UCLA awaits bowl game fate after ‘resiliency’ prevails

BERKELEY — The mood in the UCLA locker room following a 35-28 win over Cal at Memorial Stadium on Friday in its Pac-12 season finale was upbeat. The music was at full force. Water sprayed. The players sang “Happy Birthday” to coach Chip Kelly, with a cake to top it off.

The win itself wasn’t necessarily pretty. The defense again gave up big plays. The potent offense sputtered at times. But coming off an emotional loss to USC, the Bruins did just enough on a short week to squeak out a ninth regular-season win – putting them one win away from tying a program record.

“It was cool to see that grittiness and that resiliency,” Kelly said. “They deserved this tonight. You can’t assure victory every week, but you can deserve it, and I think they deserved it by the way they train every week and the way they competed tonight.”

Next comes the wait for a bowl game invite. A few weeks ago, UCLA – sitting at 8-1 – would have hoped for a Rose Bowl bid, if not to be in contention for the College Football Playoff. Home losses to Arizona and USC squashed those hopes.

Now, the Bruins’ final game of the season is uncertain, including where and when they will play – and who will suit up. Coaches will likely address individual players’ availability during player meetings next week.

UCLA fans hoping to catch one more glimpse of quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson may want to hope that the Bruins’ chips fall to the Las Vegas Bowl, which appears to be one of the likelier projections from experts.

The fifth-year quarterback said his mindset and goal were to play in the bowl game, but his status was “to be determined” with input from his family and agent as factors.

Thompson-Robinson, who starred at Bishop Gorman High in Las Vegas, smiled when asked if playing in the Las Vegas Bowl on Dec. 17 would sway his decision.

“For sure, for sure,” Thompson-Robinson said. “Obviously, I want to go back and play in front of my hometown and to be able to get the opportunity to do that would be very special.”

Other possible destinations for UCLA include trips to Texas – the Sun Bowl on Dec. 30 in El Paso and the Alamo Bowl on Dec. 29 in San Antonio.

Decisions for star collegiate players to partake in a bowl game can be tricky, as they weigh the risk of an injury ahead of a potential NFL career. Players like Thompson-Robinson, Zach Charbonnet and Jake Bobo could have tough calls to make.

The decision, of course, would have been made easier if UCLA was in the Rose Bowl. Getting to nine wins for the first time since 2014 was “awesome” for Thompson-Robinson, who acknowledged the work that went into building up the program over the past five years.

However, he added: “Obviously it wasn’t where we wanted to be, but I’m damn proud of these boys for sure.”

Despite the Bruins falling out of contention for the conference title with the loss to USC, their motivation to keep playing never faltered, according to Kelly. As soon as last Sunday, when the Bruins practiced 24 hours after the USC loss, Kelly knew his players “still want to play football and they’re excited about whatever the opportunity is.”

“We’ll find out next week who we get to play, where we get to play, all that other good stuff,” Kelly said. “But the fact that we get to spend a little bit more time around this team is a lot of fun because they’re a lot of fun to be around.”

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This would be UCLA’s first appearance in a bowl game since 2017 – and first under Kelly – after last year’s Holiday Bowl was canceled when COVID-19 cases forced the Bruins to pull out just hours before kickoff.

Kelly said the Bruins will abide by all necessary protocols to make sure this year’s bowl game kicks off accordingly.

“Obviously, we missed that last year and no one was happy with that,” Kelly said. “We’ve really got to be conscious that we got everybody, and we have everything available when we play whoever we’re going to play.”