Friday, November 6, 1998
Bruins look to prove poll wrong
PREVIEW: Oregon State has big play potential, but inexperience
has kept Beavers from getting wins
By Rocky Salmon
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
UCLA, in a furious and confusing game of poll position, has
fallen from their top perch in the Bowl Championship Series (BCS)
rankings and head into Corvallis, Ore. with a point to prove.
Last week, UCLA was leading the BCS polls at a score of 3.04 to
4.71, and was ranked second and third in the AP and ESPN/USA polls
respectively. However, due to the Stanford game, UCLA has dropped
to third in the AP and BCS (with a score of 6.62) and to fourth in
the ESPN/USA polls.
What this means is that if the season ended today, the Bruins
would miss the Fiesta Bowl and would play in the friendly confines
of the Rose Bowl.
The drop in the polls may have been a wake-up call and a release
of mounting pressure for UCLA.
³The poll is hard not to distract (the players)," head
coach Bob Toledo said. ³The kids are human. When you are No. 1
everyone thinks you are better than you really are.
³I told the kids to seize the moment before the Stanford
game. But we didn’t."
The Stanford game was supposed to be a walk in the park for the
Bruins and Oregon State is slotted to be no different. But after
the close call last weekend, the Bruins are not going to take
anyone lightly.
³We have stubbed our toe, but luckily, we haven’t shot our
foot off," Toledo said, in reference to the up and down season.
For the first time in five games, UCLA will have all their
tailbacks ready, and the pressure of being No. 1 in the country has
been lifted off their shoulders.
However, the Beavers are a sleeper team. Losing last week to Cal
20-19 and to Washington the week before in a heartbreaker 35-34,
the Beavers were poised to have their best season ever.
The team has two big play guys in quarterback Jonathan Smith and
Tim Alexander, who has 14 of the Beaver’s 37 plays over 25 yards.
Against USC he returned a kick-off for 100 yards and ranks third
all-time in total offense at OSU.
The Beavers have been unable to make the right play at the right
time and come up with the right combination of strong defense and
strong offense.
But Oregon St. will not back down against the undefeated Bruins.
If the Beavers can upset UCLA, their season will be salvaged.
³I think they believe they can get after us and make it a
game. even possibly win," said quarterback Cade McNown.
³They’ve been in situations where they could have won games
these last two weeks against solid teams but they came up a little
bit short," he said.
With an undefeated season and the hype of the BCS rankings, the
Bruins must come out focused on the tough turf in Corvallis.
Oregon head coach Mike Riley believes UCLA might slip.
³As the season goes on and we’re playing for all the
marbles, things get tight," said Riley.
³All teams are aiming to defeat UCLA, but UCLA has found
different ways to win."
Finding different ways to win has been UCLA’s forte, as has been
relying on the big play: Marques Anderson’s strip, two goal-line
stands, Jermaine Lewis’ pass against Oregon and DeShaun Foster’s
rumbling in Tucson.
This game will be about the big play against the big play. One
team has come up clutch in prime time while the other has faltered
with inexperience.
Furthermore, the game in Corvallis will be the game to show the
pollsters that UCLA is back and will not be affected by the
rankings.
As McNown said, ³(The team) just wants to go out and play
some football."
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