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UCLA Bruins vs Kansas State Wildcats Football Preview

The UCLA Bruins want to make a move in the Pac-10 Conference now that USC is falling on hard times. The road to prominence begins Saturday at Kansas State, a team that looks at the college football landscape in a manner the Bruins can relate to.

Saturday's intersectional encounter is a battle of teams that went 6-6 in the regular season last year. Both UCLA and Kansas State hit the .500 mark, good enough to avoid the cellar in their respective conferences but hardly sufficient to push the upper divisions and sniff a league title. UCLA actually defeated KSU in Pasadena, California, 23-9, before doing just enough to reach the EagleBank Bowl, where Coach Rick Neuheisel’s troops took down Temple, 30-21. KSU also had a 6-6 regular season record, but didn't make it to a bowl game because two of the Wildcats’ wins (UMass and Tennessee Tech) came against FCS (Division I-AA) teams and not FBS opponents. While UCLA ended the season winning four out of its last five games, the Wildcats ended the season losing three out of their last four. Still there were number of encouraging signs to take from KSU's season. The “Purple Cats” registered an emphatic blowout win against Texas A&M and scored an emotional victory over archrival Kansas.

It’s becoming a broken record for this program – literally – but UCLA continues to battle injuries. Quarterback Kevin Prince – who was roughed up last year, and is just the latest UCLA signal caller to miss games due to injury – has been out since Aug. 10 with a back injury and is questionable for Saturday's game. Center Kai Maiava, one of the few dependable performers on the offensive line, is out at least two months with a fractured ankle. This team can never shake the injury bug at the skill positions, and with respect to the quarterback spot, that’s in many ways an indictment of the offensive line. More evidence of the offensive front’s frailty can be found in the fact that UCLA ranked 88th nationally in offense last season. How will UCLA win, then? It’s gotta be with defense, field position, and no harmful turnovers. With or without Prince under center, UCLA has to play – and win – a smashmouth game. Neuheisel is a quarterback guru and a lover of the passing game, but he has to work with what he has, and that’s not much at the moment.

Now, let's shift the focus to Kansas State.

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Because of UCLA’s bumps and bruises, especially at key positions on the field, Kansas State has a chance in this game. The Wildcats, though, weren’t distinguished at all on offense last year, to say the least. Nebraska ate them for breakfast as the Huskers cruised to the Big 12 North Division title. This year, K-State returns only five starters on offense and has a muddled situation at quarterback. It was only on Monday, Aug. 30 – less than a week before kickoff – that coach Bill Snyder announced his starting signal caller, going with Carson Coffman in Saturday’s game. Coffman lost the job to Grant Gregory midway through the 2009 season, a telling sign of how much uncertainty overshadows this spot on the KSU roster. Snyder said Coffman was better and more consistent than his competition, Collin Klein and Sammuel Lamur. Whatever the matter, KSU has to get a competent performance from Coffman, and the Wildcats need to lean on tailback Daniel Thomas (1,290 yards and 11 touchdowns last year) to shoulder the offensive workload. Power running and the occasional timely pass could produce a win for KSU.

It will be ugly and low-scoring. It won’t be fun to watch. It will be decided by one possession. One of these defenses needs to spring the timely turnover that will alter the course of events at Bill Snyder Family Football Stadium. A special teams unit might have to uncork a game-changing thunderbolt.

This is a game up for grabs; what you won't see in artistry will be compensated for by the amount of intensity on display in the American Heartland.

By Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer