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Reb Baron

LAS VEGAS BOWL: UCLA limps as BYU soars

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LAS VEGAS BOWL: UCLA limps as BYU soars

.500 season could force out Dorrell as Bruins' coach before bowl game

By MARK ANDERSON

REVIEW-JOURNAL

UCLA is back in the Las Vegas Bowl, which means its coach probably won't be.

Like the Bruins' trip here in 2002, when Bob Toledo was fired the day after the bowl announcement, Karl Dorrell might be making other plans when UCLA (6-6) kicks off against Mountain West Conference champion Brigham Young (10-2) on Dec. 22.

Dorrell still was the coach when the Bruins accepted the bowl bid Sunday, but he could be gone by as early as today. Southern California media reports said potential candidates have been contacted, and the Los Angeles Times reported Dorrell will be fired this week.

"Does it concern us? Absolutely," Las Vegas Bowl executive director Tina Kunzer-Murphy said. "But we have no control over that, and there's nothing we can do."

Fortunately for her and the bowl, the game already is a sellout for the third consecutive year. The strong BYU fan base helped drive ticket sales for the No. 19 Cougars, who make their third successive appearance in this game.

BYU will try to avenge an early-season 27-17 loss at UCLA. The Cougars outgained UCLA 435 yards to 236 but committed three turnovers.

They improved as the season progressed, ending the regular season with a nine-game winning streak.

"After losing some very talented players and so much of the leadership from last year's team, there were a lot of people who may have underestimated our program," BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall said in a statement. "Making our third trip to the Las Vegas Bowl -- twice as conference champions -- with a new group of players, a new group of leadership, I think is a testament to the kind of young men we have here.

"They deserve a tremendous amount of credit, and I couldn't be more proud of them."

UCLA went in the opposite direction. A week after beating the Cougars to move to 2-0, the Bruins were lambasted 44-6 at Utah. Serious injuries put a damper on their season, including injuries to their top two quarterbacks, Ben Olson and Patrick Cowan.

The Bruins limped to the regular-season finish line with five losses in seven games, leading to speculation Dorrell's fifth season at UCLA might be his last.

He released a statement the team was "extremely happy" to be in Las Vegas again but predictably did not touch on his job status.

It creates an uneasy but familiar situation for the bowl. The Bruins appeared disinterested in their two previous trips to Las Vegas.

In 2004, they lost 24-21 to Wyoming despite entering the game as 12-point favorites.

The 2002 game was marked by the firing of Toledo, who was replaced temporarily by administrator Ed Kezirian, known more for waving a towel on the sideline at UCLA games than an ability to diagram plays. He watched while the coordinators directed a 27-13 victory over New Mexico in the Christmas Day game.

UCLA spent the days leading up to the two previous appearances looking as if it wanted to be elsewhere. And after rising to as high as No. 11 this season, no doubt the Bruins had their sights set on a higher-tiered game and view this bowl as a letdown.

"It's a fantastic bowl," UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero insisted to the Orange County Register. "Our kids have a great experience."

He might have something different to say this week about what coach will share that experience.

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THE LV Bowl needs to cut ties with the 6th choice out of the Pac 10 .............this is the 2nd time UCLA will play in this bowl right after firing the head coach.........."wow, nice reward on a crap season guys, we get to go to a lower tier bowl with an interim coach"!!

Not to mention it's a re-match of a regular season game.

Dud selection in my opinion.

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With the rising profile of the bowl and the league we should be able to push for Pac-10 #4 quite easily in the next go around.

Maybe you build in an at-large option. Maybe you raise the payout and go after Pac-10 #3 and try to take the Sun Bowl away.

Steps. We should definitely try to lock up Pac-10 #4.

Go Cougars

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It's official......He's gone!

UCLA fires Dorrell after 6-6 season

ESPN.com news services

Updated: December 3, 2007, 4:23 PM ET

LOS ANGELES -- UCLA coach Karl Dorrell was fired Monday, a day after the Bruins accepted a bowl bid and two days after a loss to cross-town rival USC.

Dorrell was let go despite leading the Bruins to a postseason game in each of his five seasons at UCLA, which had an outside chance to reach the Rose Bowl before its loss to USC.

The 43-year-old Dorrell had a 43-27 record. The Bruins (6-6) will play BYU (10-2) in the Las Vegas Bowl on Dec. 22, with defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker to serve as interim coach.

Dorrell's buyout will pay him just over $2 million. He was under contract through 2011.

"This was a very difficult decision for me," UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero said in a statement. "Karl has represented this program with dignity and class. He is a true Bruin and I respect what he has accomplished in his five years as our head coach, particularly off the field. But, at the end of the day, the focus has to be on results and I felt that a change was in the best interest for the future of our program."

Dorrell's firing leaves five black coaches at 119 major college coaches.

Talk of Dorrell's ouster has been building all year, which included early season losses to to Utah and to a then-winless Notre Dame. If the Bruins had made it to the Rose Bowl, it would have been the first time a team with five losses had played in Pasadena in the "grandaddy of them all."

Expectations were high for Dorrell's 2007 team. They were ranked in the top 25 of almost every preseason poll. They were up to No. 11 in The Associated Press poll before losing 44-6 by Utah on Sept. 15. Then they lost to Notre Dame. The Bruins went on to lose three Pacific-10 Conference games.

His best season was 2005, when he led UCLA to a 10-2 record, with one of the losses a 66-19 pounding by USC.

"I want to thank Dan Guerrero for the opportunity to coach at my alma mater," Dorrell said in a statement. "I know that the program is in much better shape than when I inherited it and I believe that it is ready to flourish."

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3138961

"Once an Aztec, Always an Aztec"

CSU Fresno: Accepting SDSU's sloppy seconds since 1911.

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