On Saturday, the UCLA football team held its traditional fall
scrimmage, the customary first real look at the team’s makeup
for the season opener. The gameplay, however, was anything but
traditional.
It was a day dominated by defense, a break from the UCLA custom
of offense ““ first, last and always. During the 100-play
scrimmage Saturday afternoon, the defense forced one interception,
had five sacks and limited Ben Olson and Pat Cowan, the top two
quarterbacks, to a 50 percent completion rate. This from a defense
that was ranked last in the Pac-10 in scoring defense last year.
This against an offense that was ranked second in scoring in the
Pac-10 last year.
Suffice it to say that these are not last year’s
Bruins.
“The defense did great,” freshman wide receiver
Terrence Austin said. “I mean, they were talked about a lot
last year. They came out today with a chip on their shoulders. I
think they smashed us on offense.”
The defense was helped by the fact that the offense was missing
four of its top six receivers in junior Marcus Everett, redshirt
senior Junior Taylor, senior Joe Cowan and sophomore Gavin Ketchum.
The blame for the offense’s general ineptitude cannot fall
entirely on the missing receivers ““ the quarterbacks missed
plenty of open receivers and the running game could get no
consistent yardage.
Although Olson missed some open receivers, he outperformed Cowan
despite throwing the sole interception of the scrimmage. Olson was
14 for 23 with 156 yards and two touchdowns, while Cowan was 10 for
25 with 92 yards and three touchdowns.
Olson, who has practiced and played as if he is going to be the
starter since the final play of last season, felt no reason to
change his perceptions after the scrimmage.
“Until I’m told otherwise, that’s how
I’m going to be thinking,” Olson said. “This was
probably my best scrimmage at UCLA.”
The defensive sets that countered Olson were not ones he was
expecting. Coming into Saturday, he and the rest of the offense
were expecting a fairly conservative defense. What they got was
something entirely different.
“They’re night and day (from last year),”
Olson said. “They did a good job today. They ran some stuff
we didn’t quite expect them to be running.”
Defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker threw secondary and
linebacker blitzes at the quarterbacks, and often lined the defense
up with five or six players in the defensive front. Junior
defensive tackle Kevin Brown was not available for the scrimmage
due to a minor high ankle sprain, but it did not seem to matter.
The defensive line was able to go around and between their bigger,
slower offensive line counterparts.
“We rotated a lot of defensive linemen today,” coach
Karl Dorrell said. “It’s something that we
haven’t been able to do in the past. Now it’s just a
matter of solidifying who our starters are.”
Despite their success, most of the defensive players were
reluctant to say that the defense was far ahead of the offense at
this point. They let their play speak for itself.
“I thought we did a good job today,” freshman
cornerback Alterraun Verner said. “I missed one
(interception), but overall I thought we had a very good team
effort out there. I don’t really know (why the offense could
not get going). Our defensive line just did a good job of
penetrating and opening up holes for the linebackers and safeties
to run through.”
This is a distinct change from last year. The defensive line is
now working to open up holes for the aggressive blitzes, whereas
the offensive is rocked back on the its heels, hoping to contain
the penetration. Austin cautions that this might not be the case
all the time.
“Some days the defense is going to be up, some days
we’re going to be up,” Austin said. “That’s
the way it goes with this team.”
Although Olson was the dominant quarterback on the day, throwing
most of his short routes accurately and hitting a couple of long
passes to receivers Andrew Baumgartner and Dominique Johnson,
Dorrell did not name him the starter, saying that “both
quarterbacks looked good.”
“I’m not ready to name the starter right after
practice,” Dorrell said. “It’ll be locking in
this week. As we start tapering down, we’ll start solidifying
positions.”
Another position that will be up for grabs is the third running
back spot. Freshman running back Jeremy McGee outshined his main
competition, Derrick Williams and Ryan Carew, with a 38-yard
touchdown run. He finished with 45 yards on four carries and also
made a case for himself as the punt returner.
“I think I’ve done enough (to earn some
consideration for the No. 3 spot),” McGee said.
“Everything went along smoothly. Everything was about what I
expected.”
Even including the dominant defensive effort.