Bruins Are Up to the Challenge : College football: Stokes scores three touchdowns in 52-13 victory over San Diego State. : Gilbertson’s comments fired up UCLA.

Give California Coach Keith Gilbertson an assist.

Terry Donahue filled the UCLA players’ ears with Gilbertson’s opinion of their talent this week, and the Bruins took it personally.

After beating San Diego State the week after beating UCLA, Gilbertson said the Aztecs have better talent.

Fighting words. UCLA took it out on the Aztecs, 52-13, Thursday before 44,669 at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

“UCLA played like a team possessed,” Aztec Coach Al Luginbill said.

He was not far off.

“What (Gilbertson) said bothered us a lot,” said linebacker Shane Jasper, whose 52-yard run with a first-quarter fumble set up UCLA’s second touchdown. “It’s a challenge when he said we were not as good as they were. We decided to prove he was wrong.”

The Bruins did just that with J.J. Stokes coming home to entertain friends and family with five receptions for 164 yards and three touchdowns; with their third consecutive 100-yard-plus running game, this time by fullback James Milliner; and with a defense that held San Diego State’s Marshall Faulk to 53 yards in 19 carries and made quarterback Tim Gutierrez’s night absolutely miserable.

Milliner carried eight times for 109 yards and a 44-yard touchdown, a large chunk of UCLA’s 269 rushing yards. Daron Washington added 70 yards and two touchdowns and Derek Ayers 57 as the Bruins rolled up 521 yards on offense.

Two weeks ago, Skip Hicks carried for 148 yards against Nebraska, and Sharmon Shah--who played only in the first series Thursday because of his ailing knees--ran for 187 yards on Saturday against Stanford.

But individual numbers aside, it was a night for bulletin boards, the devices coaches tend to use for motivation as much as information.

Stokes came home to face a team that reportedly wanted to recruit him as a tight end because of his questionable speed. At evening’s end, Stokes voiced satisfaction.

“I wanted to show them I could outrun a defensive back,” he said.

He did that in the third quarter on a 50-yard pass play from Cook, who was nailed by blitzing linebacker Terrill Steen. Cook watched the end of the play from a seat on the grass, but his viewpoint was sufficient for him to signal touchdown.

It gave UCLA a 31-7 lead, important because it followed San Diego State’s first touchdown, Faulk’s three-yard run on the opening series of the second half.

“To me, the most encouraging thing of the night was when we came back after they scored to open the third quarter,” Donahue said on a night of encouraging things.

One of them was the lack of pressure because the issue was decided early, unlike the Bruins’ two-point loss to Cal, the one-point loss to Nebraska and the three-point victory over Stanford.

“I was talking with some guys the other night, and we said, ‘You know, we need a blowout,’ ” Cook said. He took care of part of that personally, completing 11 of 16 passes for 223 yards and three touchdowns, all to Stokes.

It gave Cook five touchdown passes in the season’s four games, all to Stokes.

“When you have a receiver like that open, you’d be crazy not to throw it to him,” Cook said.

Cook’s counterpart, Gutierrez, had a statistically sound game, save for the bottom line. He completed 30 of 47 passes for 350 yards, but only one touchdown and two interceptions. “We only had one sack on him, but we had plenty of hurries,” UCLA assistant Bob Field said. “The most important defensive statistic is scoring defense, and we were all right there.”

The Bruins got off to a quick start. Cook hit Kevin Jordan for an 18-yard completion and found tight end Brian Allen for 10 yards to the San Diego State 38 on UCLA’s opening series.

It was the first pass completion to a tight end all season for the Bruins.

After Shah ran for two yards, Cook found Stokes near the left sideline and ahead of the Aztecs’ Leonard Jones. Stokes hauled in the pass, put on brakes inches from the sideline and wheeled, Jones reaching but finding only air.

Stokes headed for the end zone, juking his way past Darrell Lewis near the goal line to score.

The Bruins made it 14-0 later in the quarter when Washington followed the block of Troy Aldrich into the end zone two plays after linebacker Jasper had rumbled 52 yards with a fumble.

Jasper was chased down by Faulk, which only forestalled the touchdown and caused a bit of embarrassment.

“I knew he was the only one on the field who could have caught me,” Jasper said. “But I had four UCLA guys around me, and I didn’t think he could get to me.”

UCLA made it 21-0 early in the second quarter when, from the Aztec 16, Cook found Stokes open inside cornerback Eric Sutton in the end zone.

The Bruins led, 24-0, at halftime after Bjorn Merten kicked a 34-yard field goal, his eighth success in 11 tries.

After the Cook-to-Stokes 50-yard scoring hookup, UCLA came back with Washington’s 14-yard touchdown run and Milliner’s 44-yarder, which came on a burst up the middle. It gave the Bruins a 45-13 lead and prompted them to start giving some reserves some letter time.

They made good use of it, Ayers getting his first carries at tailback on a 61-yard drive to a touchdown. By that time, Rob Walker, who had started last season’s victory over the Aztecs but who has been relegated to third-string, was at quarterback. He finished the drive with a fourth-down touchdown pass to Avery Anderson.

When Donahue wasn’t telling his players Gilbertson stories, he was giving them an arithmetic lesson. Six days ago, the Bruins were 0-2 in a season threatening despair. Now they are 2-2, with Brigham Young next.

“The fact that we exploded for some points helped us psychologically, too,” Donahue added.

Call it a case of getting mad, then getting even--in more ways than one.