Focus Is on Fun for Getting UCLA Football Back on Track

Getting back to winning amid a two-game losing streak for the UCLA Bruins could be as simple as getting back to the most basic reason for playing football: having fun. 

"We played kind of uptight," linebacker Deon Hollins said after UCLA's practice Tuesday at Spaulding Field. 

The team's collective tension boiled over last Saturday at a temperature rivaling the near-100-degree temperatures in the Rose Bowl for the Bruins' 42-30 loss to Oregon. 

The most noteworthy examples of the team's emotion perhaps getting the best of it were defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich's sideline argument with head coach Jim Mora and defensive lineman Eddie Vanderdoes' flag for striking an Oregon player in a pile. 

Mora said Tuesday that the Pac-12 will not suspend Vanderdoes for Saturday's game at Cal but rather discipline would be "handled in-house."  

But after reaching a melting point Saturday, UCLA is positioned to simmer down.  

Hollins attributed UCLA's uptight attitude to "a lot of expectations."  

The record-high temperatures in California are falling this week, and so too have the outside expectations placed on the Bruins. UCLA, once a Top 10 team, is out of both The Associated Press and Amway Coaches Polls. 

The Bruins' slide from national championship contender to unranked following losses to Utah and Oregon could easily turn into a full-on tailspin, but they're using their struggles to regroup. 

Alex Gallardo/Associated Press

"We never relax," center Jake Brendel said. "But it is kind of like, hit the reset button."

UCLA faced a similar situation last year, losing at Oregon one week after falling to Stanford. The Bruins went on to win five of their next six, including blowouts over rival USC and bowl game opponent Virginia Tech to start the 2014 hype in earnest. 

During the backstretch of the 2013 season, a looser UCLA bunch danced on the sideline before opening kickoffs and flew around fields with an exuberance seemingly lacking this campaign. 

If nothing else, the Bruins' current losing skid presents an opportunity to channel that same kind of attitude as they hit the second half of 2014.  

"It's never a good thing to lose two times in a row," Brendel said. "But in a way, that could help us just because the certain people who were here last year could have an idea of how to manage that."  

UCLA's looser outlook gets tested immediately with a visit to Cal, one of the less inviting venues in the Pac-12 for recent Bruins teams. UCLA is winless there since its last conference championship-winning season, 1998.  

Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press

The trek north is already fun for linebacker Eric Kendricks, whose older brother, Mychal, starred at Cal before joining the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles. 

"I think my brother has a bye week, so he might be coming down," Kendricks said. "He'll probably on their sideline rooting for the Bears."

Some good-natured family trash talk hasn't started yet, but Kendricks said that's because "the week's still early."  

Younger brother can get the last word with a Bruins win, but that's contingent on the defense shutting down Cal's high-powered passing offense, led by quarterback Jared Goff.

Goff is averaging 363.2 passing yards per game and has 22 touchdown throws with just three interceptions. 

Whereas Utah and Oregon attacked UCLA with multifaceted rushing attacks, Cal will send a bevy of wide receivers at the Bruins for Goff to air it out.

"You've got to change your mindset as far as running to the ball," Kendricks said of transitioning from the run-based opponents to Cal's bear-raid. "I'm not going to give you all our secrets on what we're going to do, but [change is] definitely looking in the game plan." 

Nothing could be more fun for the Bruins than spoiling Saturday for Goff and Co.—and a little fun is just what UCLA needs to get its season headed in the right direction. 

Quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise cited. Statistics courtesy of CFBstats.com.