There are going to be a lot of 'firsts' this weekend for the UCLA Bruins. This is the first game of the 2012-2013 football season as they take the field against the Rice Owls in Houston, Texas. In season openers, the Bruins are 60-28-5 all time. Against Rice, UCLA is 4-0 with their last win coming in 2006. Most importantly, it's the first game of the 'Jim Mora Era' at UCLA. Mora comes to UCLA with both NFL and college head coaching experience. He has Bruins fans hoping he can turn the team around to keep up with their rivals down the road.
Mora's first pick at starting quarterback is redshirt freshman Brett Hundley. This will be Hundley's first college game of his career. He won the starting job over redshirt senior Kevin Prince and true senior Richard Brehaut. Both Prince and Brehaut shared the quarterbacking duties for UCLA last season.
For Monday's practice, Mora brought in officials to help simulate game-day situations. The time was used to clean up any gray areas for the starters and their substitutions. Mora is confident that this work helped to pull together the final pieces as his team continues to prepare for Rice.