STANFORD — They filed into Stanford Stadium as the visiting team amidst a sea of red on a hazy Saturday afternoon, wearing their white tops and gold pants. They warmed up in the end zone next to their band — which was tucked into the corner — their cleats stepping on logos on the field that were not their own. And when they ran back onto the field before kickoff with their fight song playing, barely anyone noticed after Stanford’s smoke-filled entrance was met with a roar from the home crowd.
For UCLA, it was a scene that had been unfamiliar for nearly two years — or 672 days, to be precise — while it was Stanford’s first home game since last November, with fans allowed for the first time in 665 days. It had been 14 games since the Bruins traveled to a road stadium outside Los Angeles with no capacity restrictions, with their first three games this season taking place at the Rose Bowl.
“This whole pandemic is a thing of firsts for everybody,” head coach Chip Kelly said last week. “Every day, you see a new statistic. It’s 600 days since this, it’s 500 days since that. It’s just part of us getting back into the groove of what it is to have a normal football season.”
The pregame routine, though, remained the same. The team had meetings at the same times and ate at the same times, according to Kelly. They played music during practice to simulate the crowd noise.
Kelly joked during the week that in preparation for the long-awaited road trip, the team “drove around campus like 16 times in a bus” for practice.
“You’ve just got to go,” Kelly said. “We were fortunate to play three home games because of how our out-of-conference schedule fell. We’ll have some kids travel for the first time, but it is a veteran team.”
The team wears masks when they travel on buses or planes because a few players remain unvaccinated. Kelly added that UCLA has experience with the new protocols on road trips from last season, and that the freshmen received briefings from their positional coaches.
“Kinda used to the protocols by now,” wide receiver Kam Brown said. “Just keep a close knit circle with the guys on the team and focus on what you need to focus on.”
Still, even as college football in 2021 appears closer to normal than last year, Kelly warned during the week that his players have to remain cautious, especially as students arrived on campus last week for the start of the school year.
After next week’s home game against Arizona State, UCLA hits the road three of the next four weeks, beginning with a back-to-back at Arizona and Washington for their first trips outside California.
“Our players have been good protecting our ecosystem,” Kelly said. “But as you start to add more students to campus, the atmosphere around here is going to be a little bit different. They have to understand that they’ve got a lot at stake.”
9 a.m. KICKOFFS?
At least one Pac-12 head coach is a big fan of day games. Kelly said after the game that he enjoyed the 3 p.m. kickoff, the routine consisting of “wake up Saturday morning, get a little breakfast and you play football.” He said he enjoyed seeing the sunset over Stanford Stadium.
“I don’t like playing games at night, because you’ve got to sit around all day long,” Kelly said. “I wish we could play at 9 a.m.”
EBOH GETS THE NOD
Cornerback Obi Eboh, a graduate transfer who spent four years at Stanford, was named one of UCLA’s captains in his first trip back to Palo Alto.
MOVING UP THE BOOKS
Dorian Thompson-Robinson passed Rick Bashore for seventh on the list of career starts for a UCLA quarterback. Thompson-Robinson started his 28th game for the Bruins on Saturday, surpassing Bashore, who was the starter from 1976-79.
INJURY REPORT
There was some injury concern during the week with a few defensive starters, but linebacker Mitchell Agude, defensive lineman Otito Ogbonnia and safety Quentin Lake all warmed up pregame and suited up.
Center Sam Marrazzo, who just returned last week from a leg injury, went down early in the third quarter and left the game. Duke Clemens replaced Marrazzo at center.
