Rewatching Karl Dorrell's UCLA play No. 1 USC in 2004
As everybody has been deprived of live sports over the last few months, everybody has been watching old games.
BuffsCountry wanted to dive into the old UCLA games when Karl Dorrell was the head coach. What better place to start then when his Bruins played No. 1 USC in 2004 and knocked them out of national title contention by only losing by five points.
What did we learn?
The first thing you notice about this game is how much college football has changed since 2004. It doesn't seem that long ago but it was centuries ago in terms of how much the game has advanced.
Everything is under center and the blocking schemes are completely different. It's wild to think the west coast offense was hitting its peak at this time and there are only variations of it still alive today. The fullback is also prevalent in both offenses. I think there are kids born in the 2000s that have no idea what a fullback is.
The game starts off and USC immediately jumped out to a 7-0 lead. Reggie Bush scored on the second play from scrimmage of the game.
It says a lot about Dorrell's team that they never got rattled. It took them a while to get a rhythm going in the game.
"They'll be outsized a little bit at the corners but they're tough guys and they play hard," was Keith Jackson's introduction of UCLA's secondary. He could have used that for most of UCLA's team. They look like they don't belong on the same field as USC... until they do.
The Trojans jumped out to a 10-0 lead and then the Bruins started to get some pressure on Matt Leinart and forced to him to feel uncomfortable in the pocket.
They forced USC to punt early in the second quarter and that completely flipped the game. UCLA's Craig Bragg took the punt to the house.
Once they got the opening, UCLA started to get really aggressive. They started to bring different pressures on Leinart including a cornerback blitz a couple of times. And they just started playing harder than the Trojans.
The Bruins were burned by Reggie Bush a couple of times but without his home run ability, USC wasn't very successful offensively.
UCLA was down 12 with under three minutes left, got it to the 7-yard line before facing a fourth and two. The Bruins scored a touchdown.
Then USC recovered the onside kick, they were in field goal range and could just bleed out the clock. The Bruins' only hope was a fumble. And somehow they got one.
But the ensuing play UCLA's quarterback throws an ill-advised ball over the middle and it got picked off. Game over.
The Trojans led the entire game and the Bruins had every reason to quit but they didn't. They kept playing hard and made the plays when they needed to. I think that says a lot about their coach.
Join us next time for another UCLA game breakdown. We're thinking either beating No. 2 USC in 2006 or the 22-point comeback against Northwestern in the Sun Bowl.
Oh and how about this graphic, huh? Ah the good ol' days...
