Oklahoma’s Orders: Play Like Champion : Sooners: They do exactly that against UCLA in beginning of an attempt to erase clouds of the past.

The Saturday matinee in Pasadena was a revival of Oklahoma.

“We had a lot to prove,” said defensive tackle Scott Evans after the Sooners proved they were better than UCLA, 34-14.

“Last year we lost to Colorado and Nebraska in our conference. I don’t even know what we were ranked coming into this game. We were underdogs to a team that went 3-7-1 last year. This was a big win for us.”

Gary Gibbs agreed. Gibbs is the guy who replaced Barry Switzer as coach of Oklahoma last year. If you thought Gibbs was brand new on the job, maybe it’s because he has a low profile, and his first Sooner team had a 7-4 record and was not seen on television or in a bowl because it was on probation.

The Sooners’ conduct off the field was unnoticed, too, because Gibbs is the disciplinarian that Switzer apparently wasn’t.

Written on the chalkboard of Gibbs’ dressing room and on pieces of paper tacked to his players’ lockers Saturday was this message:

“Play Like a Champion. Beat UCLA Today.”

Gibbs said the Sooners carried out those orders pretty well.

“Obviously, I’m a very happy football coach,” Gibbs said. “And I’ve got 60 players who are very happy and excited.

“It’s great to win on national television against a quality opponent. We worked like champions in the spring and summer, and it was time to go out and play like champions.”

The unit best showing championship form was a defense that held UCLA to 28 yards rushing, 203 net yards and 10 first downs.

“They couldn’t establish their running game, and it’s hard to pass in obvious situations against five defensive backs,” Gibbs said.

“They had new quarterbacks, and we felt we could put that to our advantage.”

The Bruins also had a new-old offensive coordinator in Homer Smith, who was starting his third tour with UCLA.

“He was there the last time we played them in 1986, so we had a reference point,” Gibbs said.

Among those who seemed familiar with the UCLA scheme was Evans, a 6-3, 251-pound senior who was voted All-Big Eight the past two years.

“We’re an attacking, physical defense,” he said. “Our attitude is very good. I look to either side and behind me, and I see a lot of guys who have worked very hard.”

Evans said this was the typical Oklahoma defense, with the same sets it has used during his five years in Norman.

This was also typical Oklahoma offense. When passers Steve Collins and Cale Gundy were cold--four for 18 for 44 yards--the Sooners rushed for 299 yards.

“At the beginning of the game, we found out their line wasn’t as good as their secondary,” said Collins, who ran for 85 yards. “We hit ‘em in their weak spots.”

At least, Collins didn’t question the Bruins’ manhood, as Brian Bosworth did after the Sooners won, 38-3, on opening day of 1986.

“We were a great team in 1986. We weren’t a great team today,” Gibbs said. “That team had a ‘Who’s Who.’ But, like that team, we had success on both sides of the line of scrimmage today.”

Gibbs’ fullback, Kenyon Rasheed, didn’t want to hear history.

“We have to focus on the present, not the past,” he said. “They did their thing, and now we have to establish ourselves. Sure, the tradition was tarnished by what happened off the field, but we can’t control that. We just have to show that we’re a nice football team.”