The Associated Press UCLA tailback DeShaun
Foster (26) is brought down with the help of Washington
State linebacker Al Genatone (48) in the first
quarter at Martin Stadium in Pullman, Wash., Saturday.
Washington St. 20 UCLA 14
By Hannah Gordon
Daily Bruin Reporter
Craig Bragg sat on the bench alone, long after the game was
over, as wild Cougar fans rushed the field. The redshirt freshman
wide receiver’s despondent look, not unlike the face the UCLA
football team wore after last week’s loss to Stanford, said
it all.
Washington State senior free safety Lamont Thompson,
Bragg’s defender, ended the Bruins’ hopes for a
comeback victory with 2:32 in the fourth quarter. That’s when
he turned before Bragg and jumped up for his fourth
interception of the day ““ a WSU record.
With the 20-14 loss, the Bruins (6-2, 3-2 Pac-10) lost their
Pac-10 championship hopes a week after falling out of national
championship contention.
“It’s a very empty feeling,” UCLA head coach
Bob Toledo said.
After a week of uncertainty, Ryan McCann started at quarterback
because he was healthier than Cory Paus or Scott McEwan. However,
Toledo pulled McCann after he started 3-of-8 with two picks.
WSU (8-1, 5-1) surprised UCLA with a double eagle defense which
they had not shown all season, forcing UCLA to throw out its game
plan ““ evidenced by the five interceptions thrown by Bruin
quarterbacks.
“We should have put (Thompson) at receiver,” WSU
head coach Mike Price said. “We played a three-deep defense,
and Lamont ran sideline to sideline like a
centerfielder.”
Thompson’s first interception set up WSU’s opening
touchdown drive of the night. Cougar junior cornerback Marcus
Trufant intercepted McCann on UCLA’s next possession.
“The turnovers killed us,” Toledo said.
“Offensively we were totally inept. We couldn’t run the
ball. We couldn’t pass the ball. We couldn’t protect
the ball.”
In the third quarter, with the score 10-7 in favor of the
Cougars, turnovers hurt the Bruins again when senior tailback
DeShaun Foster fumbled at the WSU 16 on what looked like the Bruins
most promising drive yet. WSU weakside linebacker Al Genatore
returned the fumble 73 yards for the touchdown and a 17-7 lead.
The other turnover by the Bruins came at the start of the third
quarter when Trufant forced UCLA wide receiver Tab Perry to fumble.
Perry was taken to a local hospital, where he remains after
suffering four fractured ribs and a partially collapsed right
lung.
Losing Perry and his big play skill left the Bruins with only
two scholarship receivers, one of whom ““ Ryan Smith ““
was playing with a separated shoulder and sprained ankle.
“It’s a big hit to us,” Bragg said.
The Bruin defense stepped up with turnovers of its own. In his
first career start, replacing the injured Jason Stephens, redshirt
freshman strong safety Ben Emanuel put UCLA back in the game when
he made his second interception of the night and returned it 29
yards for the touchdown.
“I read the quarterback and made the catch,” Emanuel
said. “I read my block and nervously ran it into the endzone.
I thought we were on our way to victory.”
With the whole fourth quarter to play and down only three
points, 17-14, the Bruins did look like they could comeback.
UCLA went three and out on its first possession of the quarter
but was given a second chance when freshman cornerback Matt Ware
picked off a Gesser pass and returned it 19 yards to the UCLA 41.
However, Paus threw an interception in the ensuing drive after
making two first downs.
A determined Bruin defense stopped the Cougars on third and goal
from the 8, as WSU settled for a field goal to go up 20-14.
“It’s just attitude,” UCLA defensive end
Kenyon Coleman said of the defense’s success, which kept the
Cougars to six of 20 on third down conversions. “You just
don’t want to be on the field more than you have
to.”
Unfortunately the defense was on the field a lot Saturday
night.
“I thought our defense played well enough for us to win,
but our offense put our defense in too many bad predicaments”
Toledo said.
With 3:51 left in the fourth quarter, Foster helped move the
Bruins downfield and Paus completed a 13-yard pass to Craig Bragg
for a first down. But Paus was intercepted by Thompson on the very
next play.
Though the Bruin defense forced the Cougars to go three and out,
they couldn’t take advantage of the last chance. Paus was
sacked for a loss of six then on second and 16 threw a desperate
bomb intercepted by Thompson again to end the game.
“We’ve got to do some soul searching” Toledo
said.
From the looks on their faces, the Bruins have already
begun.