Friday, October 2, 1998
Lewis, team to retaliate against last year’s decisive loss to
WSU
With two victories behind them, newly assured Bruins to confront
Cougars
By Vytas Mazeika
Daily Bruin Staff
To see UCLA tailback Skip Hicks explode for a 92-yard touchdown
run on the second play from scrimmage was surprising. Hicks’
190-yard rushing set the stage for a dramatic end, but to most
Bruin fans’ discontent, Hicks was in the sidelines for the now
infamous fourth-and-one.
When back-up tailback Jermaine Lewis was stopped less than a
yard from the goal line in UCLA’s last play from scrimmage, second
guessing could be heard everywhere.
Should UCLA head coach Bob Toledo have called a time-out to get
his exhausted star tailback in the game? Did UCLA get into the end
zone the play before when Cade McNown’s pass forced a diving catch
and a questionable call gave the Bruins the ball at the 1-yard
line? Why did Toledo go for a two-point conversion late in the
third quarter when that extra point would’ve allowed UCLA to kick a
field goal for the win in the final minutes?
The final score was Washington State 37, UCLA 34. That was the
only Pac-10 loss for the Bruins in 1997, and in the end it turned
out to be the reason why the Bruins did not advance to the Rose
Bowl.
"It was terrible," junior flanker Danny Farmer, who caught a
touchdown pass in the third quarter to make the score 37-27, said.
"We were down early at halftime, and at one point I think we were
down 30-14 and we came back only to come up short. Down 37-34 with
the ball at the 1-yard line and didn’t score. It was really tough
and something I don’t really want to look back to."
The irony is that this game was originally scheduled to be
played late in the year. What if the UCLA team that was on its way
to a 10-game winning streak had played the Cougars on Nov. 8 as
originally planned? Instead, what became the most important
conference game of the 1997 season was played on Aug. 30 and became
the first game of the year for the Bruins – a vast contrast to
Saturday’s match-up.
"We’re kind of glad that we have two games under our belt for a
lot of reasons," senior strong safety Larry Atkins said. "We’ve
worked out some of the problems we’ve had in the first two games
coming into this league game and feel better."
Cougar quarterback Ryan Leaf has gone to the National Football
League, and the Heisman candidate now belongs to UCLA in the
presence of McNown. The Bruins feel more comfortable while a loss
to lowly California last week has Washington State against the
ropes.
Talk before the game will be on last year’s thrilling season
opener at Pullman, but the script should be vastly different in
1998 at Pasadena.
After the game, questions about redemption and revenge will fill
the locker room. One player, though, won’t be saying much off the
field. After being hounded for the whole week by reporters wanting
to know only one thing, Lewis has already put last year’s game
behind him and expects others to do the same thing after Saturday’s
game.
"Every reporter this week has asked me the same question about
the Washington State game and if I have any emotions coming in
because I got stopped on fourth-and-one," Lewis said. "I know it’s
kind of depressing … but I’m going to let my performance on the
field do the talking."
Lewis and the Bruins have more important things to worry about
than a tough loss in 1997 – like a national championship in
1998.
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© 1998 ASUCLA Communications Board