Monday, November 3, 1997
Backpedaling: The Cardinal sin
FOOTBALL UCLA holds Stanford to negative rushing yardage in
near-shutout
By Mark Dittmer
Daily Bruin Staff
PALO ALTO, Calif. — All you need to know about the UCLA
football team’s 27-7 victory over Stanford on Saturday came during
Stanford’s first offensive series with 10 minutes left in the first
quarter.
A sack had forced the Cardinal into a third-and-16 on its own
19-yard line. Then the blitz came again, and safety Shaun Williams
chased quarterback Chad Hutchinson out of the pocket. Running to
save his life, Hutchinson fired a pass on the run to wide receiver
Damon Dunn, who toed the sideline, kept one foot in bounds and
reached high to haul in the pass right at the first-down marker.
All in all, it was a spectacular play.
It was also short of a first down, by a yard. And it was
probably the best effort Stanford put forward against a hungry UCLA
defense that registered 6 1/2 sacks and held Stanford’s two running
backs to a combined 19 yards.
The Stanford offense would subsequently go the entire first
quarter without registering a first down. And the Cardinal would go
59 minutes without registering a point, before scoring a
garbage-time touchdown with 42 seconds left to play.
"I can’t be happier for that group of people," head coach Bob
Toledo said of his defense. "The first couple weeks, they were
maligned. Everybody thought they were a bad defensive football
team. They came back and showed they were a pretty good defensive
football team with a lot of heart and a lot of character."
UCLA’s defense dominated with a little help from the offense,
which gave the Bruins an early 14-0 lead and forced the Cardinal to
abandon the running game.
"If their game plan was to run the ball, when you get a couple
touchdowns behind that game plan kind of goes out the window,"
defensive coordinator Rocky Long said.
UCLA took that early lead with a 59-yard touchdown drive on its
opening possession. Two possessions later, the Bruins scored again,
thanks in large part to an unlikely fourth-down conversion.
After a 16-yard holding penalty and then a subsequent sack, UCLA
faced fourth-and-29 from its own 9-yard line. No, the Bruins didn’t
go for it, and Chris Sailer’s punt would have given Stanford the
ball at its 43-yard line.
But Stanford was penalized for hitting UCLA’s center right after
he snapped the ball, and UCLA was awarded with an automatic first
down and the ball at its 24-yard line. Three plays later on third
and 8, Bruin quarterback Cade McNown hit receiver Rodney Lee on a
screen pass, and Lee ran it 73 yards to the Stanford 1-yard line.
Skip Hicks would run it in from there, two plays later.
"I think that was huge," Stanford head coach Tyrone Willingham
said. "Not only did they score, but it worked against us in field
position. We would’ve had it at our 45 and that would’ve given us a
chance to score."
The Bruin offense quieted down after that, getting two
second-quarter field goals to make it 20-0. But it had already done
enough for UCLA’s defense. While Stanford started gaining some
yards in the second quarter, the Bruins’ opportunistic defense
forced a turnover every time the Cardinal got into field-goal
range.
The Cardinal’s first turnover came early in the second quarter,
when center Mike McLaughlin snapped the ball right past an
unsuspecting Hutchinson, who had lined up in a shotgun formation.
As Hutchinson looked to his left, the ball floated by on his right
and was picked up by Bruin linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo. That
ended a Stanford scoring threat; the snap had occurred at the UCLA
35-yard line.
Then, there was a Wasswa Serwanga interception of a Hutchinson
bomb deep into UCLA territory, ending a second-quarter drive.
And in the third quarter, after Hutchinson threw a 17-yard
strike to receiver DeRonnie Pitts, Pitts was stripped from behind
by Bruin corner Javelin Guidry. The ball was recovered by Williams
at the UCLA 8-yard line, ending another threat to the Bruins’
shutout.
"When it seemed like they were driving the ball, driving the
ball … boom, our defense came up with the turnover," Ayanbadejo
said.
The performance by the defense overshadowed a lackluster
offensive game for UCLA. The Bruins racked up 12 penalties
totalling 125 yards.
But while it may not have been pretty, UCLA will take it.
Because with the win, the Bruins have finally reached the game
they’ve long been looking to. In its next game, UCLA plays
conference leader Washington, with a chance to take that conference
lead for itself.
"This game, we’ve kind of been keeping in the back of our minds
all season," Bruin defensive end Weldon Forde said. "We knew this
would be a shot for us to go to a major bowl."
The upcoming UCLA-Washington game got bigger when Arizona State
beat Washington State, leaving UCLA, WSU and ASU all tied for
second place in the conference.
Many never would have guessed that Forde – who had two sacks –
and the Bruin defense would have played such a big part in getting
them this far.
"You name it, they did it," a chagrined Hutchinson said after
the game. "They’re a solid defense. Everywhere you go in the
Pac-10, you see a solid defense, but they’re one of the best."
AARON TOUT / Daily Bruin
Jermaine Lewis takes charge of the ball during the Stanford
game.