UCLA's regular season started with the Cardinal and ends with what it hopes will be a battle-for-No. 1 showdown with the Cardinal and Gold (or red and yellow, as it's known around Westwood).
But like any long journey, there is a vast amount of ground to cover between.
And therein lies the danger for the Bruins, who today at the Rose Bowl face a Brigham Young team with big plans on its own itinerary.
The Cougars have won 11 consecutive games, yet are unranked. They also have back-to-back wins over Pacific 10 Conference teams, including a 38-8 thumping of Oregon in last year's Las Vegas Bowl that added a shine to an 11-2 record.
The problem with Brigham Young's Bowl Championship Series application is that, as a Mountain West Conference team, the Cougars require at least one impressive nonconference victory over a well-regarded opponent. Razing Arizona, 20-7, last week drew a shrug from poll voters, leaving 13th-ranked UCLA as the only eye-opener left on the schedule.
"It's just a flywheel effect, and we got that momentum and we just steamroll it and throw it into the next game," BYU linebacker Bryan Kehl told the Salt Lake City Tribune.
The Bruins, hoping to build a season's worth of momentum, counter with carefully selected words.
"We get a better BYU team that has had a lot success against the Pac-10 of late," UCLA Coach Karl Dorrell said. "They are pretty confident what they can do coming here."
Not even the manufactured hype about UCLA quarterback Ben Olson facing BYU was enough to loosen Bruins tongues this week.
Olson, a junior, had a cup of decaf at BYU then transferred to UCLA after a two-year Mormon mission -- that's a five-year span covering an entire class of recruits.
Still, while Olson may have that Huck Finn look -- red hair and freckles -- those in Provo have cast him as Injun Joe. He's just not biting at that fishin' hole. A "golly gee" was about all Olson offered in return this week.
"I had a great time at BYU," said Olson, who passed for 286 yards and five touchdowns against Stanford. "I have nothing bad to say about the university."
Basic drab, powder-blue comments aside, the Bruins have reason to show caution.
BYU's image is that of a team with a street-football mentality -- go deep and I'll hit you by the station wagon. The Cougars have long been known for quarterbacks and basketball-like scores; they scored 45 points against Hawaii and lost, 72-45, in 2001.
