PULLMAN, Wash. “”mdash; After yet another poor first-half
performance, UCLA’s defensive players limped into the locker
room at halftime Saturday expecting to be chewed out.
The person they saw waiting for them inside to deliver the
scolding, however, was quite unexpected.
UCLA offensive coordinator Tom Cable, having just seen
Washington State put up 28 points and amass 362 yards of total
offense, had a message for his team’s defense that was larger
than the Bruins’ 14-point halftime deficit.
“What happened in the first half was unacceptable,”
said Cable, regarding what he told players at halftime. “It
was just my emotions. I had to get them out.”
Whatever Cable said, which included “choice words”
on which the players chose not to elaborate further, appeared to
resonate with the unit. After halftime, the Bruins limited the
Cougars to only 137 yards of offense for the rest of the night in
UCLA’s 44-41 come-from-behind overtime victory.
“I think they were a little stunned at what happened in
the first half,” Cable said. “I know these kids, and I
knew they could do more.”
“That speech really struck home in the heart,”
safety Dennis Keyes said. “We were letting our offense down.
We were playing lazy out there.”
That laziness was the impetus for the Cougars’ explosive
first half, the third time in three weeks UCLA has allowed its
opponent to jump out to an early double-digit lead.
By halftime, Washington State running back Jerome Harrison had
already rushed for 182 yards and two touchdowns, numbers more
befitting of an entire game, not a half. And of the Cougars’
first six possessions, four resulted in touchdowns, allowing
Washington State to take a 28-14 lead ““ that seemed even
larger ““ into the locker room at halftime.
So while Bruin defenders had heard many typical halftime
speeches before and were anticipating yet another, they were taken
aback when they saw Cable waiting and armed with a message from a
perspective different from what they were used to hearing.
“You never see that,” linebacker Justin London said.
“It meant a lot that he came over to us.”
UCLA defensive coordinator Larry Kerr said he was fine with
Cable addressing the defensive unit in the manner he did.
“(We are) a team, and it doesn’t matter how we get
it done,” Kerr said. “I looked at us not making any
plays in the first half, and in my mind, I was wondering when we
were going to make some plays, because if we didn’t, I
thought this could get ridiculous.”
It did not get ridiculous, as a combination of Cable’s
words and Kerr’s adjustments provided the Bruins with a
different second-half outlook.
The gaping running holes UCLA had given Harrison in the first
half disappeared. Harrison only had 78 rushing yards after
halftime, and was held to just 10 yards in the fourth quarter and
overtime.
The clear passing lanes the Bruins had been giving Cougar
quarterback Alex Brink became cluttered. Brink only passed for 26
yards after halftime.
And the Bruins’ decision to stop Harrison and the Cougar
rushing attack at all costs appeared to pay off, as UCLA forced
Washington State to try to win the game through the air.
“Thank goodness they couldn’t,” Kerr said.
“I love these (defenders), and they did what they should
have been doing in the first half,” Cable said.
After the game, sophomore defensive end Bruce Davis analogized
Cable’s speech to parents yelling at their children. But he
also credited Cable with infusing Bruin defenders with confidence
to take the field in the second half, despite the fact that the
Cougars had easily run over them just minutes prior.
“Looking at Cable’s eyes and looking at his face, we
saw nothing but passion, nothing but heart, nothing but
fire,” Davis said. “He gave that to us, he put that
back in us. Everything he said I appreciate.”
In the celebratory melee that followed UCLA running back Maurice
Drew’s game-winning touchdown in overtime, Cable went up to
several Bruin defenders, yelling, “What did I tell
you!”
Apparently, exactly what they needed to hear.