After Saturday’s win over Illinois, fullback Manuel White
gave plenty of justification for the outcry over his non-existence
last week against Colorado.
White lead the Bruins with 102 yards in 18 carriesÂ
accounting for nearly half of the team’s total yardage
Saturday.
But despite the his success and the 6-3 win over the Fighting
Illini, White felt unusually slow to begin with.
“At first, I felt a little rusty,” White said
““ understandable after not touching the ball once against
Colorado.
“But as the game went on I felt a little better, and I
think the offense picked it up.”
But not the entire offense.
Tailback Tyler Ebell, who ran the ball the majority of the game
last week, rushed for 44 yards in eight carries with only two
carries in the second half. Running back Maurice Drew was the only
other source of rushing yards who ran twice for a total of four
yards.Â
Only White was a significant contributor to the running game.
His 22-yard rush in the second quarter was not only his best of the
evening but the longest gain for the entire Bruin team.
“Manuel’s role was big in that we’ve given him
more reps this past week in playing tailback,” head coach
Karl Dorrell said of White’s first ever 100-yard performance.
“I was encouraged that our offense was generating some
movement towards the end of the game. It’s a step in the
right direction, and hopefully we’ll keep improving on that
in the weeks ahead.”
Quarterback Drew Olson ““ who threw 11 completed passes out
of 31 for 94 yards ““ also felt the pressure of a sluggish
offense.
“It was just the whole day, we couldn’t get anything
going and that was the frustrating part,” Drew said.
“We weren’t as loose as we should have been, we were
just tightening up out there.”
With the only points of the game coming off of two field goals,
it’s imperative UCLA’s offense find the grove that
didn’t come yesterday, especially for next week’s game
against top ranked Oklahoma.
And even with his steady performance, White acknowledges the
much needed improvement.
“Our defense played hard during the game but we should
have helped them out earlier, we can’t leave them on the
field that long,” White said. “We can’t do this,
we just can’t do this anymore.”