Neuheisel heeds Wooden's words

LOS ANGELES — Before Rick Neuheisel's debut as UCLA football coach, he received some words of wisdom from John Wooden.

"I got a a handwritten letter from coach Wooden right before the first game, saying there will peaks and valleys," Neuheisel said.

He shook his head and added, "I didn't realize they'd be in the first two weeks."

Two games into Neuheisel's first season at the helm and the Bruins already have hit a heady high and a humiliating low. They stunned Tennessee 27-24 in overtime in the season opener on Sept. 1, then fumbled and stumbled their way to a 59-0 loss Saturday at BYU.

Both the Volunteers and Cougars were ranked 18th when they faced the Bruins. UCLA opens Pac-10 play Saturday at the Rose Bowl against Arizona, which is coming off a 36-28 upset by New Mexico.

Neuheisel called the lopsided loss at Provo "a bitter pill to swallow."

"Coming off a real emotional high with the win over Tennessee, then going in there and getting reminded that we've got a lot to work to do — in the manner we got reminded," he said Monday.

"I didn't have any preconceived notions that we were a national championship caliber team just because we had success in week one. But Saturday was an eye-opener."

He, his staff and players have been sifting through the wreckage of UCLA's worst loss since a 76-0 drubbing by Southern California 79 years ago.

Talking about how mistakes led to the BYU scoring avalanche that included Max Hall throwing for seven touchdowns, Neuheisel recounted how the game got out of hand.

"Offensively, they were just on fire, and when we got the ball out of their hands, it just bounced right back to them," he said. "It was a great reminder that turnovers kill you.

"We were down 14-0, moving down the field, then (quarterback) Kevin (Craft) gets hit in the back, the ball comes out and now it's 21-0. We get a 9-yard gain on first down, and coming around the corner, Ray Carter fumbles and now it's 28-0.

"They kick off, we fumble the ball and now it's 35-0. We drive down and have a field goal blocked, they run it back into their short field and it's 42-0. It's not rocket science, you just have to play good football or things like that can happen to you."