PASADENA ““ You can tell a puppy to lay down, but sometimes it won’t listen.
Especially if it’s not a puppy anymore.
When San Jose State running back Brandon Rutley busted through a box of 11 UCLA defenders on third-and-1 and raced to a 65-yard touchdown late in the third quarter Saturday night, the Bruins and Spartans were deadlocked at 17, and it was hard to tell the big dog and the little one apart.
The Spartans were playing tough, and were playing for the upset. But UCLA avoided a stunning loss at the Rose Bowl by calling on someone who was just a little tougher on this night – backup running back Derrick Coleman.
Coleman went carry-less in the first half, but the power back rumbled for 135 yards and a late touchdown in the second. His score capped 10 unanswered UCLA points after Rutley’s score and sealed a win in what was supposed to be a cupcake game, one against an opponent that couldn’t beat a Football Bowl Subdivision school in 2010.
“We thought we needed the tough yards, we thought we needed to pound it – they called on me and I came out and did my job,” the senior said.
There is no script that football games follow, but the Spartans usually had one: play big non-conference opponents on the road (see: USC in 2009, Alabama in 2010, Stanford in 2011), lose big (56-3, 48-3, 57-3, respectively), repeat.
That wasn’t the case Saturday night at the Rose Bowl. After San Jose State scored to tie it up, it turned into a dogfight, with the teams trading turnovers for four straight drives.
But UCLA capitalized on junior cornerback Sheldon Price’s interception in Spartan territory early in the fourth quarter. The offense drove 34 yards and redshirt freshman Kip Smith, who missed an extra point and a field goal in a four-point loss at Houston last week, gave the Bruins their go-ahead score with a 20-yard field goal.
UCLA’s leading rusher at halftime was junior quarterback Richard Brehaut with 19 yards. For coach Rick Neuheisel, it was an easy call to give more carries to Coleman, their 240-pound workhorse.
“A bigger guy is able to carry his pads with more force,” Neuheisel said. “That’s why Derrick was so important to today’s win. We found a niche where we were able to be physical, and we found a way to be physical.”
Brehaut, who made his fourth career start with redshirt junior quarterback Kevin Prince ailing, finished 12-of-23 for 145 yards and one touchdown.
“Things weren’t going right for our offense at all, but our defense picked us up,” Breahut said. He added that he wasn’t pleased with his performance, but Neuheisel didn’t see the need to pull him for Prince, who was active but did not see the field.
The Bruins breathed a huge sigh of relief after this one, but with the Texas Longhorns coming to town next week, they’ll have to show improvements – namely passing the ball on offense, and tackling on defense.
“It’s a sense of relief, but we could have played a lot better, and we should have had more points, but it’s always good to get a win,” redshirt sophomore receiver Shaquelle Evans said.