‘SC game goes horribly wrong

  CATHERINE JAYIN JUN/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Junior
quarterback Cory Paus gets sacked by the Trojan
defense on Saturday.

By Hannah Gordon

Daily Bruin Reporter

Maybe they got bad directions to the Coliseum.

Or set their watches wrong.

Whatever the reason, the Bruins did not show up to play
Saturday.

Humiliated 27-0, the boys in blue and gold who arrived in the
Coliseum looked nothing like the national championship contenders
who were 6-0 a month ago. With the loss, the Bruins (6-4, 3-4
Pac-10) have jeopardized their bowl chances.

“I didn’t want to go out like this,” senior
linebacker Robert Thomas said.

With the off-field distractions of tailback DeShaun Foster, whom
the NCAA ruled ineligible on Friday for the remainder of the
season, and the breaking news of quarterback Cory Paus’ two
DUI arrests, one had to wonder if the Bruins minds were
elsewhere.

“I’d like to say it didn’t (distract us), but
I think it did,” junior offensive tackle Mike Saffer
said.

Even the opposition seemed surprised with the Bruins’
performance.

“I didn’t think it would go like that,” USC
head coach Pete Carroll said. “I thought it would be harder
than that.”

On the opening play of the game Thomas recorded his 23rd tackle
for a loss on the season ““ a new UCLA record. The Trojans
were penalized for illegal formation on the next down putting them
in a third-and-13 situation. A typical day for the Pac-10’s
top defense.

And then things went very, very wrong, very, very quickly.

Trojan junior quarterback Carson Palmer hit tight end Kori
Dickerson, who was wide open thanks to a missed assignment.
Dickerson avoided two tackles and ran 66 yards to the Bruin 17-yard
line.

“That was a big momentum breaker for us,” Palmer
said.

After an eight-yard rush by junior split end Kareem Kelly,
Palmer completed a four-yard pass for another first down. On
third-and-goal from the four-yard line, Palmer connected with
flanker Keary Colbert to put the Trojans up 7-0.

USC 27 UCLA 0

The UCLA offense held the ball for the next 5:43 but went for
minus- one yard on eight plays thanks to an impressive Trojan
defense and inept Bruin offense.

“We couldn’t do anything with the ball,”
Saffer said. “We couldn’t protect. We couldn’t
run the ball. We couldn’t pass the ball. We’re taking a
lot of this on our (offense’s) shoulders today.”

With 2:02 left in the first quarter and the ball in redshirt
freshman tailback Manuel White’s hands, the Bruins picked up
two first downs. But on second-and-six on the Bruin 26, Paus’
pass to senior wide receiver Brian Poli-Dixon bounced off his
chest, out of his hands and into the arms of cornerback Antuan
Simmons.

“It surprised me at first,” Simmons said. “I
was going for the tackle and it bounced off him.”

Simmons returned the interception 36 yards for the touchdown to
end the first quarter 14-0.

“We throw a ball that should have been caught and ends up
being intercepted and run back for a touchdown,” UCLA head
coach Bob Toledo said. “Then it just kind of starts
snowballing.”

With a blocked punt on the next series, the Trojans again took
the momentum from the Bruins. USC made the score 17-0 after
settling for a field goal with 9:38 left in the half.

The Bruins went three-and-out again, then lost a fumble on the
next drive. The furthest the Bruins got in the half was their own
41-yard line.

“It seemed like we couldn’t do anything,” said
UCLA freshman wideout Craig Bragg, the team’s leading
receiver with 29 yards. “They had our number called
today.”

Palmer, who started the game 7-of-8 for 101 yards in the first
quarter, picked on the decimated Bruin secondary, which lost senior
free safety Marques Anderson, senior strong safety Jason Stephens,
and (for part of the game) Matt Ware.

Although UCLA did manage some pressure, they were only able to
sack Palmer once. They also allowed USC to convert on seven of 16
third downs while UCLA converted only two of 11.

Once the Bruins were behind, they got off their game plan and
were stuck playing catch-up the rest of the game. But catch up they
couldn’t, as they failed to make it past midfield in the
third quarter while another missed assignment led to a 34-yard
touchdown run by Chris Howard to make the score 24-0.

Toledo benched Paus for the fourth quarter after the quarterback
went 7-of-15 for 45 yards. Scott McEwan came in and took the Bruins
to the Trojan 22 ““ the farthest into Trojan territory the
Bruins made it all night. The Bruins failed to score, though, and
McEwan went 3-of-8 with one interception before Ryan McCann was
called to finish off the game.