Secondary comes up big, puts Trojansin dog house

Monday, November 23, 1998

Secondary

comes up big, puts Trojans

in dog house

FOOTBALL: Three stars shine as Bruin defense forces seven
turnovers

By Rocky Salmon

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

"We whooped the dog out of them," Brendon Ayanbadejo said.

In this case, the dogs were USC’s offense. The whoopers: three
UCLA defensive players who showcased their talent in front of a
national audience.

UCLA’s defense would force seven turnovers and six sacks in the
game.

Three players had a hand in all but two sacks in the game.

UCLA’s regulators were Brendon Ayanbadejo, with four sacks and
one forced fumble; Jason Stephens, who recovered two fumbles,
forced one fumble and grabbed an interception; and Marques Anderson
who forced two fumbles.

"We returned to our All-Pro defense of last year," Marques
Anderson. "We came out focused and blazing with intensity. We
didn’t want to let them get up on us so we took control."

Part of the reason why UCLA created more turnovers was because
of Anderson, who had battled all the way back from being demoted to
the bench at the beginning of the year to finally starting in one
of UCLA’s biggest games this year.

Anderson got the starting nod over Ryan Roques because of his
continued improvement and the way he shut R. Jay Soward down last
year.

This year would be no different as Soward only grabbed three
catches for 22 yards. USC’s biggest playmaker would spend more time
rearranging the Gatorade cups than dancing in the end zone.

Both of Anderson’s forced fumbles resulted in UCLA points, which
helped put the game away early. The biggest play came in the second
quarter as USC was trying to answer a DeShaun Foster touchdown. The
Trojans had already put ten points on the board and seemed to be
finding a groove.

On third and eight, Palmer hit a wide open Larry Parker for an
18-yard gain, but Anderson immediately hit him.

"I saw Anderson pop him and strip the ball," strong safety
Stephens said. "I grabbed it off the ground and started running. I
saw my teammates throwing some blocks and was trying to reach that
end zone."

But he didn’t.

Stephens would be knocked out of bounds at the USC 27, leading
to a UCLA field goal to make the score 24-10.

"Anderson, Stephens and I got to together last night for a
mini-meeting," linebacker Ryan Nece said. "We told each other that
it was time to put everything on the line. It was time to
shine."

And Stephens outshone the Pasadena sun.

Twice Stephens intercepted a Palmer pass when the Trojans looked
to be in striking distance. One of those interceptions was ruled a
fumble only because the receiver and Stephens both had the ball at
the same time and Stephens ripped it away.

"I saw their wide receiver (Harris) look up for the ball,"
Stephens said. "I grabbed the ball while he had it and ripped hard.
Luckily, (Atkins) hit him at the same time to push him away from
the ball. I ended up with it."

That play put the game to rest and secured the blowout for the
Bruins, as Stephens picked it with 2:01 remaining on the game
clock.

"We were hungry like wild dogs out there," Ayanbadejo said.

So hungry, in fact, that No. 50 almost broke a school record for
sacks in a game, held by Donnie Edwards with 4.5.

In Ayanbadejo’s eyes, this was a game in which defense finally
stepped up and showed USC what the Bruins were all about. This was
a time to silence all the critics who doubted UCLA’s chance at a
national championship with this defensive corps.

"The media, their coach and Palmer were all saying that the
defense was the weak link. Palmer said he would knock us out of the
Fiesta Bowl, and that the defense had no pass rush.

"They were saying that USC’s defense was way better, but look at
it now, I would rather play for ours than the defense who has lost
four games. We just beat the dog out of them."

With all the dissing and dogging going on by the USC players,
Ayanbadejo was ready to let loose – so ready, in fact, that he
could not sleep until 3 a.m. each night this week.

"This whole week felt like a month and practice was the longest
and slowest, most physical we have had.

"I would go home and wanted to watch what the media was saying
about this match-up but my cable is out so I would go on the
Internet. I was ready to play at three in the morning on
Wilshire."

After the game, the three whoopers put it down honestly. After a
year of talking by the USC side and criticism throughout the
country, the defense put on a spectacular show.

They just whooped the dog out of them.

How else can you explain seven turnovers?

Comments, feedback, problems?

© 1998 ASUCLA Communications Board[Home]