More photos » by Jae C. Hong - AP

Will the Bruins pound it on the ground today?

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3:25 am.

Game day -- fifteen and half hours to kick-off, give or take a couple of Bud Light commercials.

3:25 am and it just totally hit me out of the blue that I didn't write a guesses post for this week's game -- due yesterday. In my defense, I haven't been on the computer -- no email, no blogs, no message boards, nothing -- since I left the office Wednesday afternoon. It's a holiday weekend, you know, and I've been doing the family thing.

I didn't even know we lost to Butler in hoopa until I just woke up in the easy chair, brushed some cabernet-induced cobwebs out of my eyes and started to write this post.

So, what is there to say about the USC game at 3:30 am?

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Can the Bruins hold on to their little momentum? Photo Credit: Telemachus

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We're 5-5.

But we don't feel 5-5, do we?

I can't speak for any of you, the five game losing streak really took a lot out of me.

What I mean is, if you had told me before the season that UCLA would be 5-5 going into the Arizona State game and riding a two game winning streak at that, I would have taken it. I guess I would have figured on at least one non-conference loss, probably Tennessee because it was a road game for us and revenge game for the Volunteers. And I also would have figured at least one win out of Cal, Oregon and Stanford. But it didn't play out that way.

Instead, we took care of business against a relatively weak non-conference schedule, then rolled off the table during an October from Hell in which we lost five straight games.

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Sports Illustrated has a new poll out.

They polled college football fans in the different conferences on who their favorite rivals are, what their school's greatest traditions are and which stadiums they most like to visit.

You know, stuff like that.

According to the poll, the Rose Bowl is the stadium most fans like to visit and more than 25% of respondents consider UCLA their greatest rival. I wonder if this is because USC fans responded more often or because other schools consider us their greatest rival.

See the poll here.

The Daily Bruin has a story on alumni cheerleader Geoff Strand in today's online and print issue.

via media.dailybruin.com

Geoffrey Strand’s popular punch-line developed in response to the turmoil that epitomized reality during his days as a student on the Westwood campus. At the time, protests and flag burnings were not uncommon, and power struggles both social and political pervaded the national and local scene.

As part of his campaign for head cheerleader, a student-elected office in those days, Strand created the trademark catchphrase to rouse memories of the good times. This imagery, epitomized by the Beach Boys’ “Happy Days” stereotype for optimism, was Strand’s attempt at a reversion to normalcy.

Read more here

I'm nominating Ryan to go to Boise and live blog the Humanitarian Bowl.

According to Stewart Mandel's latest bowl game predictions, our Bruins will face off against Idaho on the Smurf Turf in Boise on December 30.We'll make it because the Mountain West Conference won't have enough bowl-eligible teams.

Maybe Ryan can stay over a couple more nights and live blog New Year's Eve. I bet that's a party.

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Can the Bruins hold on to the good vibes up in Palouse? Photo Credit: Telemachus

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Not sure what it means, but Rick Neuheisel was in a very good mood on the Dan Patrick Show this morning. (Update:The link to the interview is now here.)

Neuheisel played sang, played guitar and outlined why the Bruins will be successful the rest of the year.

Neuheisel also explained to Dan why he's hopeful the Bruins have a lot of success in their future. He pointed to freshman quarterback Kevin Prince and some of the young playmakers around him.

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More photos » by Francis Specker - AP

Derrick Coleman is part of this week's guessing game.

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Welcome to November ...

The Bruins entered October undefeated and fans here and elsewhere were lamenting why we weren't ranked while poring over the schedule, trying to decide if a trip to San Diego for a bowl game was possible or would we have to settle for El Paso, Texas.

October was an 0-5 disaster, capped by an Orange and Black beating in Corvallis on Halloween night. But Bruins fans are nothing if not resilient -- if you weren't resilient you'd be in an institution by now -- and the second half of the Oregon State game gave the half full segment of the Blue and Gold club something to build on as Kevin Prince discovered Nelson Rosario and Rosario discovered those things on the end of his arms called hands.

The questions I have is:

Has it come to this?

Are we reduced to clinging to "great fourth quarters against Oregon State" as a sign the the team has turned another corner?

Or is the corner we turned just another sign that we're going around in circles?

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More photos » by Rick Bowmer - AP

Scary Quiz

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Apologies in advance: As I noted in this Fan Post, I'm swamped at work trying to sell caskets to college students. These kids never want to plan ahead.

So, this week's guesses post will be short and sweet.

And that's not a reference to Jacquizz Rodgers.

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Due to circumstances beyond my control -- my boss has a bunch of work for me to do -- the pregame guesses for the Oregon State game will be delayed a few hours.

Which is appropriate, I suppose, since the game itself it being tape delayed here in Los Angeles.

Look for them in the early afternoon ...

According to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle, the athletics department is facing multi-million dollar deficits and some members of their faculty want the university to stop bailing out athletics.

via imgs.sfgate.com

Here is the opening of the article:

When UC Berkeley lends its Department of Intercollegiate Athletics millions of dollars to pay its bills each year - and even forgives that debt at times - it's helping a top-tier college sports program beloved by thousands of fans.

But a growing number of Cal academics are disturbed by the practice, arguing that the prestigious research university should not subsidize elite athletes at a time of soaring college costs, faculty furloughs and reduced course offerings.

The faculty, which will debate the issue at next month's Faculty Senate meeting, is not alone. Now the independent Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics - formed 20 years ago by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to raise academic standards in college sports - is turning its attention to an out-of-control "arms race" among college football programs competing to pay increasingly high coaches' salaries and other associated costs.

It's pretty fascinating.

I'm actually surprised that a school that sells out its men's basketball games and has its own, on campus football stadium, can't make athletic ends meet. One must wonder if the deal Cal has with Nike is as lucrative as it needs to be -- considering Cal is a ranked football program with a good enough basketball program. Don't misunderstand -- I don't pretend to know anything about their Nike deal or any other revenue source, I'm just speculating based on what I know in general about where funding for athletics comes from.

The whole article is a worthwhile read.