ShareThisBy GREGG PATTON
The Press-Enterprise
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
I think the defensive end was serious.
With neither his voice cracking, nor his gaze dropping to his shoe tops, he said, "Our goal is the national title and I think it's reachable."
Usually, no big deal. We're used to hearing that kind of talk from college kids here in L.A. Of course, they're always wearing cardinal and gold, they play in the games only if they beat out a weight room full of high school All-Americans, and they can't sneeze without possibly infecting a Heisman Trophy candidate.
The odd thing was, this wasn't a USC defensive end talking. It was Bruce Davis of UCLA. You know. The Bruins. The other guys.
There was no need to check Davis' pupils earlier this week to see if he was hallucinating. There's a lot of this kind of talk going around in Westwood, albeit tempered with the realization that UCLA has not been there, has not done that for, oh, about 50-something years.
With 10 of 11 starters returning on both the offensive and defensive sides, 25 seniors on the roster, and Coach Karl Dorrell -- in his fifth year -- finally running a team with only his recruits, expectations have, well, gone dreamy.
Whether the general football-watching public, or even Bruins fans, really think the school is going to compete for a national title is questionable. But this is a veteran team. It did knock off USC last year. And, heck, you gotta believe.
Someone asked senior running back Chris Markey if he'd thought about the idea of playing in the Bowl Championship Series title game in his home state of Louisiana next January.
Apparently, yes.
"To go back to play the national title game in my home town, that would be amazing for me," said Markey, who ran for 1,107 yards last year.
Dorrell isn't doing anything to discourage the upbeat talk.
"There are lots of expectations, inside and outside of the program," he said. "UCLA hasn't been in this position in quite some time."
The Bruins open at Pacific-10 rival Stanford Saturday, and if some of the faithful worry about opening the season with a conference game, instead of a cupcake, Dorrell went to the long view with it on Monday.
"If you think you're going to be a conference contender and be in the BCS picture," said Dorrell. "every game matters."
Talking big may be flirting with disaster, since he has spent his tenure at UCLA one step ahead of a posse of barking alumni who aren't enamored with his 29-21 overall record.
But if Dorrell is going to make the Bruins a nationally elite program, and prove they can compete with the biggest boys, this would be the year. There aren't any excuses left in the duffel bag, and he's not planning on using any.
"Sure that's a fair question," when asked about his hot-seat job. "It's the recognition our program has gained ground.
"These are all kids I've recruited. We're expected to perform. (I've) led these kids the last four years."
There are converts. The Associated Press has UCLA ranked No. 14. It's the first time since 2001 that the Bruins have had a number next to their name in the preseason.
UCLA and its 43-year-old coach may be experienced, but that doesn't mean all of the experiences have been good ones. Those 20 returning starters come from a 7-6 team that played poorly the last time it was on a football field, losing to floundering Florida State in the Emerald Bowl in December.
Dorrell's only really successful season was two years ago when UCLA went 10-2, thanks to a string of entertaining, harrowing and, some would say, lucky come-from-behind victories.
None of that matters now. This is the make-it-or-break-it year, the one that may tell you whether the Dorrell Era is just getting started or entering its wind-down phase.
The Bruins may have a swagger, but they know the only thing that counts are victories.
Said Davis, "We're a senior-laden team and we really haven't done much. (The ranking) hasn't changed our focus. We haven't proven anything."
Markey acknowledged that "USC has all the hype. We just go out and play. We have to win and the respect will come."
Dorrell may like being compared to the cream of the college crop. But until his recruits show up in a BCS game for the first time, it's all just people yapping.
"We're experienced enough to know that the stuff that's on paper doesn't matter," said Dorrell. "It's letting their actions speak."
For the first time since Dorrell arrived, really, it's that time.
(Contact Gregg Patton at gpatton@PE.com)
