I live about 60 miles from the Rose Bowl so, despite the rough season for MSU Football, I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to see the Spartans play in this historic stadium. Through TOC, and UCLA’s exceptional Athletic Communications team, I was able to get a field photography pass for this game.
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I have been in press boxes before, but this was my first such field assignment and I had little idea what to do.
My main goals were to remember how to use a very old Canon EOS 7D camera, stay out of others’ way, and not get run over if a play happens to continue out of bounds in my direction. Basically, not make a fool of myself – something that challenges me under normal circumstances.
What follows is a recap of observations from the sideline during this experience. You can be the judge of whether my goal was accomplished or not. Select photos are in the article below but, if interested, the entire reel is here.
After working Saturday morning, getting to the Rose Bowl was a bit of a rush and I didn’t have much time to take in the pre-game tailgating scene, which appeared to be quite a bit different from the one other time I was at the Rose Bowl – the 2014 Rose Bowl game. The first thing I remember after parking was seeing scores of Stanford fans sipping white wine over linen tablecloths while the Spartan faithful cracked open various tall boys of PBR, Bud Light, and other domestics. Even though I was fortunate to have lived in Southern California for 12 years at that time (and now 24 years), I was reminded at that point that I at least grew up in the right state (Michigan).
The Rose Bowl would of course be packed full on that first day of 2014 but, despite this being UCLA’s homecoming and the Bruins fielding a top-10 team, it would be a lot less crowded for this game. The announced attendance was not quite 34,000. The Rose Bowl isn’t exactly to close to UCLA’s campus, it was a picture-perfect day here, and there are a lot of other things people can do. Also, the UC campuses that I’m familiar with (I’ve worked at two) just aren’t that in to their college sports.
After arriving plenty early for the 2014 Rose Bowl, I was worried about making it on time for this one but, once in the residential area surrounding the Rose Bowl, there were virtually no parking lines, the lots were nowhere near full, and people were jogging and biking around this area that is shaded by California scrub oaks. The guy in the car in front of me didn’t know what was happening with the orange barricades. A parking attendant had to tell him there was a UCLA game today.
Anyway, on to the game.
From an MSU perspective, an unfortunate story line continues to be injuries. As Robbie noted in his recap, the Spartans would start this game with their third string quarterback and running back but finish it with fourth stringers at each position.
With Alessio Milivojevic out, freshman Kayd Coffman got the call at quarterback.
Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for the injuries continue mounting for Michigan State. With Cam Edwards lost for the season and Jaziun Patterson out for this game, Marvis Parrish got the start at running back against UCLA. But, while picking up a first down on the third play of the game, Parrish went down leading to fourth stringer Kenneth Williams seeing most of the action. Williams finished with 54 yards on 17 carries and scored the Spartans’ only TD on a pass from Coffman.
Coffman got off to a decent start as the Spartans took the ball first and moved to the UCLA 38 yard line but the drive stalled there and the Spartans punted on fourth and eight.
UCLA started moving the ball on their first drive before the Spartan defense made a big play and turned the tide back in MSU’s favor. Devin Vaught forced and recovered a fumble by UCLA running back Anthony Woods and returned it 56 yards to the UCLA 15.
This led to the 14 yard Coffman to Williams touchdown pass to put the Spartans up 7-0.
Unfortunately, this would be Coffman’s last completion of the game as he finished 4-10 for 42 yards and the crucial second quarterback interception when MSU was at the UCLA 19. The Spartans wouldn’t score again until a field goal by Liam Boyd with 5:29 remaining in the game.
In between, the Bruins put up four touchdowns as the Spartans offense fizzled. With about 11 minutes to go in the game, Michigan State had produced only 100 yards of total offense and MSU turned to fourth string quarterback Leo Hannan.
Hannan would go 9-15 for 67 yards and throw an interception of his own on MSU’s last drive.
Meanwhile on defense, despite forcing two fumbles, and returning each of them 56 yards, Michigan State couldn’t really slow down the Bruin run game. UCLA finished with 245 yards on 48 attempts.
Injuries continued to pile up on this side of the ball as senior defensive lineman Ben Roberts went down, returned to the sideline on crutches and was wheeled off the field after the game.
In the post game presser, Fitzgerald and Spartan players Trent Fraley, Kenny Soares, and Nikai Martinez were all asked about the situation. Earlier in the season, Fitzgerald preached “next man up” but I think even he is finding this a tough message to sell. He said the Spartans brought “everyone who is healthy” to Pasadena but that it amounted to only 78 players on what is usually an 80-man traveling roster. Presumably, the 78 included the injured Milivojevic and linebacker Jordan Hall.
At the end of the 28-10 UCLA victory, even Sparty had to cover his eyes,
Pat Fitzgerald and the Spartans have a bye week to figure things out before the Michigan game on November 7,
and, when combining the football season with the basketball team’s very rough exhibition play, Spartan fans may be reaching for more strong beverages.
An unfortunate outcome, for sure, but I avoided getting run over on the sideline and am fortunate for the experience.
Go Green!
