BRAD MORIKAWA/Daily Bruin Junior DeShaun
Foster charges with the ball in UCLA’s win over
Alabama three weeks ago. The Bruins played at Oregon this week.
By Christina Teller and Pauline Vu
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
With two games against No. 3 teams, the UCLA football team had
one of the toughest Division I schedules around. Still, the Bruins
have proven themselves better than anyone expected, shocking
Alabama, sliding by Fresno State and holding on to defeat Michigan
to be 3-0 heading into conference play.
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UCLA 35, Alabama 24 (Sept. 2)
Starting the season against the third-ranked team in the nation
and coming off a 4-7 season, the game looked to be the recipe for
disaster for the unranked Bruins. Instead of melting under the
pressure, however,the Bruins cooked their way to a convincing 35-24
trouncing of Alabama.
“It’s a great feeling to come back, in the opening
game, beat the No. 3 team in the country, and get some
respect,” junior tailback DeShaun Foster said. “A lot
of people had counted us out, I wanted to do my part and I guess my
part was to run for a career-high total.”
At the start of the contest, the victory didn’t seem too
likely, with a late hit on sophomore starting quarterback Cory Paus
that removed him with a separated shoulder from the game.
Alabama quickly took the lead, after a 71-yard punt return by
Alabama’s Freddie Milons with only a minute gone from the
clock.
It was Foster who emerged from the Bruin lineup as the game,
rushing 187 yards on 42 carries and three touchdowns.
Contributing greatly to the win was the Bruin defense, who let
Alabama past the 50-yard line only three times during the entire
game.
“They dominated us on both sides of the line of
scrimmage,” Alabama head coach Mike DuBose said. “We
had our opportunities in the first half, we just did not make the
plays. I’m disappointed in the way we played, and I’m
disappointed in the way I prepared them. They just kept the ball
away from us too much.”
 JESSE PORTER/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Tony
White holds the ball up in celebration as Ricky
Manning Jr. and Steve Morgan fire up the
crowd while playing Fresno State on Sept. 9. The Bruins are 3-0
going into the regular Pac-10 season. Physical play was the key to
their win, according to Bruin head coach Bob Toledo.
“This was the most physical game we’ve played since
I’ve been here, with the exception of the two games in
’97 against Washington and Arizona,” he said.
Stepping in for the Bruins on offense was backup quarterback
Ryan McCann, who completed 14-of-24 passes for 194 yards on the
day. His only serious mistake of the outing was a forced pass
intercepted by Reggie Myles, who returned it 91 yards to put the
Crimson Tide up 24-21 at the start of the second half.
But UCLA claimed the lead off of McCann’s 46-yard
touchdown pass to Freddie Mitchell.
The Bruin squad was the first unranked UCLA team to beat a team
ranked as high as No. 3.
“I don’t know if we’re back,” said
Toledo. “But I’m very excited right now for our
football team and the Pac-10.”
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UCLA 24, Fresno State 21 (Sept. 9)
Of the Bruins’ three preseason games, the one against the
Bulldogs of the WAC was expected to be the easiest.
Someone forgot to tell Fresno State.
Through three quarters of play, a determined and physical
Bulldog team held their own in the game against the then-No. 16
Bruins, keeping the UCLA lead to a slim 10-7.
Had it not been for Charles Smith tripping over a teammate after
returning a punt 75 yards to the UCLA 7, Fresno could have been up
14-7. The Bulldogs failed to score on that drive.
But the Bruins played just as sloppy and by halftime, frustrated
with starting quarterback Ryan McCann’s mistakes, UCLA head
coach Bob Toledo pulled McCann from the game and played
third-string Scott McEwan at quarterback.
“Ryan was calling bad audibles. He was missing passes that
were there, and there was no consistency,” Toledo said.
“We needed a change, and I thought I’d give Scott
McEwan a chance. He came in and did a nice job.”
In the fourth UCLA finally seemed to break open the game when
DeShaun Foster ran in two touchdowns to increase UCLA’s lead
to 24-7.
But five minutes later, Fresno State quarterback David Carr had
two touchdown passes of his own to close the score to 24-21.
With 1:17 still left and the Bulldogs in possession of the ball
on the UCLA 43, the Bruin defense came up big.
Carr fumbled the snap from the center and UCLA strong safety
Marques Anderson recovered the ball to preserve the lead and ensure
the win.
“UCLA made big plays, and the team that makes the big
plays wins,” Fresno State head coach Pat Hill said.
He found no consolation in how close his unranked team came to
upsetting the Bruins.
“It’s not a moral victory. We can play with these
people,” Hill said.
The Bruins have never lost to the Bulldogs. This win pushed
UCLA’s overall record against Fresno State to 6-0.
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UCLA 23, Michigan 20 (Sept. 16)
It was a challenge, no matter how you looked at it. In
sweltering heat, in front of a packed stadium, the Bruins faced the
No. 3 team in the nation. But the Bruins had been here before, just
14 days prior, and like that previous game, UCLA pulled out the
upset and showed why they’re among the nation’s
elite.
“That was really an outstanding victory for our football
program,” said UCLA head coach Bob Toledo. “We
obviously had to overcome a lot of adversity, but the thing that
was kind of neat about it is our kids found a way to win it at the
end and that’s all that really counts.”
With the heat boiling at 100 degrees at kickoff, players and
faithful fans alike sweltered as the Wolverines and Bruins faced
off.
The Bruin defense squelched Michigan quarterback John Navarre,
who had led the nation in passing efficiency in the first two weeks
of the season, limiting him to just 8-of-28 passes for 111 yards,
and only 1-for-10 and 37 yards in the second half.
While the Bruin defense got the job done, UCLA struggled to get
it going on offense, and quarterback Ryan McCann completed only
6-of-19 for 76 yards.
But unlike the previous week when McCann struggled, UCLA head
coach Bob Toledo elected to let him redeem himself on the
field.
“I told him, “˜This is your game to win, don’t
look behind you,'” Toledo said. “This game was
for the program. If we were going to be among the elite teams in
the country, we had to make a statement today. I think we made
it.”
Despite trailing the Wolverines into the fourth quarter 20-17,
the Bruins sealed the win with the one-two punch of
Michigan’s Hayden Epstein miss of a 46-yard field goal with
13:36 remaining and the interception by Jason Stephens with 1:28
left on the clock.
“I was just playing my normal zone, and when I saw the
ball coming, I was in disbelief,” Stephens said. “The
closer it got, the bigger it got. The minute I caught the ball, I
started to cry.”
Holding the No. 6 rank in the AP poll and No. 8 with ESPN, the
Bruins enter conference play behind only No. 7 Washington among
Pac-10 teams in the ESPN poll.
“The preseason is over for us. Now it’s the
Pac-10,” Toledo said. “What we’ve done has been
great, but it’s not going to help us win the next eight
games. We now have to go out and continue to get better and
win.”
With contributions from Daily Bruin Wire Reports.