Football: Lewis’ breakout game leads to UCLA win

The time, apparently, is now.

After a couple years of waiting, of wondering, of questioning
why such tremendous potential has gone relatively untapped, it
appears that the time has come.

UCLA junior tight end Marcedes Lewis unequivocally proved
Saturday why he was regarded by many as the best prep tight end
coming out of high school, and that he could potentially be the
best at the college level as well.

Lewis caught six passes for 99 yards and three touchdowns in
UCLA’s 37-17 win over Arizona at the Rose Bowl Saturday,
finally demonstrating the skills and ability that so many knew he
had.

“I wasn’t surprised,” Lewis said. “With
hard work and effort, it was going to happen one day.”

Fortunately for the Bruins, that one day was Saturday. Though
Arizona did a tremendous job of shutting down sophomore tailback
Maurice Drew and UCLA’s potent running game, Lewis and
quarterback Drew Olson were responsible for the Bruins’ most
efficient passing performance of the year.

“Going into the game today, I had a feeling we were going
to go to him quite a bit,” said Olson, who finished 17-for-25
for 234 yards and four touchdowns, a career-high for the junior.
“And he just made plays. He did a great job.”

For Lewis, the six receptions tied a career high, while the 99
yards and three touchdowns established new career highs. Numbers
aside, Lewis was just plain impressive Saturday, using his
6-foot-6, 254-pound frame and tremendous athleticism to make the
Wildcats (1-4, 0-2 Pac-10) look silly at times.

Lewis’ first touchdown grab came in the second quarter
with UCLA(4-1, 2-0) leading 9-3, following a safety and the first
touchdown of fullback Michael Pitre’s collegiate career.

On third-and-four from the Arizona 16-yard line, Olson lofted a
ball up into the end zone and Lewis made an incredible catch,
tipping the ball to himself to avoid an interception by Arizona
safety Lamon Means.

“I was happy to see him finish some plays, and play like
he’s 6-foot-6, 250 pounds,” said UCLA tight ends coach
Jon Embree, whom Lewis credits with his great strides as a football
player from last season to the present.

Lewis’ second touchdown was even more impressive than the
first. With time running down in the second quarter, Olson again
found Lewis, this time for an easy catch. But getting in the end
zone wasn’t so easy.

Lewis got hit hard by defensive back Darrell Brooks at the
five-yard line, but he refused to go down. Arizona players swarmed
to the ball, but Lewis wouldn’t be denied. With a final push
from his teammates, the big tight end carried a pile into the end
zone for the 12-yard score, putting the Bruins up 23-3.

“The first dude tried to hit me, I saw the end zone, and
I’m like, “˜No, I’m not going down,'”
Lewis said.

That’s the kind of day it was for the junior. He just
refused to be pushed around.

His third touchdown came in the third quarter on a perfectly
thrown ball from Olson on a seam. Lewis also made two critical
receptions on third-down plays to keep UCLA drives alive.

“He made some unbelievable plays,” Arizona coach
Mike Stoops said. “He’s a great player. I love his
athletic ability at tight end and his range. He went up a couple of
times when we were all over him and he made some great catches.

“He deserves a lot of credit. He single-handedly got us
tonight.”

Part of the reason Olson and Lewis were able to have so much
success was the defensive philosophy of Arizona. The Wildcats came
in dedicated to stopping the UCLA rushing game, which entered
Saturday averaging 273 yards per game.

By putting eight players in the box, Arizona was able to
accomplish that singular goal, holding the Bruins to 114 rushing
yards. But it clearly left weaknesses elsewhere.

“You could tell with their defensive structure that
(Lewis) had a chance to have a big day,” UCLA offensive
coordinator Tom Cable said.

“We really listened to Coach Stoops, and he said he was
going to do everything he could to not let us run the football this
week, so it kind of played right into us.”

Saturday allowed UCLA to demonstrate the balanced offense that
people had been hearing about, but simply hadn’t seen. With
Olson playing his best game of the year, making good decisions and
the right reads, opposing teams will have to be aware of the run
and the pass.

“It was a great performance on (Olson’s)
part,” coach Karl Dorrell said. “He made some great
decisions and great throws. He generated the offense for us.

“The running game wasn’t there with which we had
great success in earlier games. That’s the beauty of this
offense. When some things don’t work, we have something else
to pick us up.”

If UCLA wants to continue to have success, especially with two
tough games against California and Arizona State coming up, the
defense will undoubtedly have to pick it up. Arizona, a team that
had struggled with running the ball all season, racked up 258 yards
on the ground against the porous Bruin defense.

But after the game Saturday, the Bruins preferred to focus on
the positives. And the number one positive, of course, was the
breakout game of No. 19.

“I was ready,” Lewis said. “I felt much better
today. I don’t know what it was, but I felt ready.”

Lewis said after the game that this is the most fun he’s
had playing football since high school. And why not?

“Everything is coming together,” Lewis said.
“It’s complete. Yeah, I block, but I can catch,
too.”