Washington dominates UCLA shortcomings

Monday, October 21, 1996

COMMENTARY:

Cade McNown’s high numbers in yards do not add up to winBy Rob
Kariakin

Daily Bruin Contributor

It’s an old cliche, but in this case it fits: Saturday’s game
against Washington simply wasn’t as close as the score made it
appear.

The final score wasn’t actually that bad. At 41-21, the game
wasn’t exactly close, nor was it a blowout. Total yards were close,
with the Huskies edging UCLA 308-287. The Bruins even dominated
Washington in the air, with sophomore quarterbacks Cade McNown and
Steve Buck combining for 275 yards ­ 122 yards better than
their Washington counterparts.

Nevertheless, this was, without a doubt, a thorough
drubbing.

Embodied in a single word, this game was domination
incarnate.

What more can be said about a game in which one team simply
owned the other from the opening snap? No other word seems to
adequately convey how the Bruins failed at almost every aspect of
the game.

Just about anything that could go wrong, did: costly turnovers,
inability to establish runs or stop the other guys’ runs, penalties
(the Bruins surrendered over seven times more yards to penalties
than they had net rushing yards), bad pass protection, inadequate
tackling … if there was any play that could possibly benefit the
Huskies, UCLA rendered it, and rendered it often.

"After a loss like this, it just seemed like nothing went
right," senior defensive end Travis Kirschke said. "The whole game,
nothing went … right for us tonight."

That was especially true on special teams, where the Bruins not
only failed to keep a hold of the Husky kick returners and allow
unbelievable field position, but failed to get similar positions
for UCLA.

Moreover, the team’s stars, the guys who needed to carry the
Bruins over the rough patches, failed to do so. Tailback Skip
Hicks, apparently suffering a case of butterfingers of late, lost a
fumble deep in his own territory for the second consecutive game.
And, just like last weekend against Arizona State, the other team
quickly turned the opportunity into seven points. After Husky free
safety Tony Parrish scooped Hicks’ hot potato 30 yards to the UCLA
11, it took only one play for tailback Corey Dillon to get into the
end zone.

The same was true for McNown. Despite his respectable 218 yards
passing, he completed only 54.8 percent of his pass attempts.
Compare that to Washington quarterback Brock Huard, who finished
with only 153 yards in the air, but connected 62.5 percent of the
time.

Translation: McNown’s numbers were due more to the fact that he
put the ball up 31 times than to a super game on his part. (By
comparison, Huard attempted only 17 passes.) He also threw an
interception, but no touchdown passes (although he did rush for
one).

But this was not Hicks’ and McNown’s failing: it was a group
effort, not only physically but mentally as well.

"We just didn’t come to play," outside linebacker Phillip Ward
said. "Obviously we came out sluggish today, and we got behind
really quick. And we just didn’t have it in us to come back.

"There’s just a lot of things that we have to work on as a team.
We’ve got to learn to come together and come back from deficits
like that."

"(The problem was) the players," strong safety Abdul McCullough
said. "We’ve got to reach down inside and start finding the heart
to win these games."

They now have one fewer game to learn to do so.

SUSIE CHU/Daily Bruin

Chris Campbell (35) and Mostafa Sobhi (78) celebrate after
Campbell sacked Cade McNown in UCLA’s loss Saturday to
Washington.