?Exasperating; Ridiculous? ? These were the chants from the UCLA Bruins? fans after their 28-7 loss to USC last Saturday. In the post game conference, Rick Neuheisel refused to read too much into the game's result and quipped that he was positive about next year.



Needless to say, the drubbing his team had received from the USC seemed to have shaken words from his mouth. All that was on display from the UCLA Bruins in no ways suggested that the future for the team is bright. No ways indeed!

For example, the linebackers of USC are far too tall and powerful than the UCLA Bruins? linebackers. The tailback, the receiver and the quarterback of the USC, all looked like well-oiled mean machines. These were things that UCLA can fantasize about as yet, because they just do not seem to have this kind of weapons in their armory.

The second and most important point to be mentioned here is ? What team did Neuheisel play with? For most games under Neuheisel's leadership, UCLA Bruins started with a lot of freshmen. This is not a bad ploy at all but will work only if the quality of the freshmen is good. Unfortunately, the freshmen for UCLA Bruins did not work, definitely not this season. Else the score line would have read anything but 4-8!

Basically, USC has all the things that UCLA does not have. That includes excellent offensive players, bigger linemen, explosive running backs and reliable receivers. Put all of them together and you get a champion team, which is what USC is! Take all of them out from a team or at least most of them out, you end up with a team that will surely waste a lot of your time and possibly money.

Analyze all the problems of UCLA and you would find one main cause ? The type of players! The management admits that good quality players hardly ever come UCLA's way. This is a scary statement and something that does not hold good for the future of the team. Agreed that last season Rick came in late to the party, but would things change if he is included in the recruitment decisions?

Maybe or Maybe not, but one thing is for sure ? At least it will provide a change right there at the basics. In spite of all the money the UCLA management is willing to spend, which by the way is far less than what they seem to speak, good quality players have still managed to elude them. Including the coach while hiring may make a difference. But then, the solution to this problem will take some time. It is definitely not something that could get fixed in a jiffy!