The Washington State team the Bruins played on Saturday was not supposed to be able to run the ball. The pass-first Cougars did nothing close to what they were expected to. Pulling a caterpillar-to-moth transformation, they ran the ball 51 times and gashed the UCLA rush defense for 288 yards.
This Saturday just may be a welcome reprieve for the UCLA defense as they will butt heads with possibly the most pass-happy offense in the conference: Arizona. The Wildcats own the seventh-ranked passing offense in the country. Last week, quarterback Willie Tuitama threw for 510 yards with five touchdowns.
The Bruin secondary will have plenty of preparing to do after giving up 28 completions on 48 attempts in their 27-7 loss to the Cougars, including five pass interference penalties. However, those calls ““ which combined for 62 yards ““ will not change the cornerbacks’ approach.
“You talk about it and you have to address it,” coach Karl Dorrell said. “We don’t ever want to stop playing aggressively. That’s our style with our corners, and you just want to make sure they’re playing within the rules of the game.”
For sophomore Alterraun Verner, who was tabbed for 30 yards of penalties on two calls, what he feels is a solid play might be a 15-yard flag to the referee.
“I think I played the ball well, but I can’t dictate how the call’s going to be made,” Verner said. “I’m only frustrated for those first two seconds, then I just get over it. I’ve got to come back and play the next play because being frustrated is not going to help me out.”
The coaching staff did address the secondary’s penalties, but senior cornerback Trey Brown’s mind-set is that one call, or five, cannot allow players to take their feet off the gas pedal at all.
“It’s frustrating any time you see a penalty on the field and penalties that extend the other team’s drives, but we can’t let that take away from what we’re trying to do,” Brown said. “You don’t want that to soften up (your) coverage at all.”
As one of the most talkative players on the field, Brown has his fair share of discussion with the referees. But in spite of any friendship or mutual respect that he has built with the referees over the years, once the flag’s tossed, there’s not much he can do.
“They’re going to throw it regardless of whatever you want to say,” Brown said. “It’s not really like a parking ticket or a speeding ticket. Once that flag gets thrown on the field, it’s a flag, and you’ve just got to move on to the next play.”
DEFENSE STUCK ON FIELD: Last Saturday, the Bruin defense was on the field for 38 minutes of the game as the Cougars ran 98 plays on offense. However, Brown downplayed the fatigue factor of being on the field for so long.
“It really does nothing,” Brown said. “If we’re out there for 200, 300 plays, it doesn’t really matter. As many times as you line up out there, you’ve got to go make a play. We definitely don’t want to be out there on the field that much, so we have to do a good job of getting ourselves off the field with three-and-outs and turnovers.
“No matter how many times you step out there, you’ve still got to perform. That’s the kind of mind-set we have.”