Game Preview

Friday, October 3, 1997

Game Preview

By Brent Boyd

Daily Bruin Staff

Cade McNown uttered the impossible the other day.

"We could lose."

The mere thought would cause most Bruin fans to laugh, or scoff
for that matter. Seeing the Bruins lose Saturday to Houston, they
say, is about as likely as watching snow being shoveled out of the
end zones prior to the 3:30 kickoff at the Rose Bowl.

For the first time this season, UCLA (2-2) will be a prohibitive
favorite — as much as 25 points in some circles.

It is not without reason.

The Cougars’ offensive starting lineup features five first-year
players, their starting tailback will sit out, and the defense has
not given up fewer than 35 points in the first four games this
season.

Meanwhile, the Bruins are playing their best football of the
past couple of seasons and are one of the hottest teams in the
country.

They could lose? Had to be a slip of the tongue by the UCLA
starting quarterback, right?

Not exactly. Head coach Bob Toledo has the team convinced that
this is not a guaranteed victory. Toledo wants to avoid the dreaded
term that every coach fears … letdown.

"I don’t like to use that term," Toledo said. "I am not going to
allow a letdown."

After the pummeling of Texas and a hard fought conference
victory over Arizona, this week is the perfect scenario for the
Bruins to take it easy in practice and become just a little bit too
proud.

Toledo has experience with this type of situation at UCLA. Three
years ago, the Bruins beat nationally-ranked Tennessee, then barely
squeaked by lightly regarded Southern Methodist, 17-10, the
following week.

"I don’t want to have those kinds of ups and downs on our
football team," Toledo said. "They might happen, but I’m going to
try like heck not to let them happen.

"We need to play this game as hard as any other game this
season. We are going to have respect for our opponent."

It sounds as if the players are convinced, anyway.

"It’s a game where we want to go in and give it our best
effort," McNown said. "They’ve got a lot of great players, and who
knows … they could put together their greatest game against us if
we’re not ready for it. We could lose, so we’ve got to really
prepare and focus this week."

Meanwhile, if the Cougars (1-3) are to upset UCLA, they’re most
likely going to have to do it without sophomore tailback Ketrick
Sanford.

Sanford, the Conference USA Freshman of the Year last season,
had been averaging over 100 yards rushing per game before missing
last week’s victory over Minnesota due to an emergency appendectomy
he underwent on Sept. 23.

He is expected to miss Saturday’s game, and according to Toledo,
the Bruins are far from angry at missing out on the 11th best
all-purpose gainer in the NCAA (188.7 yards per game).

"I hope he’s out for one more week," he said, half-jokingly. "I
heard it’d be a miracle for him to come back."

What would really be a miracle is if there is another offensive
unit with less experience than Houston. The Cougars lost six senior
offensive starters from last year’s Conference USA championship
club.

Freshmen hold four starting positions including quarterback,
where Jason McKinley has shared time with head coach Kim Helton’s
son, Tyson.

Last week, McKinley led the Cougars to the 45-43 victory over
the Golden Gophers by throwing for 310 yards and two
touchdowns.

"The kid is a pretty good quarterback," Toledo said. "He’s a
good thrower. He did a real nice job last week."

Experience is not the problem defensively for the Cougars –
success is.

Houston returns nine starters from the team that went to last
year’s Liberty Bowl, but they have not been stopping anybody. They
have surrendered an average of 39 points per game, as well as 444.8
yards per game.

The Cougars only realistic hope at victory is to win in a
shootout. Their first and only win of the season came last week
when they surrendered 531 yards of total offense – 368 in the
air.

Trying to solve their defensive woes, the Cougars have switched
recently from a 3-4 defense to a 4-3.

"They’re constantly changing right now," Toledo said. "We’ve got
to prepare for a bunch of things to be ready."

However, the Bruins have another streak on their minds, and it’s
not a losing one.

UCLA has won two games in a row for the first time since the
1995 season.

No. 3 is a virtual guarantee, the Bruins can’t possibly lose,
right?

And if you believe that, dress warm on Saturday. Six feet of
snow are expected.