By Rob Kariakin
Daily Bruin Contributor
Before you read this article, turn the page and look over the
statistics of Saturday’s UCLA-Oregon game in "Don Antonio’s Sports
Box." See how the Bruins gained over 300 yards on 62 carries? See
those four rushing touchdowns?
Ho-hum, you say. Another one of those wire-to-wire blowouts that
TV networks switch away from at halftime.
Well, you’re wrong.
The game started on anything but a dominating note. On his first
four carries, starting tailback Skip Hicks gained exactly one yard.
No, not one yard on each carry. One yard combined.
His totals for the first quarter: 13 carries for 20 yards. A
whopping 1.5 yards per carry.
Hardly what you would call "establishing the run."
"Skip Hicks has got too much ability to be satisfied with the
way he’s been playing," UCLA head coach Bob Toledo said last
Monday, addressing a similarly lackluster performance the week
before against Michigan.
"I’m gonna stay on him. And if it means that he doesn’t start
the second half (as in the Michigan game), or I keep taking him out
because he’s not running hard, then I’m gonna do something to
motivate him to do what I want him to do.
"I’m trying to find out what his hot button is and see if I can
make him mad. Mad at me or mad at the defense, so he’ll run
harder."
Mission accomplished.
After a second quarter during which he failed to so much as set
foot on the field (Toledo went with true freshman Durell Price),
Hicks came out smokin’.
On the Bruins’ first play of the half, Hicks burst through the
middle for 14 yards, twice as long as his longest run of the first
half. The next play he snaked around the right side for 11 yards
before being pulled down by his face mask.
Two carries, 25 yards. For those of you scoring at home, that’s
five more yards than he gained in 13 first-half carries.
Things were going so well UCLA attempted only five passes in the
quarter, instead choosing to run the ball 22 times for 174 yards
and three touchdowns. At one point the Bruins ran the ball on nine
consecutive downs, never gaining fewer than 2 yards and never
failing to gain a first down.
"We decided, this game we were going to be very patient with our
running game, and it paid off," UCLA offensive coordinator Al
Borges said.
How remarkable was UCLA’s running game during the quarter?
Hicks’ 152 yards in the third were ten yards more than his previous
high for an entire game.
"I think he ran pretty hard," said Toledo. "He kept running, and
that’s what we told him we wanted him to do. You know, we wanted
those three and four yard gains early in the game to be long runs
at the end of the game. And that’s exactly what happened."
During the first quarter it was often unclear whether Hicks was
failing to explode through the holes created by his blockers, or
whether there were simply no holes to explode through.
Coach?
"Well … ," Toledo said. "The holes weren’t as big as they were
the second half, let’s put it that way."
Um-hmm.
While there may be some truth to the claim that Hicks appeared
more aggressive after the half, the real change came from the men
setting the table for him.
"The line really knuckled down," quarterback Cade McNown said.
"They played tremendous in the second half; opening up holes right
and left. So, you know, I’ve got to give them a lot of the credit
for this win."
Hicks agreed: "I don’t think I got touched by a … lineman or
linebacker the whole third quarter."
Not that this should have been a big surprise. Going into the
game, Oregon was last in the Pacific 10 in rushing defense, with
opponents averaging 194.4 yards against them.
What’s more, the Bruins faced a squad that was weaker still due
to injuries. At least seven Oregon defenders were either unable to
play or played with injuries.
Now, the million dollar question: can this week’s success with a
"ram-it-down-their-throats" running attack carry over into next
week’s game against Arizona State?
"I doubt if they [Arizona State] are beat up as much as Oregon,"
Borges said,