LOS ANGELES – When Josh Rosen met reporters outside the locker room in Palo Alto following UCLA’s 56-35 loss to Pac-12 North nemesis Stanford last week, the freshman quarterback delivered his point without hesitation.
“It’s frustrating,” he said. “I really wanted to beat this team. I really wanted to make a statement. But we’ll face them again in the Pac-12 championship game.”
Rosen’s declaration could have been deemed youthful optimism or wishful thinking given the Bruins’ recent slide.
Weeks earlier, a blowout win over then-No.16 Arizona catapulted Rosen and the Bruins to No.7 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll, equaling the highest ranking for the program since 2001.