CORVALLIS, Ore. “”mdash; Moments after UCLA’s 40-14 win over Oregon State was over, with both teams heading to the locker rooms and fans streaming towards the exits, UCLA defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker proclaimed twice to nobody in particular ““ or maybe everybody, all at once ““ “That is who we are!”
For the Bruins, Saturday was a chance to prove that they had some fire left in their belly, playing in a hostile environment against a Beaver team with a very good defense. And by Walker’s postgame reaction, they had finally proved there’s some fire left, flashing a toughness and an ability to finish games that has been missing so far this season.
Though the 26-point margin of victory was their biggest blowout since Stanford, it was an ugly win for the Bruins in a game that had all the makings of Utah, part II.
On their first two plays from scrimmage, running back Kahlil Bell fumbled, handing the Beavers possession deep in Bruin territory. After All-American kicker Alexis Serna missed a 45-yard field goal, Oregon State took advantage of their second opportunity at easy points, taking Bell’s second turnover back 33 yards for a quick 7-0 lead.
Though the Bruins did not turn over the ball on their third possession, they showed no signs of life on offense for the rest of the quarter and a half, punting four consecutive times on quick three-and-outs. The first-quarter stats looked miserable for UCLA, as they were outgained 147 yards to 19 with only nine offensive plays and 3:50 in possession time. The Bruins did not record a first down until there was 8:35 left in the first half.
“Whatever happens, you’ve still got to go out there and play,” defensive end Bruce Davis said. “We kind of rallied around the offense. We knew we had to go win the game so we made some plays.
“We’ve got a lot of resilient guys on our team and when the pressure was up, we played really tough.”
Despite the early struggles, the Bruins scratched and clawed their way back into the game over the next two quarters, kicking two field goals and holding the Beavers’ offense to 73 total yards in that time.
With just under 10 minutes left in the game, the Bruins trailed 14-12 after two penalties had nullified good field position on their previous drive. That’s when the ball began to roll their way.
Looking at a second-and-10 from their own 31, Olson completed a slant screen to Brandon Breazell, who tore past the OSU secondary for a 69-yard touchdown and his first catch of the day. That play kicked off a series of events that would ice the game for the Bruins.
On the ensuing kickoff, Beaver return man Gerard Lawson fumbled a short ball on his own 23-yard line, leading to a Kahlil Bell touchdown three plays later.
Lawson fumbled the next kickoff as well, leading to a 30-yard, perfectly-placed bomb between two defenders from Olson to Breazell on a deep post into the end zone. And in less than three minutes, the Bruins had taken a commanding 33-14 lead. They would add another touchdown on a Chris Markey 2-yard gain with two minutes remaining.
“It was opportunistic,” coach Karl Dorrell said of the late OSU turnovers. “It was great for us to work with some short field and it was good to get touchdowns instead of field goals. We really capitalized by putting some touchdowns in there and we had some good, effective rushing. I believe we started to wear them down a little bit in the second half.”
After watching the defense shut down the Oregon State offense since the midpoint of the first quarter, the Bruins’ offense was confident that once they took the lead, their defense wouldn’t give it back.
“Right when we scored that touchdown that put us up, we knew it was over,” Chris Markey said. “After we scored on offense, we knew the defense wouldn’t let them score. Those guys perform in clutch situations.”