UCLA/Tenn

[theloneporker]

UCLA's qb Kevin Prince suffered a broken jaw on the safety at the end of the game. Did anyone see it? Was it a quality play?

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/F/FBC_UCLA_PRINCE_INJURED?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2009-09-13-17-49-17

[Demi]

It wasn't a dirty hit, if that's what you mean. Prince was fighting to get out of the endzone, and he got tackled from the side. The announcers thought he did get out, was called otherwise.

[theloneporker]

Thanks. I'm glad. I did see Tennessee get stuffed and thought there might have been a flare-up. Really unfortunate for Prince. I thought he played well.

[bigdaddyhawg]

Head Coach Rick Neuheisel is to blame for that kid's broken jaw.

They had the ball inside the one, with less than two minutes to play, leading 19-13.  All UCLA had to do was do 3 straight QB sneaks, forcing UT to use their last two timeouts, then they'd have run the clock down to a little less than a minute.  Then they intentionally take the safety, as the 2 points don't appreciably change the game situation.

They fumbled on one run out the endzone, and BARELY recovered it.  Then on THIRD down, Prince goes back to pass, is clobbered and gives up the safety anyway!!

That resulted in an additional 30-40 seconds STAYING on the clock and their starting QB being out for 3-4 weeks with a broken jaw.

I was shocked Neuheisel didn't follow the plan I gave here, because I'd rate him as one of the more sharp offensive minds in CFB, especially since he's got another brilliant offensive mind as his OC.