UCLA grabs victory from Arizona

  DAVE HILL/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Deshaun
Foster jumps over the defense for UCLA’s first touchdown
in the first quarter in Arizona. UCLA d. Arizona
27-24

By Greg Lewis
Daily Bruin Senior Staff

TUCSON, Arizona ““ Immediately after UCLA’s victory
over Arizona, offensive coordinator Al Borges ran over to defensive
coordinator Bob Field and gave him a big hug. the gesture was as
much symbolic as it was celebratory.

Field’s defense sealed the win with their fourth
interception of the day, just five plays and 22 yards after
quarterback Cory Paus scrambled 13 yards to put the Bruins (5-3
overall, 2-3 Pac-10) up 27-24 on the Wildcats (5-3, 3-2).

“Anybody who watches tape knows I’m not going to
beat you with my feet,” Paus said. But that was exactly what
he did. After admitting that he had a “horrible” game,
Paus threw for 100 yards in the fourth quarter, but just as
importantly, he put the ball in the end zone himself with 48
seconds left.

The play was an X short cross, in which three Bruin receivers
cross in the end zone, but it did not work as planned. Freddie
Mitchell was the primary receiver, but he got tripped up by a
defender, and everyone else was covered. Paus ditched three
tacklers and just put the ball over the goal line for the only
touchdown of the second half.

  DAVE HILL/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Junior center
Troy Danoff battles it out with the Arizona
defense in Saturday’s 27-24 win. Moments earlier, the Bruins were
faced with fourth-and-four and a sputtering running game. Paus, who
thought he had separated his shoulder earlier in the game, found
Mitchell in the middle of the field for a 19-yard catch and run.
Mitchell had been relegated to blocking duty for much of the second
half after suffering a knee in the back, which left the normally
talkative Mitchell hoarse in the locker room.

The win, which broke an eight-game road losing streak, was the
first time in six games that both the offense and the defense
clicked on the same day. The offense scored 27 points against a
stingy Arizona defense, and the defense gave up only three points
in the second half.

The performance on the defensive side was encouraging. UCLA has
scored 38 points in each of the last two games, but both were
losses. “It was time we stopped talking about doing it and
just going out there and doing it,” said defensive end Rusty
Williams.

In the backfield, Ricky Manning had two interceptions with the
Wildcats driving, one snatching a touchdown away from Arizona
receiver Brad Brennan.

Both picks appeared to be the result of lazy throws from
quarterback Ortege Jenkins, but they were not ““ they were
indicative of the aggressive defensive approach UCLA took.

“I knew what I was doing. He didn’t see me on either
play. The first one I was hiding behind a big tight end, and the
second one I came racing from across the field and out-jumped the
receiver,” Manning said.

Marques Anderson had an interception in the first quarter, and
the fourth interception came with 10 seconds left in the game,
after defensive end Dave Ball tipped the ball to tackle Rodney
Leisle. The defensive line was missing two of its three best
defensive ends, Kenyon Coleman and Sean Phillips, as well as its
best tackle, Ken Kocher. In addition tackle Anthony Fletcher played
through a bad back and a leg injury suffered in the first half.

Leisle and Williams, the two remaining opening-day defensive
line starters, played superbly. Leisle sacked the fleet-footed
Jenkins, stopping one drive in the third quarter, and Williams held
containment effectively on the quarterback. Williams has started
every game despite assorted shoulder and foot injuries.

“I would have played this game with a broken neck.
There’s no pain. No pain until you get off the plane
tomorrow. If you’re not hurting, you’re not playing the
game right,” Williams said.

The scoring opened the same way it had in all eight UCLA games
this season ““ with an opponent touchdown. After forcing a
punt on the Wildcat’s first possession, UCLA got the ball
deep in its own territory. Paus, trying to get rid of the ball to
avoid a sack, threw the ball right into the hands of
Arizona’s Keoni Fraser, who sped 36 yards unfettered into the
end zone.

UCLA came right back, marching 77 yards on the ensuing
possession. DeShaun Foster dove over the top of the pile from
1-yard out to tie the game for the Bruins.

Marques Anderson got the first of the four interceptions on the
next drive, picking off Jenkins at the Wildcat 26-yard line and
bringing it back nine yards. After Foster ran three times to get
the first down, Paus was sacked, losing 11 yards. On the next play,
Poli-Dixon caught the ball at the nine and juked past the Wildcat
defenders for a 14-7 UCLA lead.

That ended the success of the Bruin running game. “The
running plays dried up. There’s only so much you can run
against that defense,” Toledo said of Arizona’s
notorious double-eagle flex.

“After you run the ones you can, they figure those out and
adjust. After that you can just hope to chip away.”

Foster finished with 29 carries for 78 yards. With 12 minutes
remaining in the second quarter, Arizona had an eight-play, 58-yard
drive capped by a 2-yard Clarence Farmer run. Seven of the plays
were Farmer rushes, but Jenkins heaved a 41-yard pass to a wide
open Brennan for the key play of the drive. That was the UCLA
defense’s only major miscue of the game.

After the Wildcats stopped UCLA and got the ball back they went
50 yards in six plays, with Farmer running it in from 19 yards out
this time. Arizona went into the half with a 21-14 lead.

In the third quarter Chris Griffith kicked a pair of 33-yard
field goals to bring the Bruins within one. The first was set up by
a personal foul after an Arizona punt, which gave UCLA possession
at Arizona’s 31. The second came courtesy of Manning’s
first interception, which he returned 27 yards to the Arizona
13.

Arizona went up 24-20 after a 42-yard Sean Keel Field goal.

The win was the first on the road for the Bruins in two years.
The last time UCLA won on the road was Nov. 14, 1998, at Seattle,
Wash.

“Who says we can’t win on the road?” Toledo
smiled. “We’ll play in the parking lot.”

“We got a big monkey off our back,” Mitchell
said.

Neither the monkey or the Wildcats were very effective against
the Bruins Saturday.

GAME SUMMARY BOX defeated
27-24 Original Graphic By PAULINE VU/Daily Bruin Senior
Staff Web Adaptation by AVISHAI SHRAGA/Daily Bruin Senior Staff