Sunday, September 7th, 2008

Photo

<p>Students wait in line at the Central Ticket Office to buy
tickets to the UCLA-USC football game.

Students wait in line at the Central Ticket Office to buy tickets to the UCLA-USC football game.

Sold-out game leaves fans empty-handed

While UCLA players say they’re not looking ahead to what looks to be an epic showdown with USC on Dec. 3, their fans already have been for weeks. The game at the 92,000-seat Los Angeles Coliseum, which is still over a month away, is being billed as the biggest college football game in Los Angeles in nearly half a century. Perhaps that explains why the game is already sold out, leaving fans currently without a ticket limited options as to how to get their hands on one. Just two weeks ago, the line at the UCLA Central Ticket Office for students who are season-ticket holders to pick up their vouchers snaked all the way around the Morgan Center. And several players said they’ve already been fielding requests from friends and family wanting to watch them play at the Coliseum. UCLA quarterback Drew Olson, who has already doled out his tickets for the game to his family, said most of the players had already given out their tickets, and will have to start becoming the bearers of bad news. “It’s probably going to come down to (rejecting ticket requests),” Olson said. “I don’t know what to do. People are going to have to do whatever they can.” One quite expensive option is to look on the Internet at auction sites. As of Monday on eBay, tickets for the Dec. 3 game were going for as high as $600 apiece, while almost all of the auctions were asking for more than $100 per ticket. If both USC and UCLA win their remaining games before Dec. 3, it would mark the first time since 1969 that both teams would be undefeated this late in the season. While Olson said he’s relishing the current position the Bruins are in, he’s not afraid that UCLA will overlook its next two opponents. “We’re living it up, and we have to take advantage of the position we’re in,” Olson said. “And that means we can’t slip up, we can’t look past anyone. “Saying we want to go 1-0 each week has become such a habit, I couldn’t imagine going into a week not saying that 15 times anymore.”

MOVING ON UP: UCLA is now at No. 5 in the BCS standings, up one spot from last week. The Bruins are still behind undefeated teams USC, who reclaimed the No. 1 spot, Texas, Virginia Tech and Alabama. Despite the weekly ascendance, UCLA coach Karl Dorrell says his team is not really paying attention to the BCS. “We have enough to fix (within our own team) than worry about the BCS,” Dorrell said. “(The standings) don’t mean anything right now.”

SILENCE AT STANFORD: There appeared to be more Bruin fans at Saturday’s game at Stanford than any of UCLA’s road games this season, and on Monday Dorrell was quick to give them some credit for the come-from-behind victory. “Our crowd was tremendous in that game,” Dorrell said. “We heard our fans more than we heard Stanford fans. In the fourth quarter, they really energized our players.”

INJURY UPDATE: Running back Maurice Drew suffered a bruised knee in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s game. He remained in the game to score the game-tying touchdown, and is expected to be able to practice this week ... Defensive end Justin Hickman said his shoulder popped slightly out of its socket after he sacked Stanford quarterback Trent Edwards in overtime, but that it was a recurring problem and wouldn’t have kept him out if the game had gone into a second overtime ... Center Mike McCloskey did not play against Stanford on Saturday and is still recovering from a sprained shoulder he sustained against Oregon State on Oct. 22. Dorrell said he expects McCloskey to start this Saturday against Arizona.

EXTRA POINTS: With 23 touchdowns already this season, Olson only needs three more to break Cade McNown’s record of 25 touchdowns in a single season. ... Linebacker Spencer Havner only needs two more tackles to move into third place on UCLA’s list for all-time career tackles. He currently has 373 tackles. ... Linebacker Wesley Walker is listed as the starting outside linebacker in this week’s depth chart. ... The Bruins’ game against the Wildcats this Saturday in Tucson, Ariz. is Arizona’s homecoming game. ... UCLA has beaten Arizona the last four times the teams have met, and has won four consecutive games in Tucson.