Bruins pull off 10th straight victory

Monday, January 12, 1998

Bruins pull off 10th straight victory

TRUIMPH:UCLA makes up for sizable deficit, defeats Texas
A&M

By Mark Dittmer

Daily Bruin Staff

DALLAS, Tex. — Earlier in the day, the situation had looked
grim. UCLA, a 10-point favorite against 20th-ranked Texas A&M,
had spotted the Aggies a 16-point lead. But by game’s end the
Bruins had made things right, and the 1998 Cotton Bowl turned out
to be a perfect end to a near-perfect season.

The fifth-ranked Bruins (10-2) dismantled Texas A&M in the
second half of their Cotton Bowl matchup on New Year’s Day, pulling
away with a 29-23 victory. With the win, the Bruins complete their
season with a 10-game win streak, their longest in 42 years.

"We’re very happy; it’s great to have that 10-2 record,"
offensive lineman Chad Overhauser said. "We proved to ourselves
that even when we were down, we still had the spark that we had
during the year."

The Bruins dug themselves a sizable hole in the first half. The
third-best scoring offense in the nation not only couldn’t score,
but it also surrendered nine first-half points. The offense’s
struggles may have been a result of the long layoff; the Bruins
hadn’t played in a game in over five weeks.

"When you throw the football, that is the biggest problem after
a layoff," UCLA head coach Bob Toledo said after the game. "You
lose your timing; you lose your rhythm. When you run the ball, you
don’t lose as much. Early in the game, that affected us quite a
bit."

Still, UCLA had enough rhythm to mount a drive on its second
possession, moving 65 yards in 10 plays to the Aggie 14-yard line.
And then the Bruin offense surrendered the game’s first touchdown,
on the game’s most memorable play.

On second down and goal from the 14 (after a five-yard loss on
first down), Texas A&M ran a blitz, and Aggie linebacker Dat
Nguyen noticed surprisingly few blockers in front of him.

"I bailed out because I smelled something funny," Nguyen said.
He read the play perfectly. It called for Bruin quarterback Cade
McNown to lob a screen pass over the head of charging linebackers,
but because Nguyen hadn’t charged, he was there to make the
interception. And Nguyen’s heroics only continued from there.

"When I caught the ball and I started running," he said, "I saw
a receiver coming up on me and I’m not that fast. So I pitched it
to a speedier player."

The speedier player, safety Brandon Jennings, took the ball at
the A&M 36-yard line and ran it all the way to the endzone,
eluding UCLA receiver Jim McElroy, who caught up to Jennings at the
UCLA 10-yard line only to overrun him.

Three possessions later, the still-scoreless Bruins started a
drive at their own three-yard line and ended it in the endzone –
their own endzone. Meanwhile, the UCLA defense was playing perfect
football, and still faced a 9-0 deficit. When A&M’s offense
actually scored for the first time on a 74-yard run , the Aggies
had a 16-0 lead.

It was the biggest deficit UCLA had faced since its second game
of the season, when the Bruins fell behind Tennessee 24-0. Since
then, UCLA had won nine straight games. In that span, the Bruins
had not faced this tough a challenge. But according to most UCLA
players, their confidence never wavered.

"When we were down 16, a couple of guys said, ‘Let’s get a score
before halftime,’" McNown said. "Some other guys said, ‘Let’s get
two scores before halftime.’ We’re a confident football team. We
don’t get down on ourselves."

The Bruins’ defense did its part the whole game, and it was the
offense that would need to get rolling. It took a big step toward
turning things around on the second-to-last play of the first half.
With just two seconds left in the first half, McNown found McElroy
in the corner of the endzone for a 22-yard score.

The catch seemed to give the Bruins momentum going into the
second half, which the Bruins charged into by quickly stopping the
Aggies on defense, and then scoring on their first possession of
the half.

"It was clutch to get some points on the board before halftime,"
senior tight end Mike Grieb said. "If we would have gone into
halftime being down 16-0 it would have been a much different
situation."

As it was, the Bruins quickly closed to 16-14 early in the
second half. The two teams traded touchdowns to make it 23-21, and
then the Bruins went ahead on Neufeld’s run to the right side
midway through the fourth quarter.

By the end of the game, the Aggie defense wasn’t what it was at
the beginning of the game, and the Bruins had Skip Hicks to thank.
UCLA’s senior tailback patiently took what he could get all game,
and for the first three quarters, there wasn’t much. Hicks was
continually forced to settle for short gains, softening up the
Aggie defense. When the final period started, Hicks had rushed 20
times for only 62 yards.

Texas A&M’s proud defense had stood up to the Bruin attack
for three quarters. Led by linebackers Nguyen and Warrick Holdman,
the Aggies were almost good enough to stop UCLA short of victory.
Nguyen’s interception was the highlight of a superhuman effort – he
finished with 20 tackles, 15 unassisted and six
tackles-for-loss.

But by the fourth quarter, the Aggie defense had been softened.
By game’s end, Hicks had 31 carries for 140 yards.

He and other UCLA seniors could bask in the glow of yet another
victory.

"Going out and winning 10 games in a row is just awesome,"
sophomore receiver Danny Farmer said. "This gives our team
something to look forward to for next year."

Like extending the winning streak? UCLA has never won 11 games
in a row. Their chance to break the streak comes this Sept. 12,
against Texas at the Rose Bowl.

JAMIE SCANLON-JACOBS/Daily Bruin

Cade McNown looks for an open man during the Cotton Bowl in
Dallas, Texas.