PASADENA “”mdash; It wasn’t a pretty win, but UCLA head
coach Karl Dorrell will take it.
Though the Bruins punted ten times and only generated 94 total
passing yards, kicker Justin Medlock’s two field goals were
enough to give UCLA a 6-3 victory over Illinois in front of 51,118
at the Rose Bowl.
“The magnitude of this win can really benefit a team in
its growth,” Dorrell said. “It was a hard-fought win
over a pretty good Illinois team. Their defense gave our offense
some issues, but our defense played lights out. We know we have
some work to do, but the direction we’re going is
positive.”
The win was Dorrell’s first as head coach and the 500th in
UCLA football history. With UCLA leading by a three with 27 seconds
left, the game’s outcome hinged on a 43-yard field goal
attempt by Illinois kicker John Gockman, which he missed.
“I couldn’t see the field goal attempt, so I had to
listen for the fans,” Dorrell said. “It was too close
for me to tell myself. To be honest, I thought it was good, but
apparently, it was wide left.”
Once again, UCLA’s offense wasn’t able to muster
much. Olson completed only 11 of 31 passes and was sacked five
times. Olson’s low completion percentage was partially due to
Bruin receivers dropping passes, including dropped touchdown passes
by Craig Bragg and Junior Taylor.
“It was just poor concentration,” said tight end
Marcedes Lewis, who dropped a few balls himself. “I feel like
I really let the team down today. But we’ll bounce back. The
receivers will catch the balls, and we won’t miss
opportunities like that again.”
Added Bragg, “I’m happy we got away with a win
today, but if we want to compete, we ““ the wide receivers and
tight ends ““ need to do our job.”
The running game, too, was stagnant, but it started coming
around toward the end of the game, behind the 6-foot-3, 236-pound
frame of Manuel White. White finished with 18 carries for 102
yards, after not even coming close to touching the ball last week
against Colorado.
“I was encouraged that our offense started generating some
movement toward the end of the game,” Dorrell said.
“That’s a steppingstone, and we’ll continue to
work on that and get better.”
While the offense struggled, the defense shined. UCLA defenders
picked off three of Illinois quarterback Jon Beutjer’s
passes. Beutjer finished with 216 yards passing, 64 of which came
on the Fighting Illini’s final, desperation drive.
“Our defense has done a great job for two weeks in a row,
and right now, they’re carrying our flagship,” Dorrell
said. “The defense has kept us in games, but at some point,
our offense will get working and hold their own, too. Until then,
we’re behind our defense.”
Next week, UCLA will travel to Norman to take on top-ranked
Oklahoma. While the Bruin defense might give fans reason to be
optimistic, the UCLA offense could be in for a long day against the
vaunted Sooner defense.
“This is just the beginning,” Dorrell said.
“We’ve got some work to do, but we’ll get those
things addressed. Today’s win was a big win.”
For now, UCLA will enjoy its first of the season. Before the
game, Illinois linebacker Matt Sinclair told reporters, “The
Rose Bowl is our home.”
To that, Bruin linebacker Justin London could only smile and
shake his head.
“A lot of Big Ten schools may think that the Rose
Bowl’s their home, but we want to put a hush that kind of
talking,” London said. “We let our play do the talking,
and that’s what we did tonight.”