Rest or rust?
It's a familiar argument: Do teams get healthy with a week off or do they get rusty? For UCLA, the answer seems fairly evident. The Bruins, coming off their third open date of the season, lost by lopsided scores to Brigham Young and Oregon State after the first two. Neuheisel said this time could be different.
"We're coming off a win, so there was a rejuvenation, an excitement," he said. "I think the guys are eager to line up and try to do it again."
A victory didn't help the first time, when the Bruins defeated Tennessee and lost to BYU, but receiver Terrence Austin says he has noticed a changed mood in practice: "Guys are fired up. Intensity is really high."
Common grounds
Home-field advantage hasn't meant much to these teams in recent years. Arizona State won at the Rose Bowl last season; UCLA won in Tempe in 2006.
Arizona is home to Neuheisel, who grew up not far from the Arizona State campus. There will be a family contingent at the game, though that can prove distracting. "It creates a lot of 'How are you?', 'How are you doing?', 'Nice to see you,' " he said. "But it's always fun to be back in Arizona."
By the numbers
*--* UCLA CATEGORY ASU 19.6 Scoring 23.0 28.6 Points given up 23.3 207.9 Passing off. 241.9 85.7 Rushing off. 101.0 293.6 Total offense 342.9 164.2 Passing def. 200.3 180.7 Rushing def. 132.4 344.9 Total defense 332.7 *--*
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david.wharton@latimes.com
