Former Bruins to play in Super Bowl XXXV

  The Associated Press Brad Daluiso, the
New York Giants’ kicker, is one of the Bruins who will be playing
in Super Bowl XXXV this Sunday.

By Greg Schain
Daily Bruin Contributor

At 3:18 p.m. on Sunday, Super Bowl XXXV between the New York
Giants and the Baltimore Ravens will kick off at Raymond James
Stadium in Tampa Bay. The game will feature several former UCLA
players, including kicker Brad Daluiso, free safety Shaun Williams
and running back Craig Walendy from the Giants, and tackle Jonathan
Ogden from the Ravens.

With the over/under for Sunday’s game set at 33, which is
tied for lowest in Super Bowl history, most people predict the game
to be a close, low-scoring affair. In fact, it is possible that a
field goal could decide the outcome.

That is why the Giants are lucky to have the reliability and
experience of Daluiso. In his eight seasons with the Giants, he is
123 of 161 (76.4 percent) in field goals, which is tops in Giants
franchise history. This season, Daluiso is 17 for 23 (73.9 percent)
in field goals, and has made all 34 of his extra point
attempts.

Daluiso’s success this season is a remarkable feat
considering he is coming off of a season-ending injury sustained
last year. The injury occurred on a bizarre play at the end of a
Monday Night Football game against the Dallas Cowboys. Daluiso
tried to tackle Cowboys’ cornerback Kevin Mathis on a kickoff
return as time expired to prevent the Cowboys from winning the
game. Daluiso missed the tackle and badly injured his knee on the
play. The most ironic part of the play is that Daluiso’s
attempted tackle was unnecessary because the touchdown was waived
off due to an illegal forward lateral on the play.

“It was a pretty devastating injury,” Daluiso told
USA Today. “It was a long road back, and I’m still not
back yet.”

On Sunday, Daluiso hopes that history does not repeat itself. He
has faced the Baltimore Ravens only once, in 1997, and had one of
the worst games of his career. He missed two field goals, both wide
right, and also had an extra point blocked en route to a 24-23 win
by the Ravens.

Defensively for the Giants, an important addition to their
starting lineup this year has been Williams. As the Giants’
No. 1 draft pick out of UCLA in 1998, he had a breakout season when
he replaced Percy Ellsworth at free safety.

This season, Williams is second on the team in both tackles (74)
and interceptions (3), and leads the team in solo tackles (61).

He also brought a no-nonsense, hard-hitting attitude that helped
contribute to the Giants’ reputation as a smashmouth defense.
This approach was displayed in the Giants’ last game against
the Jacksonville Jaguars, when Williams laid a vicious hit on
Jaguars’ all-pro receiver Jimmy Smith. The hit knocked the
ball out of Smith’s hands and made him too lightheaded to
return to the game.

“A big hit like that sets the tone for the game,”
Williams told the N.Y. Daily News. “It gets everybody pumped
up, it gets the crowd into the game.”

The hit was a testament to the improvement in Williams’
play during the course of this season. At the beginning of the
year, his pass coverage lagged. He seemed a step or two behind,
especially on deep passes. Teams with speedy receivers, such as the
St. Louis Rams and Detroit Lions, were able to expose
Williams’ weakness in blowing out the Giants.

But now, Williams is reading pass routes much better, and
getting to the ball quicker. This eases the pressure on the
linebackers to drop back to pass coverage, thus allowing the
defense to run more blitz packages.

“Shaun’s seeing things and reacting to the ball
quicker now. There’s no question about it,” coach Jim
Fassel told the Daily News.

The third player on the Giants from UCLA is Walendy at running
back, who has not seen any action this year. He is the backup to
the “thunder and lightning” combination of Ron Dayne
and Tiki Barber in the backfield.

On the Baltimore side of the ball, left tackle Ogden is a former
UCLA standout. Ogden, who was drafted by Baltimore with the fourth
overall pick in 1996, will be making his fourth consecutive pro
bowl start in Honolulu in February.

While at UCLA, Ogden won the Outland Trophy Award in 1995, which
is given to the top player available regardless of position. He
also had his jersey number 79 retired by UCLA in 1997, only the
eighth person in history to receive that honor. In his final two
seasons with the Bruins, Ogden started in all 23 games and allowed
just two sacks during that time span.

Ogden’s superior blocking skills have allowed rookie
running back Jamal Lewis to emerge as one of the preeminent backs
in the AFC. Lewis rushed for 1,364 yards on 309 carries for the
Ravens this season.

Ogden’s pass protection has also helped to carry the
Ravens to the Super Bowl. He has given Trent Dilfer, who was
notorious for his lack of consistent play while with the Tampa Bay
Buccaneers, extra time in the pocket. The extra time he is getting
to throw is more suitable to his conservative style of play.
Without Ogden, Dilfer’s approach to the game wouldn’t
work, and the Ravens probably wouldn’t be in the Super
Bowl.

Super Bowl XXXV will mark the 21st time in the last 22 Super
Bowl’s where at least one player is from UCLA. The most
former Bruins ever to participate in a single Super Bowl was in
1993, when eight total players from the Dallas Cowboys and the
Buffalo Bills were from UCLA.