Lost in the Mountain West: Bruins and other Pac-10 teams

On the same day the Bruins were being dismantled by Brigham Young, 59-0, Arizona State was losing to Nevada Las Vegas, Arizona was losing to New Mexico and Stanford was losing to Texas Christian.

Not that it made UCLA Coach Rick Neuheisel feel any better, but. ...

"I did realize it was a rough weekend for the Pac-10, minus USC's dominating win and Oregon coming from behind against Purdue," Neuheisel said.

"I think the non-BCS thing is a little bit over-hyped. It's more a media thing. What happens is you catch teams at an experience level, like the BYU team we saw. . . . They can play with anybody. You have Utah going into Michigan and winning and Fresno played a heck of a game against Wisconsin, and that's a top-10 team."

Which says?

"It tells me either the rankings are way too early or we make too much of the non-BCS thing," Neuheisel said.

Hold that line?

Jake Dean will be the Bruins starting center for at least this week. He replaced Micah Reed, who suffered a sprained medial collateral ligament in his right knee during the game.

"I thought Jake did OK," Neuheisel said.

Dean was the fourth UCLA player to make his debut as an offensive lineman this season, joining Scott Glicksberg, Sonny Tevaga and Darius Savage. More coming-out parties may follow.

Bruins coaches will look at the line this week, in an effort to significantly improve the running game.

"We are always looking to put our best five out there," Neuheisel said. "Mike Harris will be competing for some time, as will Brandon Bennett and Jeff Baca."

None of those three have set foot on the field for a game at UCLA. Baca, a true freshman, was recently cleared to return to practice after missing a month with a knee injury.

chris.foster@latimes.com