UCLA’s defensive struggles have been well documented all
season, and Saturday’s game confirmed the Bruins’ most
glaring weaknesses ““ their failure to tackle and stop the
run. Since the beginning of the season, opposing running backs have
been the primary beneficiaries of the porous Bruin defensive front.
UCLA has allowed its opponents to rush for nearly 230 yards a game,
and the case was no different Saturday. Even though Washington
State’s Jerome Harrison was often met by a Bruin near the
line of scrimmage, the shifty running back repeatedly dodged the
first tackler and burst for a big gain en route to his career day.
Harrison finished with 42 carries for 247 yards, the fourth-best
total ever allowed by UCLA. The Cougars also capitalized on the
Bruins’ inability to tackle by throwing a number of short
passes to their wide receivers in the flat, who took advantage of
the open field and overzealous tacklers. “It’s
something I can’t even explain,” junior safety Jarrad
Page said. “It wasn’t that people weren’t playing
hard. We would get to places too fast. We would overrun the
ballcarrier and he would cut back.” After watching the game
film on Sunday, Page says the Bruins missed 21 tackles in all, much
more than what they’ve been allowing so far this season.
“You like to keep it under double-digits, but this year
it’s been around 10,” Page said. “The week
against Stanford we only had about seven, so that tells
everything.” And while missed tackles were one of the major
differences between UCLA’s games against Stanford and
Washington State, most of the Bruins were at a loss for words as to
why such a problem would arise now. But words alone won’t
help solve the Bruins’ tackling woes, something which can
still be rectified with two games remaining in their season.
“We were just not executing,” coach Karl Dorrell said.
“We were in the position to make plays and we were not
executing them.”
INJURY UPDATE: There is mixed news regarding
the status of UCLA’s two injured offensive stars, sophomore
tailback Maurice Drew and junior tight end Marcedes Lewis. Both
players went down in the first half, Drew after spraining his ankle
on a punt return and Lewis after bruising his tailbone coming down
with an acrobatic catch. Neither player returned to the game. While
Dorrell said Lewis’ injury is not significant and that the
tight end should be ready to play, Drew is day-to-day and his
progress will be evaluated as the week goes on. “We’re
game planning with him being in there,” said Dorrell of
Drew’s status. “He doesn’t change our offense
that much. We still have Chris Markey and Manuel White, and if
Maurice is unable to play, Derek Williams moves up to fill the No.
3 role. It doesn’t really change what we do
schematically.” The running game should reap the benefits of
junior center Mike McCloskey’s return to the lineup. He
missed the Washington State game because of the lingering effects
of a concussion he suffered against Stanford. His status will be
known for certain after he is evaluated on Tuesday.
MEDLOCK ON WATCH LIST: Sophomore kicker Justin
Medlock is one of 20 semifinalists for the 2004 Lou Groza
Collegiate Place-Kicker Award. The award is voted on by all
Division I head coaches, sports writers and sportscasters,
conference officials, various NFL kickers and all previous Lou
Groza Award finalists. On the year, Medlock is 12-for-14 on field
goals and is 7-for-8 from 40-49 yards with his longest field goal
being 52 yards. He has also converted 32 of 33 extra points. The
field will be narrowed down to three on Nov. 22 and the award will
be presented on Dec. 7.
TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES: Late in the game
Saturday, there were some scoreboard malfunctions that, though they
had no bearing on the outcome, still affected the action down the
stretch. Following the Bruins’ last touchdown, the clock did
not stop when it should have for the two-point conversion, and an
extra 20 seconds were run off. The Bruins were also inexplicably
allowed to huddle on the sideline after the touchdown, even though
no timeout had been called. “Those are things you can’t
do anything about,” Dorrell said. “There was a lot of
discussion on the two-point play, and there wasn’t a timeout
but it seemed like there was. There were a lot of things that
happened like that all game. It really worked in our favor because
it allowed us to formulate a play as best we can.”