NICOLE MILLER/Daily Bruin Junior quarterback Cory
Paus lauches a pass in Saturday’s game against Oregon.
By Hannah Gordon
Daily Bruin Reporter
Lost: DeShaun Foster
Found: The Old Cory Paus.
After a disappointing performance last week against Washington
State, the last thing the Bruin offense needed was to lose its star
tailback. But in his absence, the offense rallied, particularly in
the passing game ““ but came up short.
Going into the game, no one knew if the Foster fiasco would be a
distraction or a motivation.
“I think it was a little bit of both,” senior
fullback Ed Ieremia-Stansbury said. “Knowing DeShaun
wasn’t going to be in this game, everyone on the offense knew
we had to pick it up. Especially as seniors we needed to so that
DeShaun’s absence wouldn’t be missed as
much.”
Although it came up a few plays too short, the offense surprised
everyone who had seen the Bruins gain only 140 yards in the air
with five interceptions a week ago.
Everyone, that is, but the offense itself.
“I feel different today, different than I’ve ever
felt,” Paus said two days after the loss to WSU.
At first it seemed like wishful thinking after a 7-of-19 passing
performance, but he looked cleaner all week in practice.
Though the Bruins went three and out on their first possession,
Paus led them 82 yards downfield for a touchdown the next series.
The drive was largely enabled by a 30-yard pass to sophomore
receiver Ryan Smith. Although Paus completed a few bombs, the real
difference was that he also made the short and mid-range passes
that he has more trouble with.
“Another game like last week and I’m sure I would
have had to listen to more quarterback controversy this,
quarterback controversy that,” Paus said.
“I had motivation to show I deserve to be in there,”
he added. “There is a reason I have been the starting
quarterback since I was a redshirt freshman.”
Despite two interceptions that killed possible touchdown drives,
Paus looked more like he had in the 56-17 Cal blowout three weeks
ago when he was 13-of-16 for 273 yards rather than the Paus who
struggled at Stanford and WSU. Without Foster, Paus had to pass
more ““ completing 14 of 22 attempts.
“We got the Cory Paus we’re used to seeing,”
redshirt freshman receiver Craig Bragg said.
The return of the old Cory Paus was not the only key return of
the day. Senior wide receiver Brian Poli-Dixon led the team in the
absence of both Foster and injured receiver Tab Perry. Poli-Dixon
bobbled a touchdown pass that bounced off his helmet, but was the
day’s leading receiver with 149 yards. The game put him fifth
on the UCLA all-time receiving list.
Poli-Dixon’s receptions were key in getting the Bruins
within field-goal range, which is what UCLA had to settle for when
the team failed to capitalize in the red zone twice.
“Cory had the hot hand, and Polï played a great
game,” sophomore wide receiver Ryan Smith said.
“(Poli-Dixon) showed why he’s been so missed the past
few weeks; he’s a big time player who makes big
plays.”
“We knew we needed to pick it up in the passing game like
we did,” he added.
They just had to look in the lost and found.