Earlier this week, UCLA coach Karl Dorrell played off the notion
that Oklahoma was a statement game for his football program.
Caught up in the emotion of UCLA’s 41-24 victory over the
No. 21 Sooners, it was obvious that the UCLA players did not follow
Dorrell in treating Saturday’s game as just any other
game.
“This is by far the biggest win in my career at
UCLA,” running back Maurice Drew said. “It’s a
big game for our program, and just gives us a lot of confidence
going into the rest of the season.”
The Bruins played nearly flawless football on Saturday, racking
up 426 total yards and 41 points in what was clearly the biggest
victory in coach Dorrell’s tenure.
With the win, the Bruins improved to 3-0 for the first time
since 2001, and garnered their first victory over a ranked opponent
since 2002.
After the game, coach Dorrell also acknowledged the significance
of the victory.
“The victory is more significant because the games from
here on get bigger,” Dorrell said. “We try to treat
each opponent the same, but the fact is that we hadn’t beat a
ranked opponent in a while, so the victory was a good step for our
team.”
Going into the game, it was the Sooners that were ranked and had
reached the national championship game the last two seasons. After
Saturday’s loss, however, the Bruins are the team likely
entering the top 25 polls and the Sooners are 1-2 for the first
time since 1997.
The big reason for the teams’ change of fortune was the
play of UCLA’s defense and its performance against 2004
Heisman runner-up Adrian Peterson.
The Bruins held Peterson to 58 yards on 23 carries, only the
fourth time in Peterson’s career that he had been held under
100 yards.
UCLA caused Peterson to commit two of Oklahoma’s six
fumbles, and it was clear early on that the Bruins’ were
going to nullify the star running back.
“It was our game plan to come in and hit him early,”
senior Jarrad Page said. “We had to make sure that he
wasn’t going to just come in and roll over us.”
The emphasis on the Bruins’ game plan paid dividends in
the first quarter, when the Bruins held the Sooners to 86 yards
rushing and zero yards passing, allowing only one big play when the
Sooners’ Travis Wilson turned an end around into a 56-yard
touchdown run.
After that, the Bruin defense was able to keep the Oklahoma
offense largely in check. The shining moment came with 13:13 left
in the third quarter when UCLA safety Dennis Keyes blitzed and
sacked Sooners quarterback Rhett Bomar. Keyes knocked the ball
loose from Bomar and linebacker Spencer Havner took the fumble for
a 13-yard touchdown to give the Bruins their first double-digit
lead of the game.
“I saw the opening, and everything was kind of in slow
motion,” Keyes said of the play. “I knew I wanted to
put a good hit on him, and I was just lucky that the ball came
loose.”
With the Bruins’ lead solidified after the fumble return,
the Bruins’ offense was able to take control. Quarterback
Drew Olson passed for two touchdowns and 141 yards in the second
half as the Bruins were able to put the Sooners away, scoring 40
points in three consecutive games for the first time since
1998.
The star of the Bruins’ second half performance was Marcus
Everett, who filled in for starting wide receiver Junior Taylor
after the senior suffered a left knee injury early in the first
quarter.
Everett finished with a career-high 66 yards and six receptions
in his first action since suffering a separated shoulder during
UCLA’s fall training camp.
“I knew that when Junior went down we just all needed to
step up,” Everett said. “That is the kind of team we
are, when one guy goes down, we know someone else will step
up.”
Everett was joined in the receiving corps by Marcedes Lewis, Joe
Cowan and Andrew Baumgartner. All four Bruins had over 40 yards
receiving, with Lewis and Baumgartner adding touchdown catches to
their totals.
The touchdown by Lewis was the critical moment of the game. The
Bruins lead had just shrank to 20-17, and were in desperate need of
a sustained drive.
With Lewis’ help, the Bruins churned out a 13 play, 83
yard drive that culminated with Lewis’ 19 yard touchdown
catch and the Sooners never responded, allowing UCLA to outscore
them 21-7 the rest of the game.
“The play was huge for us,” Lewis said. “They
were coming back into the game, and Drew saw me open, and we just
connected.”
On Saturday, it seems that all the Bruins, not just Lewis and
Olson, were connecting on all cylinders ““ a feeling Spencer
Havner said is something the Bruins have never felt before.
“Its nice to finally have that swagger come to
UCLA,” the All-American said. “The last couple of
years, it seemed either the offense was really solid, or the
defense was really solid ““ never both together.”
“Tonight was the first time that both sides were on the
top of their game.”