It’s Early, but Things Are Getting Scary for Bruins : College football: Cook, UCLA draw boos from Rose Bowl crowd during embarrassing loss to Washington State.

No, that wasn’t “Coooop,” or “Loooou” or “Moooose” that they were shouting at the UCLA football team Saturday afternoon at the Rose Bowl.

Nope, those were boos, all right, and they were directed at Wayne Cook and the Bruins. It’s pretty obvious this isn’t really what you want to hear when you play your Pacific 10 Conference opener.

And we’re not talking the Halloween kind of boos, either, you understand.

Actually, maybe we are.

The Bruins sure looked like ghosts of their former selves, the team that defeated Tennessee right here on this very same Rose Bowl grass only three weeks ago.

The UCLA team that is supposed to beat Arizona and USC and Cal lost to Washington State, 21-0, and got booed doing it.

Cook got booed the most, and Coach Terry Donahue removed him from the fourth quarter to save him further embarrassment.

Cook was blunt in his assessment of his play: “I stunk.”

Sacked seven times, it wasn’t all Cook’s fault. Afterward, Cook said Donahue told the players it is important to stick together.

“He said it’s not time to start pointing fingers,” Cook said. “The offense can’t say the defense isn’t playing good and the defense can’t say the offense isn’t playing good.”

Oh, yes they can. But they probably won’t, in the interest of team unity, you understand. And remember, just because the Bruins lost their conference opener, it’s not the end of the world for them.

For the record, this is the fourth consecutive year that UCLA has dropped its Pac-10 opener.

“It is?” linebacker Donnie Edwards said. “We just put rocks on ourselves.”

It’s a heavy burden, to be sure. There must be some explanation for this to keep happening.

These reasons probably are as good as any.

1--The players don’t realize it’s the Pac-10 opener. They think they’re playing San Diego State.

2--They don’t play well against teams in red. Washington State wears red, just like Nebraska (you haven’t forgotten that game, have you?)

3--They have come to realize that the Rose Bowl actually is for soccer, not football.

4--Troy Aikman graduated.

5--They get too distracted wondering why Chancellor Charles Young always is standing there on the sidelines, right behind Donahue.

6--They enjoy the challenge of trying to come from behind.

7--There is secret competition among the players to be the first to cause ulcers among the coaching staff.

8--Donahue is undercoaching.

9--Donahue is overcoaching.

10--They’re just trying their darndest to avoid another Rose Bowl ticket scandal.

Anyway, Edwards described the Bruins’ plight in graphic terms.

“Nebraska and now this one, a couple of butt-kickings,” he said. “Actually, Nebraska was a butt-kicking, this probably falls just short of a butt-kicking.”

So what does UCLA have to do now?

“We’ve got to face up to adversity and give it a butt-kicking,” Edwards said.

It’s probably a good idea not to walk in front of Donnie Edwards today.

Donahue said Washington State, which beat UCLA by 21 points, has a more physical defensive team than Nebraska, which beat UCLA by 28 points. This may be of small consolation to the Bruins, though.

Next weekend, the Bruins will be in Seattle, where they must play the Washington Huskies, and all they did Saturday was end Miami’s 58-game home winning streak.

After that, UCLA plays at California and after that . . . well, better not look too far ahead.

Donahue was reminded that even though UCLA lost its Pac-10 opener last year, the Bruins still got to the Rose Bowl.

“We’re a long way from the Rose Bowl,” he said.

“At this point in time, we have to try to become a decent football team, which we are having a hard time doing.”