PASADENA, Calif. - For three quarters and seven minutes, Bob Chesney's Rose Bowl debut was a dull affair, then just as quickly, the Bruins gave their faithful fans and historic stadium plenty to cheer about.
The SDSU Aztecs came to town looking to present a challenge and they certainly didn't make things easy on the Bruins, nor did the Bruins make things easy back. Both siders traded drives where they accomplished relatively nothing. So much nothing in fact the first play to go past the 50-yard line and into opposing territory didn't happen until Brian Rowe Jr. caught a pass with 11:47 left in the second quarter and both sides went into halftime tied 0-0.
Neither side particularly excelled with their passing, even if UCLA had the slight edge through the first half and finished with a much larger edge with 151 net passing yards to just 45 by SDSU and both sides were equally unsuccessful in their rushing attempts early on, but things started to change for UCLA in the second half.
"That is not the way we want to play football, obviously in the first half," Chesney said. "But at the same point in time, that's where we found ourselves. And I think every once in a while, it wasn't pretty, but it was gritty, and you need one of those."
UCLA struck first with a rushing touchdown courtesy of fifth-year running back Wayne Knight early in the third quarter, but UCLA could have scored far earlier than that if senior quarterback Nico Iamaleava made a different decision in a critical moment.
#first #things
The SDSU Aztecs came to town looking to present a challenge and they certainly didn't make things easy on the Bruins, nor did the Bruins make things easy back. Both siders traded drives where they accomplished relatively nothing. So much nothing in fact the first play to go past the 50-yard line and into opposing territory didn't happen until Brian Rowe Jr. caught a pass with 11:47 left in the second quarter and both sides went into halftime tied 0-0.
Neither side particularly excelled with their passing, even if UCLA had the slight edge through the first half and finished with a much larger edge with 151 net passing yards to just 45 by SDSU and both sides were equally unsuccessful in their rushing attempts early on, but things started to change for UCLA in the second half.
"That is not the way we want to play football, obviously in the first half," Chesney said. "But at the same point in time, that's where we found ourselves. And I think every once in a while, it wasn't pretty, but it was gritty, and you need one of those."
UCLA struck first with a rushing touchdown courtesy of fifth-year running back Wayne Knight early in the third quarter, but UCLA could have scored far earlier than that if senior quarterback Nico Iamaleava made a different decision in a critical moment.
#first #things
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