LOS ANGELES -- UCLA’s difficult beginning to the season has gone from bad to worse, with an off-the-field incident for one player casting a shadow on the team’s 0-2 start.
Now the Bruins have less time than usual to turn their fortunes around as they host New Mexico on Friday for what will be their best chance at a win thus far this season.
To account for the short week, the team broke from their regular schedule and held a walkthrough practice on Sunday, less than 24 hours after a 30-23 loss to UNLV.
“We were able to get a good practice in and get the corrections done yesterday,” head coach DeShaun Foster said after Monday’s practice. “Nobody on the team was upset or anything. They understood it’s a short week, so you’ve got to get back out there on a Sunday and let’s play. It just felt good that they actually were able to respond today also, too. So Monday was a really good practice, especially being in pads. These guys really came out here and practiced hard and executed the way they needed.”
“The good thing about playing one week earlier is you get to get back on that field a day earlier,” redshirt junior tight end Jack Pedersen added. “So I think all of us, myself included, are just ecstatic for a new opportunity to get on the field and really show what this team’s about and how we play Bruin football.”
The game will take place in the aftermath of backup quarterback Pierce Clarkson’s arrest on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon this past Friday, first reported by Fox 11 Los Angeles.
“We are aware of the charges against Pierce Clarkson,” UCLA Athletics said in a statement. “He has been indefinitely suspended from all team activity pending the outcome of the legal process. This situation will be evaluated by the UCLA Office of Student Conduct and any further action taken will be in accordance with that evaluation and University policy.”
Clarkson did not make the trip to Las Vegas for a game in which the Bruins, coming off a 43-10 loss to Utah, trailed 23-0 in the first half before a much stronger second half. Despite all the frustration from the team’s first six quarters of the season, the coaches and players believe they can take a lot of positives and momentum from the second half against UNLV.
“A lot of positives to take from that second half,” Pedersen mentioned. “That starts with coming in on Sunday and cleaning up the mistakes in the first half and being able to find what did work in the second half for us.”
“I think if we could put together two halves like we did in that second half and play like that early on, then a lot of these numbers might be a little different,” Foster said. “We played a really good team in that first game, and the second game, didn’t start the game necessarily the way that we wanted to, and I was just glad that they were able to come out after half and start executing the way that they needed to, because a lot of it is just execution. I think that we’re stopping ourselves more than the opponent.”
If the rough start is hurting the players, they didn’t show it during Monday’s practice. Instead, they demonstrated excitement and enthusiasm, with high volumes of noise and passion emanating from the Drake Stadium field.
“Guys are still fighting. They understand it’s early season,” Foster said. “Tough times don’t last, tough people do. Things have gotten tough, and we didn’t really get the victory, and it was unfortunate. But the fact that they came out here and you could feel the juice, and you guys heard it, their mindset is correct.”