Football Notebook
By Daily Bruin Staff
Nov. 5, 2001 9:00 p.m.
 Tab Perry
Perry in hospital
Sophomore wide receiver Tab Perry is still recovering from four
broken ribs and a bruised lung. He will remain in a local hospital
near Washington State University for a few more days before flying
home, but is expected to make a full recovery.
“(WSU head coach) Mike Price and his staff are watching
over him and helping out his family, picking them up and that kind
of thing and I appreciate that,” UCLA head coach Bob Toledo
said.
Perry was injured at the beginning of the second half on
Saturday when he was hit by WSU cornerback Marcus Trufant. He was
taken off the field by ambulance after coughing up blood.
Losing Perry hits the Bruins where they are already weak, having
lost eight receivers one way or another this season. Jon Dubruvac
medically redshirted and Ryan Wikert medically retired due to back
problems, while Jerry Owens quit football and Junior Taylor was not
admitted to UCLA.
Since the season began, the Bruins have suffered more injuries:
Cody Joyce has been out with a concussion for a month, Poli-Dixon
is still questionable with a separated shoulder and now Perry is
out as well.
Ryan Smith is still playing but is not at 100 percent because of
a separated shoulder and sprained ankle. Craig Bragg and Devon
Reese are the only fully healthy scholarship receivers left.
“I’m real worried about the receivers,” Toledo
said.
Thomas, Anderson up for illustrious awards
Senior middle linebacker Robert Thomas is the front-runner for
the Butkus award presented to the top linebacker in the nation. He
had a career high 18 tackles against WSU.
“I had no idea, I thought I made eight or nine. When I saw
18 I thought it was a misprint,” Thomas said.
Anderson is a semi-finalist for the Jim Thorpe award given to
the nation’s best defensive back. This year there are eight
safeties and only two cornerbacks on the list. Two of them are
safeties UCLA has faced: WSU’s Lamont Thompson who had a
career high 4 interceptions against UCLA and Ohio State’s
Mike Doss.
No Offensive Player of the Game named
Breaking with tradition, Toledo did not name an offensive player
of the game Monday.
“We didn’t play well enough to have an offensive
player of the game,” Toledo said.
However, with his sixth 100 yard game of the season, DeShaun
Foster moved in to third place on the career rushing list with
3,194 yards just one yard short of second place.
The defensive player was Thomas and the special teams player was
punter Nate Fikse.
Go stand in the corner
UCLA was hurt Saturday by 11 penalties, five of which were on
special teams with gunners Keith Short and Joe Hunter each getting
two penalties.
“Penalties and turnovers are killing us right now,”
Toledo said, “We’ve gone from not having many to having
a bunch.”
The Bruins are averaging 60.6 penalty yards per game this
season.
“This year we’re been making some stupid
penalties,” Thomas said, “In a tough game like that on
the road we need every advantage we can get.”
