Kai Maiava News

UCLA 24, Washington 23 Washington scraps together a drive, getting two third-down conversions.

LOS ANGELESXavier Su'a-Filo isn't one to worry about tradition. In nearly four decades of coaching UCLA lines, Bob Palcic had not had a freshman open the season as a starter on an offensive line.

Even the relentlessly positive around the UCLA football program were tested Wednesday.

UCLA has played eight games this season and still the Bruins are looking for a tailback to take some of the load off Johnathan Franklin .

In the fourth quarter of UCLA's 26-19 loss to Oregon State on Saturday, head coach Rick Neuheisel saw his redshirt freshman quarterback come of age.

This was the Kevin Prince who UCLA fans kept waiting to see. This was the Prince who UCLA head coach Rick Neuheisel and offensive coordinator Norm Chow kept waiting to see.

It was evident that a four-game losing streak didn't take the fight out of UCLA.

The UCLA football team can thank Kai Maiava for a larger Hawaiian presence on the offensive line.

Let's get back to football and talk a little bit more about the game this Saturday.

Just going by records and recent history, today's Rose Bowl matchup between UCLA and Cal appears to be a toss-up. Both teams sport 3-2 records.

For weeks, Christian Ramirez stood and watched and waited and stewed and crossed his arms.

When is a 3-0 team not just a 3-0 team? When that team went 4-8 just a season ago.

Much was written during UCLA's fall football camp about the team's patchwork offensive line in 2008.

Three weeks into the season, UCLA is back in training camp. In Tuesday's practice, what was old was new again - the perfect footwork, the precise handwork, the exact head placement - and technique was at a premium.

Move over Matt Barkley and Tate Forcier. Richard Brehaut, UCLA's true freshman quarterback, is expected to make his first college start Saturday.

Crowd noise blared from the speakers surrounding UCLA's Spaulding Field during football practice this week, simulating the 12th defender the Bruins will have to play against when they visit Tennessee on Saturday at the 107,000-seat Neyland Stadium.

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Great, First off: Wow, does it feel good to watch some football that counts again! Week One of the 2009 season proved to pick up right off from last year with one hell of an opening , all the way through an electrifying Monday night football game .

UCLA quarterback Kevin Prince passed his first test in the Rose Bowl, but directing an offense with 100,000-plus Tennessee fans in Knoxville should prove to be much more difficult.

Courtney Viney walked into Carnell Lake's office Tuesday unafraid, undaunted, ready for the task at hand, which happens to be the Tennessee Volunteers.

The subplots to UCLA's game against Tennessee are already unfolding. Ed Orgeron , the Volunteers' assistant head coach, played the USC expatriate card, as he and Coach Lane Kiffin are former Trojans assistants.