Bruins Suspended Themselves First

Seems like DeShaun Foster has fumbled again. This time, it may cost him his college career.

David Allen Tyau

Pasadena

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Once again we see the play unfold.

The curtain opens: Act 1: Opening day. The Bruins start the season with the sense of a championship about them; gone is the malaise from last year. Each victory is more impressive than the last. Heisman hopes rise with poll ratings.

Act 2, Scene 1: Midseason. The Bruins, knowing that if they win out, they may play for the national championship, show up unprepared to play and completely collapse against a team they should beat. Championship expectations go from a seething boil to a tepid simmer.

Act 2, Scene 2: I scan the BCS rankings and the top team’s schedule and convince myself that if we win out and get some breaks, we still have a shot at playing in the Rose Bowl. Surely the Bruins, their pride stung and now aroused from their stupor, will snap back to championship form. Surely we can crush Washington State. If luck and winning out aren’t enough and we can’t play in the Rose Bowl, the Fiesta won’t be too bad.

Act 2, Scene 3: Same as Act 2, Scene 1, except the word “seething” is deleted and the words “tepid simmer” are replaced by “vow to beat USC and play in the Whatever Bowl.”

Act 3: The preponderance of malaise clouds all but the promise of next season.

Close curtain.

If you really liked this play, be sure to catch the revival at the Westwood Playhouse next year.

Richard Bussell

Santa Clarita

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As I tried to eat my breakfast Sunday morning, still numb from the Bruins’ second consecutive loss the previous day, I inadvertently “fumbled” my hot apple “turnover” onto the floor. I thought about still eating the hot pastry, and was going to do so until my brain “intercepted” those thoughts and told me to instead “throw it away” in the trash can.

Funny how those plentiful miscues contributing to the UCLA loss to Washington State affected everyone. The national championship gone now, I’m hoping that we can still salvage the season, including beating USC, and still make a semi-respectable bowl that doesn’t have the suffix “.com” in it.

Mark J. Featherstone

Windsor Hills

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There is nothing wrong with the Bruins that an agile, quick-footed, consistent 55% pass-completion QB couldn’t cure. It seems like UCLA throws more low-percentage bombs than all the slants, outs, hitches and screens combined. Too bad, because the defense played their guts out holding Washington State to more than 200 yards below its season average.

Pete Vignoli

Claremont

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The first thing Bob Toledo should do to get the Bruins going again is fire his offensive coordinator, himself.

Not only is the offense not in tune with the times, Toledo’s play calling makes defensive coordinators for opposing teams look like geniuses.

Toledo has never learned that the best way to penetrate a wall is to go over it, not through it. He has never learned not to attack a defense at its strongest point but to take what the defense gives you.

UCLA has the talent, but Toledo has never learned how to exploit it and chances for two national titles have faded away.

Jack Allen

Pacific Palisades

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How can a team look so good one week and so terrible the next? There’s no doubt that the talent is there, so the answer must be the coaching. I know that Bob Toledo works very hard, but he just doesn’t seem to have what it takes. Of course, Terry Donahue was not a great coach, either, but Toledo makes him look like the second coming of Vince Lombardi.

Jack Wolf

Westwood

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Bowl Championship Screw-up Recipe:

* Dozens of Paus sacks, regardless of field position.

* Use third-string QB even if starter is able to play.

* Check defense: If eight or more playing run, call running play.

* Substitute two NFL-bound tight ends liberally, but pass to them only three times per game.

* Receivers not to touch defenders until after interception is made.

* QBs to misfire on short and long passes, and not throw anything in between.

* Rotate defensive backs so that a receiver is guarded by someone at least eight inches shorter, especially near goal line.

* Lots of long-pass prayers, best if tried on fourth down.

Include “extra benefits” for star players before big games to motivate other players.

Mix ingredients with bad coaching decisions, then add worst looking play calling you can find. Stew for three more weeks and wait for pot-luck invitation to third-tier bowl in El Paso or Hawaii.

Scott Lorenz

La Canada