Football Notebook: Verner clinches win again

Alterraun Verner is making a habit out of his late-game heroics.
If he’s not careful, people around these parts are going to
attach some unrealistic expectations to his name.

For the second time this season, Verner intercepted a pass in
the fourth quarter and returned it for a touchdown to secure the
win.

And the play he made against Arizona on Saturday mirrored the
one he made against Utah in the season opener.

Arizona backup quarterback Adam Austin was slowly cutting his
way through a soft UCLA zone in the fourth quarter, with the Bruins
nursing a 13-point lead. Although the Bruins (4-1) appeared in
control for most of the game, the Wildcats (2-4) were gaining
momentum as they moved down the field.

Enter Verner. The freshman cornerback read a 10-yard hitch,
baited Austin to throw the ball, stepped in front of the pass, and
then scooted 89 yards for a touchdown to clinch the Bruins’
27-7 win.

“It was pretty much exactly the same play (as the one
against Utah),” Verner said. “I made a better read on
it this time, and it’s a bigger play. It was almost
identical. It deflated them. That point in the game, it really
ended it.”

In the locker following the game, Verner overheard UCLA coach
Karl Dorrell singing his praises to the rest of the coaching staff.
Dorrell calls Verner, who doesn’t turn 18 until December, the
“little old man” because of his unique blend of
maturity and football I.Q.

Verner knows his interception is appreciated by his coach, who
got a chance to exhale after that final touchdown.

“I think it gave him a little sigh of relief,”
Verner said. “He’s never confident until there’s
zero-zero on the clock. I think it saved him a little stress and
some gray hairs on his head.”

SECONDARY PERFORMANCE: Verner was just one part
of a Bruin secondary that had a dominant game. The safety tandem of
Dennis Keyes and Chris Horton combined for three tackles for loss,
taking good angles to the ball for open field tackles.

Cornerbacks Rodney Van and Trey Brown, who had been criticized
by defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker after UCLA’s 29-19
loss to Washington, made their own presence felt. Brown, who is
listed at 5-feet-9-inches and 185 pounds, came up with the hit of
the game when he upended Arizona wide receiver Louis Holmes,
jarring the ball loose for a fumble, although the play was
challenged and overturned as an incomplete pass.

“I didn’t see many missed tackles,” Horton
said. “We put our time in with watching film, and we pretty
much knew what was going to be run on their offense. From the first
series, we let these guys know that we were going to come after
them.”

“We played a pretty solid game. That’s the scary
part. We’re getting more and more faith in each other,”
Verner said.

TAYLOR’S ANKLE INJURY: Christian Taylor
left the game in the second quarter with a left ankle sprain. He
was taped up by the training staff and was testing his ankle on the
sideline before the start of the second half, but felt he
couldn’t play.

Taylor, a junior inside linebacker and defensive captain, will
get X-rays on Monday, Dorrell said.

WILDCATS GET VAN-DALIZED: Van was hooked up to
an I.V. drip to give him fluids during halftime after he complained
of cramps. He returned to the field for the second half, and
finished the game with three tackles.

DAVIS TAKES OUT TUITAMA: Defensive end Bruce
Davis knocked Arizona quarterback Willie Tuitama out of the game in
the first quarter with a concussion on what appeared to be a
helmet-to-helmet hit. Tuitama, who went 6-12 with 43 yards, did not
return. Austin was 15-30 with a touchdown and interception in his
place.

EXTRA POINTS: Arizona finished with negative
net rushing yards (-13) for the third straight game. … Freshman
wide receiver Terrence Austin, who almost broke a big punt return,
shared the returning duties with Dennis Keyes and Ryan Graves. …
UCLA had nine penalties for 79 yards, one being a roughing the
passer on Kenneth Lombard on a third-and-10 that continued the only
Wildcat scoring drive.

“The only negative thing that sticks out in my mind is the
penalties,” Dorrell said. “We had a lot of defensive
penalties.”