By Christopher Isidro
Special to the Daily Bruin
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Entering Saturday’s matchup pitting Michigan
against UCLA, it was tough to tell which team was ranked seventh in
the country and which one was snubbed by the polls.
After all, the No. 7 team came from behind to subdue a Boston
College squad that nearly succumbed to Navy on Saturday.
The other team gave then No. 2 Tennessee all it could handle in
a 35-20 road loss before crushing an overmatched Northeast
Louisiana squad 44-0.
But in their 38-9 trouncing of the Bruins at Michigan Stadium,
the Wolverines proved worthy of their top-10 ranking.
Michigan dominated in every which way, starting from the ground
up. The Wolverines rushed for a staggering 300 yards on 55 carries
for a 5.4 yard average. Tailback Chris Howard, out since Michigan’s
upset of Colorado two weeks ago, returned with a vengeance against
UCLA with 109 yards on 16 carries. Four of those carries resulted
in Michigan touchdowns.
"Every time I take the field, this is the way I want to play,"
Howard said. "I knew I was capable of playing a game like
this."
The first of his four scores took place midway in the second
quarter. With Michigan already ahead 7-0, Howard started off right
tackle and then broke along the sideline unmolested for a 31-yard
touchdown.
Howard struck again a little more than five minutes later when
he ran up the middle, changed direction past a seam at the line of
scrimmage, and plowed his way in for the 10-yard score to up
Michigan’s lead to 20-3. Remy Hamilton’s third conversion of the
day snapped Michigan’s four-game streak of scoring exactly 20
points.
Howard added another pair of touchdowns in the third quarter
with runs of 6 and 7 yards to quickly put the game out of
reach.
"Defensively, we gave up some big plays," UCLA head coach Bob
Toledo said. "They kept running one play over and over again and
got after us pretty good."
The running game made life easier for Michigan quarterback Scott
Dreisbach, who enjoyed one of his best games of the season
completing nine passes for 176 yards and one touchdown.
Dreisbach found success with the long ball, working the
play-action pass to perfection in the third quarter. He faked a
handoff to Howard and found a wide-open Tai Streets in the middle
of the field for a 39-yard gain, helping to set up a Howard
touchdown.
"Our offensive coaches did a great job establishing a running
game against a defense that’s extremely hard to do that against,"
Michigan head coach Lloyd Carr said. "Then we hit some big passes
that gave us some big plays."
The UCLA offense did little to cover up the defense’s
shortcomings on Saturday. The Bruins rushed for a respectable 108
yards but seemed to find nothing but air in the passing game. UCLA
completed only 10 passes on 31 attempts for 62 yards including an
8-for-27, three interception performance by Cade McNown.
"There weren’t many things that worked too well for us," McNown
said. "Their defense played us well and stopped us in just about
every aspect."
The Wolverine defense made life difficult for the sophomore
quarterback, constantly pressuring McNown and containing his
scrambles. On the rare instances he found a Bruin receiver open,
McNown was unable to capitalize.
"Offensively, we couldn’t get anything going," Toledo said.
"That’s a real credit to their defense. When we had guys open, we
didn’t hit them. When we did hit them, they dropped the ball."
UCLA’s best offensive play of the game, a 32-yard strike from
McNown to Ryan Rocques on play-action in the second quarter, was
nullified by an ineligible man downfield call against left tackle
Kris Farris. Instead of first and 10 on the Michigan 28 behind only
7-0, the Bruins were eventually forced to punt.
"I know Kris didn’t feel he was downfield," McNown said. "But
that’s just one of those things where you just roll with the
punches. That just hurt a lot."
The lone Bruin highlight was linebacker Philip Ward, who
collected two interceptions and gave UCLA some measure of
respectability on the scoreboard. His first pick occurred on
third-and-goal at the Bruin 4-yard-line, preventing the Wolverines
from getting on the scoreboard in the first quarter.
The second interception came on the first play of the fourth
when he stepped in front of backup Tom Brady’s pass and returned it
42 yards for UCLA’s only touchdown of the day, making the score
35-9.
Michigan capped the scoring with a 31-yard field goal midway
through the fourth.
"We didn’t play very well," Toledo said. "Most of that is
probably due to the fact that they are a very good football
team."
* * *
Backup UCLA inside linebacker Rosco Zamano was carted off the
field in the first half after dislocating his knee on punt
coverage. He was taken to a local hospital and was in surgery
before the conclusion of the game to repair a ruptured artery in
his leg.
"We lost Zamano to a very serious injury, his family (was)
contacted," Toledo said. "It kind of puts football into
perspective. Here’s a guy who’s hurt badly. We lost a football
game."
Shannon Collins, special to the Daily Bruin, contributed to this
report.