If UCLA’s 13-9 shocking upset over No. 2 USC at the Rose
Bowl on Saturday is to be thought of as arguably one of the biggest
wins in the history of the program, a backup senior linebacker and
a punter will be added to the pantheon of Bruin lore.
Eric McNeal (the linebacker) and Aaron Perez (the punter) were
two of the unlikeliest heroes in the fourth quarter of the
Bruins’ (7-5, 5-4 Pac-10) win over the Trojans (10-2,
7-2).
While the Bruins’ defense was dominant and the offense
opportunistic, it was unorthodox and unforeseen flashes of
greatness by Perez and McNeal that stopped the Trojans from making
a third straight BCS championship appearance.
It was McNeal whose acrobatic play halted the Trojans’
final drive with less than two minutes left in the game. It was
Perez who recovered from a pair of wobbly first-half punts and
launched three booming punts to win the field-position battle for
the Bruins.
McNeal and Perez are testaments to the old adage that for a team
to pull off an improbable upset it must get contributions from
players up and down the roster, even the supporting cast.
“Coach (Dorrell) always asks us who’s going to make
a play at the end of a game,” McNeal said on the field
following the game. “It’s always a challenge put to us
to be the guy who wants to make the big play.”
McNeal’s big play couldn’t have come at a more
opportune moment.
McNeal, a senior who was still seeking his first win against
USC, secured the win by tipping a John David Booty pass up in the
air and making a diving interception to end what had the look of a
game-winning touchdown drive. Although UCLA had a handful of key
defensive stands ““ USC was only six-of-17 on third down
conversions ““ it was McNeal, who had been an unheralded
backup for his entire college career, who single-handedly changed
two programs’ fortunes in one sweeping moment.
“What a great way for him to go out,” UCLA coach
Karl Dorrell said. “(McNeal) is going to tell his kids one
day how (the streak) ended and he helped to do it.”
There was only 1:10 left in the game, and UCLA would be able to
bleed the game clock with three conservative running plays up the
middle. But McNeal conceded that even when he rolled over on the
ground with the ball in his arms, he wasn’t quite ready to
celebrate.
“I could only think about what happened in Notre Dame, and
I wanted to see all zeroes on that clock,” McNeal said.
But all the melodrama of Notre Dame’s miraculous 20-17 win
over UCLA was not to be repeated, because Perez wouldn’t let
it. His 62-yard punt with 15 seconds left drained the clock down to
just four seconds and put the ball on the 12-yard line. It was the
finishing touch on the biggest game of Perez’s UCLA career.
In fact, he had a pair of 62-yard punts, the first coming after
UCLA’s first possession of the third quarter, with USC
leading 9-7. Perez pinned the Trojans back to the 7-yard line, and
it gave the Bruins favorable field position on their next drive,
which resulted in a field goal to take the lead.
In a low-scoring game, Perez’s second-half punting became
an unexpected weapon. Playing a position that rarely gets much
non-negative attention, Perez was yet another key contributor in a
win that required a little bit of help from every player on the
Bruin roster.
“I was able to just do my job and be a part of this
win,” Perez said. “That’s what makes this special
““ everyone did something to help us win.”