Monday, October 21, 1996
FOOTBALL:
UCLA scoreless for first half, last-minute recovery not enough
to overturn gameBy Brent Boyd
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
SEATTLE, Wash. — The Bruins came to the Emerald City Saturday
to make a loud statement in their quest for a bowl game. Instead,
they left town with barely a whisper, falling to No. 25 Washington
41-21.
UCLA was essentially dominated in every aspect of the game.
"Basically, we got our asses kicked," senior safety Abdul
McCullough said.
In a game whose final score revealed the truth of it about as
well as the clear skies over Husky Stadium represented a typical
Seattle day, the Huskies held complete control of the game from
start to finish in front of 70,444 fans.
"Every phase of the game was working well," Washington head
coach Jim Lambright said. "We were just so focused on maintaining
momentum; our players did a great job in rising to the
challenge."
From the opening kickoff, it was not UCLA’s day. The Bruins
stopped a Husky kickoff return on the Washington 15-yard-line, only
to have the play nullified by an offsides call on UCLA that
ultimately was a 51-yard penalty. Jerome Pathon returned the rekick
60 yards to the Bruin 34-yard-line. Six plays later, Corey Dillon
scored the first of his five rushing touchdowns for Washington
(4-2, 2-1 Pac-10), and the rout was on.
"It was really deflating to the team," UCLA kicker Greg
Andrasick said. "It took away a lot of momentum from us."
Not only did it take away momentum from the Bruins (2-4, 1-2),
but it gave Washington great field position, a luxury they
possessed all day long.
Of the Huskies’ six touchdown drives, only one was longer than
52 yards and four started in Bruin territory as a result of
turnovers or poor special teams coverage.
"I felt like it was a field position game and we didn’t really
make enough plays in the red zone to keep them out of the end
zone," defensive coordinator Rocky Long said. "Our job is to stop
them and we didn’t do that."
More specifically, they couldn’t stop Dillon, who rushed for 145
yards and would score four more touchdowns, three of those before
halftime to give Washington a 28-0 lead at the break.
"I took my opportunity and wanted to make the most of it,"
Dillon said.
He did exactly that. The five touchdowns for Dillon marked the
first time since 1950 that a Husky had accomplished such a
feat.
The Bruins, meanwhile, got nothing going on the ground.
Battling a rushing defense that ranked seventh in the conference
 giving up 157 yards per game  UCLA gained only 12
yards rushing all afternoon.
"The defense did pretty much what we expected it to. They were
making it pretty hard to get outside the pocket," offensive
coordinator Al Borges said. "We just didn’t hold up like we
would’ve liked to."
Skip Hicks, the Pac-10’s leading rusher prior to the game,
gained only 8 yards on 7 carries and was pulled in the second
quarter after his second fumble in as many games.
"I took him out because he fumbled the ball and I want to prove
to him that if you fumble the ball you can’t play," head coach Bob
Toledo said.
Replacing Hicks in the lineup was freshman Keith Brown, who
proceeded to rush for 9 yards on 4 carries, tops among Bruin
running backs.
"I like our running backs," Borges said. "We just need to
develop a little more consistency. We can’t give the ball up, it’s
just killing us."
One play after Hicks’ fumble was recovered by Washington, Dillon
scored from 11 yards out, giving Washington a 21-0 lead.
The lack of rushing yards may have been a result of the early
deficit, which forced UCLA to pass the ball more, but regardless
 Bruin running backs gained only 14 yards on 13 carries.
Not only was the running game faltering, but the offense as a
whole could not move the ball either.
"Offense is all about being in sync," Borges said. "Making
enough successful plays back-to-back is what you need. We haven’t
consistently done that. We put our defense on the field way too
much."
Eight of the 16 Bruin first downs came in the fourth quarter
when the game was no longer in doubt, and at halftime UCLA had
managed to move the chains only three times.
In their first possession of the second half, the Bruins were
finally able to move the ball, driving 80 yards on 12 plays and
finally scoring on a Cade McNown quarterback sneak. That cut the
lead to 28-7 and gave UCLA a spark of life.
However, using what worked in the first half, Washington
converted a long kickoff return into a short scoring drive,
effectively ending any notions of a Bruin comeback.
"I just think that (the) guys weren’t physical enough,"
McCullough said. "We knew they were going to take it to us on the
ground; there were no surprises. But it just seemed like a lot of
people weren’t ready for it or something."
For whatever reason, the Bruins have not been ready for the past
game-and-a-half. After playing an incredible first half against
fourth-ranked Arizona State last week, UCLA suffered a second-half
collapse. Combined with the first half against Washington, the
Bruins had been outscored 56-6 in two halves of football.
If UCLA possesses any bowl aspirations, they have to be ready to
play next week, and for that matter the four weeks after that as
well. With two conference losses, UCLA is all but eliminated from
Rose Bowl consideration, but a berth in the Aloha or Sun Bowls
remain possibilities.
However, six wins is a minimum requirement to participate in any
post-season bowl game, although that does not automatically qualify
a team. The Bruins need to win four of their last five games to
pick up six wins.
More likely, the Bruins will have to sweep their remaining five
games to receive any bowl invitations.
"We’ve got five games left to play," Toledo said. "We’re a team
that needs to continue to grow and look forward to the future."
If they don’t grow up a lot by next Saturday, they will have to
look at least a year into the future to see any bowl game. Three
halves ago, this year’s future looked a lot rosier.
SUSIE CHU/Daily Bruin
Washington’s Corey Dillon (4) eludes Anthony Cobbs en route to a
44-21 victory over UCLA.