CHAMPAIGN, Ill. “”mdash; UCLA’s defense was not good on
Saturday, but it was good enough.
The Bruin defense forced enough turnovers, made enough big
plays, and played with enough passion to transform itself in one
week from the goat into a unit partly responsible for the
team’s 35-17 victory over Illinois.
And that’s a good thing for the unit, because the defense
was more than partly responsible for the team’s defeat at the
hands of Oklahoma State in the season opener.
“We’re young, but we played like grown men
today,” said senior linebacker Justin London, who saw his
first action of the season Saturday after sitting out the opener
with an ankle injury. “They were trying to run down our
throats, like they did last week, but we corrected our errors and
came out strong.”
UCLA had a week to correct the things that went wrong against
Oklahoma State, namely the 426 rushing yards the Cowboys were able
to pile up, and the Bruins are looking at Saturday as a step
forward.
“We still have some work to do, but we’re taking the
necessary steps week after week to be in a position to be an
effective defense,” coach Karl Dorrell said.
It started early in the game for the UCLA defense, who looked
like it was going to have to endure the same sort of domination
that the Cowboys subjected them to last week. After winning the
coin toss, Illinois chose to receive the kick, and promptly drove
deep into UCLA territory.
With the Illini moving the ball so easily, it looked like a
touchdown was just a matter of time, especially considering how the
Bruin defense looked last week.
But then, something changed. The defense stepped up, stopped the
run, and made a huge goal-line stand when the Illini had fourth and
one from the UCLA four yard line. “That swung the momentum
completely in our favor,” sophomore defensive end Justin
Hickman said. “It was a loud stadium, and the fans were hyped
from the get-go, but I think that fourth down stop kind of shut
them up.”
The opportunistic UCLA defense came up with big plays like that
all day, taking a focus off its shortcomings.
In the opener, the Bruins failed to force a turnover. But on
Saturday, Illinois committed three costly turnovers ““ two
fumbles caused by junior strong safety Jarrad Page and an
interception by freshman free safety Chris Horton that set up
UCLA’s final touchdown.
“Anytime you can cause a turnover, that’s
huge,” Page said.
Turnovers are huge for a lot of reasons. They allow the defense
to come off the field and get some rest. They usually give the
offense good field position. And most importantly, they can make
you feel good about yourself.
“Obviously the defense got some more confidence by making
some plays this week,” defensive coordinator Larry Kerr said.
“A couple fumble recoveries, a big interception, a goal-line
stand. Those things are huge that we can build on, despite the fact
that we didn’t do other things very well all the
time.”
Looking at the numbers, one wouldn’t say that the UCLA
defense played a very good game. Though Illinois scored only 17
points, the Illini had 456 yards of total offense. Without the
turnovers, the story of the game would have been totally
different.
But the story of the game became the UCLA offense, simply
because the defense was just good enough. And that’s OK for
the Bruin coaching staff, because the young and inexperienced
defensive line is coming around.
Young players are growing up with game experience, and injured
players are coming back to fill the gaping holes. Before the season
opener, no one on UCLA’s defensive line had a Division I
start at the position. Saturday, Dorrell played 12 different
players on the defensive line, including junior C.J. Niusulu, who
wasn’t expected to play because of an injury, and senior
Eyoseph Efseaff, who was moved to the defensive line after playing
on the offensive line the last three seasons.
“We’re not quite at full strength in our defensive
front yet,” Dorrell said. “We’re kind of getting
those guys who have been hurt back in the fold a little bit, and
they did some good things.”
“We did a lot better,” said defensive tackle Kenneth
Lombard, who became the first true freshman to start on
UCLA’s defensive line since 1999. “We’re a young
group and all we’re going to do is get better each
week.”
All in all, it was a big step forward for a defense that had
come under so much criticism in the last week. The presence of
London helped stabilize the linebacker corps, and better execution
from everyone kept Illinois from running all over the Bruins.
“Our guys deserve it,” Kerr said.
“They’ve worked so hard. I’m just excited for
them to get this win.”