Stanford 31, UCLA 10

Is your team just a fair weather friend?

UCLA got killed today. My son was crushed. He didn’t want to watch the end of the game, he wanted to go home. He thought about the people in places like Florida who must be overjoyed with their wins and their continued rise in the polls. But not for us, we’ll drop in the polls and have to settle for a second rate bowl game like the

UCLA just didn’t show up. They didn’t bother to play to win. They barely played the game.

Maybe Hundley is already thinking about his professional career. Since he made his intention clear this week that he’s going pro next season, maybe he’s just mentally (and physically?) done with his college career. It was interesting that for the last few minutes, Neuheisel replaced him. I’m curious to read about that decision.

UCLA has now lost 7 straight against the Cardinal. Stanford has been a Pac 12 powerhouse for much of the last decade, so even though their record this season was 6-5 (now 7-5), they’re tough. At least they were today.

Where was UCLA? Where where their heads? Their hearts? Were they in it? Were they riding the high of last week’s huge win against USC? Maybe nervous about next week’s (now non-existent) Pac 12 championship against Oregon? None of it matters anymore, their season is over.

As a parent, I’m mostly sad because my 8-year old is sad. He was really rooting for them today and loves to check the standings on Tuesday (at 4:00 PM PST). Now it’ll be tough to bear how far UCLA has dropped. But it partly doesn’t matter as the season is over.

As my mother said as we walked out, “Are they just your fair weather friend? Now that they lost today, they need you to be their friend even more.” Words to live by after a football game between a grandson and a grandma.

The band played very well today. Better than the football players.