Wildcats’ offense rips Bruins to shreds
By Daily Bruin Staff
Nov. 6, 2005 9:00 p.m.
TUCSON, Ariz. “”mdash; Coming into Saturday’s game against
the Wildcats, the Bruins were the team with potential Heisman
candidates in running back Maurice Drew and quarterback Drew
Olson.
After Saturday’s lackluster effort, however, the Heisman
voters could have given their votes to Arizona quarterback Willie
Tuitama and running back Mike Bell.
Tuitama threw for 204 yards and two touchdowns, while Bell
finished with 153 yards on 16 carries. Combined, the two helped the
Wildcats compile 519 total yards and a season-high 52 points.
“This game was crazy,” Tuitama said. “I just
wanted to go out there on the field and lead the team to
victory.
“I knew what our capabilities were, and now everyone else
does, too.”
Olson and Drew, on the other hand, had what was easily their
worst game this season. Olson finished 23-for-38 with 232 passing
yards, and Drew had 41 yards rushing.
Drew sat out most of the second half with a right knee contusion
and was not much of a factor in the game.
“We couldn’t do anything against them,” Drew
said. “They came out with more emotion than us, and we
couldn’t respond.”
The true freshman Tuitama started for only the second time in
his career, and he started off fast, completing seven of seven
passes for 138 yards in the first quarter.
Tuitama’s senior teammate Bell did the same, recording 83
of the Wildcats’ 164 rushing yards in the second quarter
alone.
“The running backs, especially Mike (Bell), were
tremendous tonight,” Arizona coach Mike Stoops said.
“Willie also did a spectacular job of running our
offense.”
Coming into the game, the Wildcats had the Pac-10’s
lowest-scoring offense at 20.8 points per game, but they exploded
for 21 points in the first quarter and matched their previous
season high of 31 points by the end of the second quarter.
The Wildcats only punted once in the first half, which did not
occur until there were only four minutes and 20 seconds remaining
in the second quarter.
“They run a lot of misdirection plays that fooled us in
the first half,” UCLA linebacker Wesley Walker said.
“We were really playing hesitant, and they really took us out
of our game.”
The Wildcats have historically had high offensive outputs
against UCLA.
They rushed for a season-high 258 yards against the Bruins last
year, and running back Bell has averaged over 100 yards rushing per
game throughout his career against UCLA.
In this game, Bell averaged 9.6 yards per carry, and his
halfback counterpart Gilbert Harris rushed for 113 yards in the
game. Harris’ previous career high of 74 rushing yards came
against the Bruins last season.
When asked the reason for the Wildcats’ success, Bell had
a simple answer.
“Execution, believing,” he said. “We believed
in ourselves, knowing we were going to run the ball.”
The 329 rushing yards the Bruins gave up in the game were just
an addition to the struggles the defensive line has had this
season.
The Bruins came into the match-up allowing an average of 212.4
yards rushing per game, and ranked 110th out of 117 Division I
teams nationally in rushing yards allowed.
Last week was a bright spot for the Bruins, as the defense
limited Stanford’s rushing attack for most of the game, but
Saturday was a major step backward.
“That was the most disappointing thing,” defensive
coordinator Larry Kerr said. “After having an improved effort
last week, we reverted to our old ways today.”
The Bruins were especially hurt by the loss of senior linebacker
Justin London, who was not given medical clearance for the game
after injuring his foot. London suffered a sprained right ankle,
and his right foot was in a boot during the game. His absence
created a huge gap in the Bruins’ interior defense.
“Obviously, it would have helped if Justin was there with
us today,” UCLA coach Karl Dorrell said. “But it would
have helped if all our guys were healthy.
“That’s just how football is. People get
hurt.”
UCLA now has to face formidable opponents in Arizona State and
USC during the next two weeks.
One major challenge for the Bruins will be to improve the paltry
defense they have displayed in this season’s Pac-10
games.
“We know we are a better team than we’ve
shown,” defensive end Bruce Davis said. “We need to
show that the next two games.”
