Tomorrow, UCLA returns to Austin, Texas for the first time since one of the most infamous games in college football history, the Rout 66 beating.
The scene then: UCLA was entering the game at Texas a heavy underdog against the defending Big 12 Champion Longhorns who had defeated Nebraska in the Big 12 Title game the year before and started off with a quick 2-0 start and a ranking of 11 in the AP Poll. UCLA was 0-2 after losing its opening games to a Washington St. team that was lightly regarded at the time but ended up winning the Pac-10 and to Peyton Manning led Tennessee.
What occurred was one of the most awe-inspiring beatings I have ever seen any of. I remember having a soccer game that day and getting home after I played to turn the game on thinking UCLA was going to be getting killed. Instead, the Bruins were up 31-0 at that point on the way to a 38-0 halftime lead. The carnage was incredible. Texas turned the ball over eight times in the game and the offensive line acted more like turnstiles than blockers as UCLA continually came right up the middle and destroyed pretty much every play. The field position was so good that UCLA scored 66 points without even reaching 400 yards of total offense. Heck, the backup quarterback was so beaten down after the game he quit and became a male model.
The next week, Texas dropped all the way out of the top 25 and the young team was crushed, headed to a 4-7 season and the beginning of the Mack Brown era the next season. UCLA entered the rankings at number 24, the only time I can ever recall a 1-2 team being ranked, particularly a 1-2 team that wasn't ranked in the preseason..
This season, the teams oddly enter in similar states though there is no way the result will be the same. UCLA is 1-2 and lightly regarded with losses to Kansas St. in an early road game and Stanford in an early Pac-10 game. They are huge underdogs. Too bad for them that Texas fans want their team to right a wrong done to them many years before.
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