Really, Bruins Glad to Be in Pasadena

The UCLA Bruins say, with straight faces, they are excited about playing Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl, either trying to convince everyone of that or convince themselves.

In the wake of the 49-45 loss to Miami that left some Bruins in tears and all the Bruins out of contention for the Fiesta Bowl and a possible national championship, they insist they are able to look ahead with genuine interest, and that it will only be as far ahead as Jan. 1 in Pasadena. Not three nights later in Tempe, Ariz., to what would have been the showdown with Tennessee if notfor the UCLA defense and the fumbles and the UCLA defense and the Hurricanes’ commendable character--after trailing by 17 points late in the third quarter a week after losing by 53--and the UCLA defense.

The Bruins sounded like they meant it, admirable under the circumstances. The game their predecessors had always strived to reach had in recent months, as the chances at a national title became realistic, turned into the game they had hoped to not need, officially the fallback plan after the Pacific 10 championship was clinched Nov. 14.

They fell, Saturday at the Orange Bowl.

So they’re back, in Pasadena for a sixth home game.

“I know,” said Mel Cohen, a member of the football committee for the Tournament of Roses, honest in his appraisal that his game is the Bruins’ consolation prize. “Everyone was going toward Wisconsin and maybe Arizona being the at-large team.

“It’s a shocker all the way around. I can imagine how UCLA feels.”

He can because he went there in the early 1960s and was along for much of the wild ride. Cohen was on the field in Seattle on that mid-November afternoon when his game became the Bruins’ worst-case scenario, and he was there Saturday in Miami, under the ominous gray sky at the end as Cade McNown’s Hail Mary pass to Danny Farmer, Brian Poli-Dixon and Drew Bennett in the end zone fell incomplete on the final play, when the outcome definitely was the worst feeling.

In the end, he became, against his wishes, the hearse driver who had trailed close behind waiting for the body, awkwardly greeting the losers, practically apologizing as he welcomed the Bruins.

“We’re going to be happy to have you,” Cohen said as he extended a hand through the press corps that surrounded Coach Bob Toledo outside the locker room. “Honored.”

Later, after most everyone had left, the two shared a quiet moment.

“He’s disappointed,” Cohen said. “It’s obvious.”

The Bruins don’t deny they would much rather have been somewhere else. But they also insist, in nearly the same breath, they are looking forward to the opportunity they never wanted.

Honest.

Really they are.

“The Rose Bowl, that’s one of the biggest bowls to go to,” Poli-Dixon said. “We’re excited to go. We wanted to win the national championship, but the Rose Bowl, that’s what you go to UCLA for.”

Really, they don’t foresee it being difficult to be emotionally prepared to face a team, Wisconsin, that sees Jan. 1 in Pasadena as the good news.

“I don’t feel like that,” guard Andy Meyers said. “And if I sense that anybody does, I’ll take care of them, one way or another.”

Really, it’s an honor to be there.

“After everyone has a couple days off and we regroup, we’ll be OK,” linebacker Tony White said. “It’s still a privilege. We’re still the Pac-10 champs.”

On the plus side, they’ll have plenty of motivation for the game, the defense trying to regain their self-respect and all the Bruins trying again to earn nationwide respect, the lack of which had been evident before when they dropped in the polls despite a string of wins.

Sunday, they were dropped from third to fifth in the USA Today/ESPN coaches’ ranking, from third to sixth in the Associated Press media balloting and second to fifth in the final bowl championship series ratings.

Figure the Bruins will find other inspirations as well.

“Find a way to stop the Wisconsin running game,” Meyers said. “I think that’d be a good place to start.”

OK, besides that. More like the motivation Toledo will certainly offer as the Rose Bowl being not a consolation but an opportunity for UCLA to finish on a positive note with a victory against a good team, the Badgers, ranked ninth by AP and the BCS, and for the UCLA defense to gain a measure of redemption after being ridiculed by Miami.

“We’re looking forward to going to that game to erase that memory,” Toledo said.

Of Miami scoring the last four times it touched the ball, on drives of 80 yards in only four plays, 87 in five, 70 in three and 74 in eight.

Of Miami gaining 689 yards in total offense.

Of Miami running back Edgerrin James setting an opponent record, a Hurricane record and a Big East record with 299 yards rushing, countless of which came after he had brushed aside would-be tacklers.

Those memories.

“In the preparations for the Rose Bowl, all the practices and all the preparations, I’m sure coach will bring it up,” Poli-Dixon said. “ ‘Remember how you felt after the Miami game. Remember all that.’ I’m sure that will be used as motivation.”

Leading up to the game they didn’t want to play in.

“In a month, we’ll be all right,” cornerback Marques Anderson said. “We’ve just got to take this loss like a family and like men and get ready for the Rose Bowl.

“I can’t speak for everybody. But for me, I know we have some redemption to take care of. We have to get redemption in the Rose Bowl.”