DeShaun Foster drags the Bruins into another

Year 2 of the DeShaun Foster period started at UCLA late Saturday evening with tarped seats, yawning followers and a scary query.

What if this man actually can’t coach?

Having endured Foster’s quite a few growing pains in a 5-7 debut season, the Bruin devoted had been hopeful this second go-around would reveal him as the inspirational chief that athletic director Martin Jarmond promised when he surprisingly picked him to substitute Chip Kelly.

Still ready. Getting uglier. Seriously apprehensive.

In a season opener that was utterly devoid of the “energy and passion,” that Jarmond once claimed Foster possessed, the Bruins misplaced 43-10 to Utah in a recreation that ended with the Rose Bowl displaying only one signal of life.

That got here from the other crew’s followers, who stuffed the Pasadena evening with the taunting chant of, “Let’s Go Utah.”

The Bruins had been never in it. The Bruins never had a likelihood. This was dreadful. This was embarrassing.

“Lot of stuff to learn from … it’s not going to be easy,” said Foster.

Seemed fairly simple for the Utes, who scored on their first three possessions with drives of 75, 60 and 49 yards, making it 20-0 before the second quarter was three minutes previous.

“We went out there and got punched in the mouth,” said quarterback Nico Iamaleava.

One would possibly assume that $2 million could be enough to buy a comeback, the dear Iamaleava making his first look after storming out of Tennessee last spring when the Volunteers wouldn’t pay up.

Wrong again. On this first evening, Iamaleave was grossly overpaid, overthrowing numerous receivers and utterly actually one fairly go all evening, a landing strike price 19 yards to Anthony Woods late in the second quarter that made it 20-7.

The Bruins never acquired any nearer, permitting second-half landing drives of 21 performs — 21 performs! — and 10 performs amid a flurry of missed tackles and blown assignments.

By the fourth quarter, the sparsely populated Rose Bowl had grown even more somber and morose, and you have got to surprise: How hopeless must a program be if it could possibly only entice only 35,032 to the nation’s most stunning soccer stadium on a vacation weekend?

This hopeless: The Bruins had been more than doubled in complete yardage, outgained 482-220. This included permitting 286 yards dashing to the former Pac-12 Utes who, it seems, in all probability ought to have gone to the Big Ten instead of these withering Bruins.

“We just played a good team, that’s it,” said Foster — and when is the last time any individual said that about his crew?

UCLA coach DeShaun Foster, left, and fellow coaches shout instructs during the Bruins’ loss to Utah at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena on Saturday.

(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

One recreation down, and UCLA already seems to be and feels cooked. All momentum from Kelly’s remaining 8-5 season — bear in mind that bowl win over Boise State? — has been misplaced. All hope that Foster can truly flip this around is slowly disappearing beneath a bevy of humiliations.

Foster started his debut season last fall going 1-5 and this season’s schedule is even harder, with the potential of issues to get even messier. They have video games at Indiana, Michigan State and Ohio State. They have home video games against Penn State, Washington and Nebraska. And they end at USC.

At this charge, they’ll be fortunate to end 5-7, at which level the anticipated three-year clock on Foster’s tenure will start to loudly tick.

But give Foster credit for one factor — he might have seen this coming. Recently he put in a litany of new media restrictions that mainly prohibited journalists from getting a nearer look at his program.

Foster must have identified what that nearer look would reveal. Indeed, this might be a crew price hiding.

And the darn factor is, it was supposed to all be so different. The protection had all new starters. The offense was being coordinated by new Indiana whiz Tino Sunseri.

And then there was Imaleava, who last spring made NIL historical past by being faculty soccer’s unofficial first holdout before being half of faculty soccer’s unofficial first commerce.

After overlooking the fact that they had been hiring a reputed chief who had walked out on his former crew, the Bruins employed Imaleava and turned their backs on quarterback Joey Aguilera, a transfer which ended up with him going to Tennessee.

In the Volunteers season-opening win against Syracuse Saturday, Aguilera was 16-for-28 passing with three touchdowns and no interceptions plus 34 yards dashing.

Iamaleava was 11-for-22 passing with one landing and one interception plus 47 yards dashing.

“Me, personally, I’ve got to be better,” said Iamaleava.

His first throw was behind an open receiver. His third throw sailed over the head of a receiver who was sprinting downfield for what would have been a sure landing. He ended UCLA’s first possession with a unhealthy fourth-down determination to throw to a lined receiver instead of opting for an open receiver on the other facet of the discipline.

The quarterback appeared to discover his groove in the second quarter, main the Bruins to the season’s first landing that excellent go to Woods. But his momentum didn’t last, and he ended his evening by admitting, “Taking myself back to the drawing board.”

Here’s hoping he’s joined there by Foster, who wants to scribble out a different script. Something. Anything. And soon.