quarterback Willie Tuitama, who had been a thorn to UCLA for the last couple of years, threw 222 yards and a pair of touchdowns to tight end Rob Gronkowski.
The only touchdown for UCLA came from Korey Bosworth, who recovered a Wildcat fumble and rolled one yard into the end zone for the score. Kai Fobath kicked a 35-yard field goal to cut Arizona's lead to 17–10 at half-time.
No scoring by either team in the third quarter, but Arizona took care of that by scoring two touchdowns with the short fields in the final period. UCLA running back Chane Moline (#42) had 72 yards rushing and Arizona's wide receiver Mike Thomas (#10) caught for 112 yards. Aaron Perez kicked two punts for more than 50 yards for the Bruins and they were downed inside the two-yard line.
Fresno State
Before the game, the Bruins held a 6–1 record on the Bulldogs. The game was a public safety appreciation game. Because of a knee injury, Fresno State's top defense lineman Jon Monga did not play.
A Derrick Coleman fumble in the redzone in the fourth quarter took away the Bruins' hope of keeping the Bulldogs from winning a game in the Rose Bowl stadium. Fresno State won its first game there by five points, taking control of the final 8 minutes and 55 seconds and not allowing a UCLA comeback.
Washington State
The Bruins had a 35–18–1 record on the Cougars. UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame Ceremony was held during half-time. The game was the conference opener for both teams.
UCLA quarterback Kevin Craft (#3) passed for 224 yards, Derrick Coleman (#33) rushed for 51 yards and Terrence Austin (#4) had 78 yards of receiving in this game. There were no UCLA turnovers for the first time since their game at Arizona on November 3, 2007. With the win, Coach Rick Neuheisel has a 6–0 record on the Washington State Cougars.
Oregon
The Ducks beat the Washington Huskies 44–10 in the first game of the season. UCLA led the series with a 39–22 record on Oregon.
The Oregon Ducks handed UCLA a fourth loss for the season by scoring two touchdowns in the first half. In the early third quarter, Derrick Coleman scored a touchdown for UCLA, but the Ducks answered with a LeGarrette Blout touchdown within 90 seconds. Kahlil Bell scored with 27 seconds left in the third quarter to close the gap at 21–14.
Fourth quarter saw both teams scoring a field goal and a touchdown. Jeff Miller caught a touchdown pass for the Bruins and Blount had a touchdown for the Ducks.
Stanford
It was Homecoming, parent's weekend and high school Band Day at the Rose Bowl for the Bruins. High school bands, along with Stanford Band and UCLA Band performed during half time. The Cardinal started the season with a Pac-10 win over the Beavers 36–28 and had a 4–3 (3–1 in Pac-10) record entering the game. In the previous week, the Cardinal beat Arizona 24–23 in an exciting conference game, while the Bruins lost a close game to the Ducks. UCLA had a record of 44–31–3 on the Cardinal going into the game.
With ten seconds left and UCLA behind by four points, quarterback Kevin Craft passed to freshman Cory Harkey for a 7-yard touchdown in the northeast corner of the Rose Bowl to stage an upset win, 23–20, over the Stanford Cardinal. Two turnovers by the Bruins led to the 14 Stanford points in the first half.
In the game, Bruins' Craft had 285 passing yards and Taylor Embree caught 72 yards, while Stanford's Toby Gerhard rushed for 138 yards. Also for UCLA, Terrence Austin scored on a 2-yard pass from Craft and Kai Forbath kicked three field goals (37, 19, and 28 yards). Gerhard scored two touchdowns and Aaron Zagory kicked two field goals (40 and 29 yards) for Stanford.
California