Oct. 24, 2011

Weekly Release

Coach Neuheisel Weekly Press Conference

Game Coverage
Gametracker	Live Audio	Gameday Central
Season Statistics	Media Guide	Tickets
TV: Prime Ticket	Radio: AM 570 (KLAC)

UCLA Hosts California Saturday
UCLA (3-4, 2-2) returns home to the Rose Bowl to host California (4-3, 1-3) on Saturday, Oct. 29. The UCLA Homecoming game will be televised locally in Southern California by Prime Ticket, with kickoff set for 4:00 p.m. PT. Bill Macdonald and J.J. Stokes will man the announce booth with Chris McGee on the sideline. AM 570 (KLAC) and the Bruin IMG Radio Network (Chris Roberts, Matt Stevens and Wayne Cook) will radio broadcast the contest. The game will also be broadcast nationally on SIRIUS XM (Ch. 85). Adidas has provided the Bruin team with special pink accessories to wear for this game to signal support for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

The Series
UCLA leads California 49-31-1 in a series which dates back to 1933. The Bruins have a 10-4 edge in games played in the Rose Bowl, where UCLA has won four of the last five meetings with the Golden Bears. Cal topped the Bruins 45-26 in the last game played in Pasadena (2009).

In that last matchup in the Rose Bowl, each team put up over 400 yards of total offense, but Cal prevailed 45-26 on a 100-degree October day. The Golden Bears jumped out to a 28-14 lead in a battle of big early plays. Cal's scores each came on plays of at least 40 yards in length. UCLA answered with a couple of Johnathan Franklin scoring runs of seven and seventy-four yards, but the Bears went into the halftime break with a 35-20 lead. A couple of Kai Forbath field goals narrowed the margin to 38-26 entering the fourth quarter. Cal returned an interception of a Kevin Prince pass for a touchdown to end the Bruins hopes. Prince finished with his first career 300-yard passing day (311) after hitting on 21 of 41 attempts. Franklin had 11 carries for 101 yards on the ground and his pair of touchdowns.

In UCLA's last win in the series, a 2007 battle played in the Rose Bowl, the Bruins improved to 4-0 in the Pac-10 at the time with the 30-21 win over then No. 10-ranked Cal. After the Bears got on the board first, UCLA reeled off 10 straight points on a scoring pass from Patrick Cowan to Logan Paulsen and a Kai Forbath field goal. Cal regained the lead on another scoring pass and the Bruins closed to one-point at the half, 14-13, on another Forbath field goal. UCLA jumped back on top after wide receiver Brandon Breazell threw a scoring pass. Cal answered with a short scoring pass late in the third quarter for a 21-20 Bear lead. A 27-yard field goal by Forbath pushed UCLA ahead 23-21 with 3:08 to play. After Cal had driven to the Bruin 30-yard line, UCLA cornerback Alterraun Verner jumped in front of a waiting Bear receiver and returned the interception 76 yards for a touchdown with 1:30 on the clock, sealing the win. Kahlil Bell ran for 142 yards in the contest.

One of the most memorable games in recent series history came in the 2005 season. UCLA was forced to play catch up for most of the contest as Cal took an early 14-0 lead in the first three minutes of the contest. Drew Olson connected with Joe Cowan to make it 14-7 at the end of the first quarter. Maurice Drew ran it in from 12-yards out to tie the score seconds into the new quarter. Cal ran off the next 13 points of the second quarter before Drew scored on a one-yard run in the final seconds of the half to make the Golden Bear lead 27-21 at the break. An 81-yard punt return by Drew pushed the Bruins on top, but Cal answered with the last 10 points of the third quarter for a 37-28 advantage. After the Bears added on a field goal early in the fourth quarter, the deficit stood at 40-28 with a little over eight minutes left. Faced with a fourth-and-two situation, UCLA lined up in punt formation only to fake the kick. The Bruins picked up over 40 yards after a run and a personal foul penalty against the Bears and were in business with a first-and-goal. Olson ran in for a one-yard touchdown to close to within 40-35. The Bruin defense forced Cal to punt with just over 2:30 to play. With just over a minute-and-a-half remaining Olson hit Drew on a 28-yard scoring pass. The two-point conversion was unsuccessful and UCLA had a 41-40 lead with 1:35 remaining. Trey Brown's interception gave the ball back to the Bruins and Drew's fifth touchdown of the game came as time expired.

NOTES
*The Bruins have allowed 0.86 sacks per game this season to rank 11th in the nation.
*Wide receiver Nelson Rosario, who was added to the Biletnikoff Watch List at mid-season, ranks sixth in the Pac-12 in receiving yards per game (79.7). He has the team lead with 30 catches; and is on the all-time lists at UCLA in both receptions (12th) and receiving yards (13th) (see chart in bio for more details).
*Linebacker Patrick Larimore (46) tops the team in tackles and ranks 12th in the Pac-12 (6.6/g).
*Running back Johnathan Franklin has risen to 13th on the all-time school rushing list and become the 15th Bruin to go over 2,000 yards rushing for a career (at Stanford).
*With his 17 completion, 286-yard passing effort at Arizona, Kevin Prince moved up to 10th on the all-time school completions list.
*Sophomore Dietrich Riley had a career-high eight tackles to lead the Bruins at Arizona; he also had a career-best two tackles for loss in the contest.
*Senior offensive tackle Mike Harris leads the team with 35 career starts.
*Redshirt junior defensive tackle Donovan Carter leads the Bruin linemen with 22 tackles this season.
*The Bruins will be without wide receivers Taylor Embree, Shaq Evans, Ricky Marvray and Randall Carroll, offensive lineman Alberto Cid (1/2 game) and defensive lineman Cassius Marsh for the Cal game due to suspension by the Pac-12 Conference Office for their actions in last Thursday's contest at Arizona.
*Tight end Joseph Fauria, added to the Mackey Award Watch List at mid-season, caught his third and fourth touchdown passes of the year at Stanford, the most by a Bruin tight end since Marcedes Lewis had 10 scoring grabs in the 2005 season.
*The 272 yards rushing against San Jose marked the sixth time in the last two seasons the Bruins have gone over the 200-yard mark on the ground (2011- at Houston 232, San Jose State 272; last year v. Houston-266, at Texas-264, v. Wash. St.-437, v. Oregon State-210.