UCLA spring scrimmage recap

With UCLA's top two quarterbacks out for the spring scrimmage, it seemed tough for the Bruins to make a pass. With all that goes on in Los Angeles on a Saturday night, it seemed easy for fans to take one.

Instead, an announced crowd of 15,052 fans showed up at the Rose Bowl — impressive, all things considered. Coach Rick Neuheisel had a few things to say to everybody, but had to improvise with an official's mic. He joked later, "It's the first time you can grab a referee by the throat and get away with it!"

At one point he got people on their feet for injured signal callers Patrick Cown (who said today that he will not be back in 2008) and Ben Olson. After the game, Neuheisel told reporters that Olson "is going to have to make those two months really productive by getting in the film room and studying ... it's pivotal that he spend that time productively."

As for the guys he had available in the scrimmage, UCLA's coach said, "I know everybody was riveted to watch the quarterbacks, who hadn't been with the first and second teams. 'Rusty' is fair to say. But we're going to play that position well."

Kevin Craft took most of the reps but only managed to go 11-of-24 for 95 yards with one touchdown and one interception. "He's just going too fast. He almost is hyperventilating he's trying so hard," Neuheisel said. He added that Craft is new to UCLA (he'd only been on campus two days before spring camp started) and needs time to calm down. Asked about the center-quarterback exchange, he acknowledged, "It's just young kids and it's a disappointment. We've gotta' really, really focus on that in the fall."

The defense was impressive with seven sacks, a pair of interceptions and a fumble recovery. The first hard hit of the game was by Brian Price — definitely a guy to watch this season. Mike Schmitt led the way with seven tackles.

Glen Love hurt a knee and the extent wasn['t known yet. No other injuries were reported.

Pics from Saturday night are after the jump. If you just can't get enough, we've also got ...

Neuheisel's postgame comments to the media:

Part of Neuheisel's postgame pep rally speech:

If you want to see PDFs of the evening's stats, click here for offense and click here for defense.