COLLEGE FOOTBALL / DAILY REPORT : UCLA : Ayers Boosts Running Game

Derek Ayers is back, taking his turn in the UCLA backfield and trying to make up for lost time.

Ayers, a sophomore, had never been in better shape as two-a-day practices began in August. He had gained nine pounds over the summer, maintained his speed and was ready to challenge Sharmon Shah for the starting spot at tailback.

Within days, he was on the sideline, wearing the red jersey of the injured and watching because of a sprained knee ligament.

“Football is fun, but that’s no fun at all,” he said Tuesday, his rehabilitation complete. “You feel a little out of things. You’re still a part of the team. You go to meetings and watch what’s going on, but you’re not a part of it because you can’t play.”

His return bolsters depth at running back, seemingly the Bruins’ deepest position until injuries cropped up in the weeks before the season opener against Tennessee.

“I’m ready to do anything,” Ayers said.

Anything includes taking a turn at tailback and spending time at receiver in the Bruins’ four-wide receiver offensive sets.

“Anywhere they’ll give me a chance,” Ayers said.

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Southern Methodist is 4-0 against UCLA, but the teams haven’t met in 47 years. In 1947, the Mustangs won, 7-0, when Doak Walker, a Football Hall of Fame member, scored on a one-yard touchdown and kicked the extra point at the Coliseum.

It was the SMU team’s first chartered airplane trip.

The game took a bizarre twist when play stopped and SMU players got on hands and knees to look for a bridge that had fallen from the mouth of teammate Raleigh Blakely.

SMU has played in the Rose Bowl, losing to Stanford, 7-0, in 1935.

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Long snapper Chris Anderson, a walk-on for three seasons, has been given a scholarship. . . . Former UCLA kicker Louis Perez spent Tuesday working with senior Martin Melius and freshman Morgan Janger, who were two people recruited from the student body, rather than from the team, to evaluate their ability to serve as backups to Bruin kicker Bjorn Merten.

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One of college football’s longest team records was broken by Washington State’s Mark Fields, who returned a fumble 71 yards in the Cougars’ 10-9 victory over Illinois last week. The old record, 70 yards, was set by Elmer Brown in 1899 against Idaho.