Indians Get Very Tired of Seeing Hicks, Price

Skip Hicks, whose eyes were cloudy all week after suffering a concussion at Tennessee, showed Saturday night that his vision had cleared enough to see the goal line.

Wide-eyed freshman Durell Price could see pretty well too.

Then again, the UCLA line and fullbacks Cheyane Caldwell and Craig Walendy made certain they had largely unobstructed views.

Hicks ran for three touchdowns in the first half and added another in the second, leading the Bruins to a 44-0 victory over Northeast Louisiana before 40,990 in their home opener in the Rose Bowl.

It was UCLA’s first shutout since Oct. 3, 1987, when the Bruins won at Stanford, 49-0.

Hicks got plenty of help, both from an offensive line that dominated the Indians and from quarterback Cade McNown, who completed his first six passes, eight of his first 10 and then settled back to hand the ball to Hicks and Price, only occasionally dropping back to throw, largely because there was little need.

Price helped make sure of that with 110 yards in 14 carries, becoming the first true Bruin freshman with a 100-yard game since Hicks, who had a couple in 1993. Hicks finished with 101 yards in 18 carries as they combined to give UCLA two 100-yard runners in a game for the first time since a 68-14 victory over Brigham Young in 1993.

Northeast Louisiana Coach Ed Zaunbrecher was impressed, but he’s used to it.

“I thought UCLA’s ground game was solid, but we’ve given up 100-yard rushers for about 12 straight games,” he said. “So I don’t know how good a gauge we are.”

Actually, the Indians have seen a 100-yard rusher in 13 of their last 14 games, so the success of Hicks and Price was no surprise.

“It took me a while to finally get going,” said Hicks, who got going with an eight-yard run, but then lost a yard on the opening drive, and who also fumbled for the second week in a row.

“The first couple of plays, I was trying to break a long run instead of doing what I was supposed to do. It took me a couple of plays to get into a rhythm.”

Hicks, a redshirt junior in his fourth season in the program, has taken Price under his wing since last year’s Sylmar High standout signed his letter of intent.

“He doesn’t look like a freshman,” Hicks said. “He looks like a junior, hitting holes, finding holes.”

McNown found plenty of holes in the Northeast secondary, completing 12 of 16 passes for 164 yards.

He was successful on all four of his passes on UCLA’s opening drive, finding Danny Farmer for 12 and nine yards, Rodney Lee for 11 and Hicks for 12 to the Northeast 15. From there, Hicks needed only one carry, off guard, following the trap block of Chad Sauter.

It was a rarity for Hicks or any back: a 15-yard touchdown run through the middle without a defender laying a hand on him.

That would have been enough for the evening, given the way UCLA was playing defense. The Bruin stoppers gave up only six first downs in the first half, only one in the second. They held the Indians to only 45 yards in 28 rushes, and 153 yards for the game.

Northeast Louisiana lost the ball on downs on its only trip deep into UCLA territory, in the second quarter, when a Raymond Philyaw pass sailed well over Richard Love’s head to give UCLA the ball on its own nine.

By then it was already 21-0, Hicks having added second-quarter touchdown runs of four and 13 yards to his first-quarter score.

His second touchdown finished a seven-play, 34-yard drive that began after Shaun Williams had intercepted a halfback pass by Keith Gardner, who threw the ball up for grabs because UCLA’s Abdul McCullough was in his face.

UCLA’s lead was stretched to 27-0 in the third quarter on field goals of 33 and 21 yards by Bjorn Merten, who has not missed in four tries this season, and 34-0 on Hicks’ final touchdown, covering nine yards with 2:09 to play in the quarter.

That score came a play after Zaunbrecher suffered his worst nightmare. Philyaw, the Indians’ key player, faded to pass on his own 19, only to turn to throw and find UCLA’s Phillip Ward in his face. Ward hit Philyaw, bent him over Damon Smith and Philyaw fumbled, with Smith recovering.

Philyaw left the game on the shoulders of a trainer and the team doctor, a bruised knee ending his evening.

Hicks’ final touchdown--which tied a school record of four in a game by Freeman McNeil, Eric Ball, Gaston Green and Karim Abdul-Jabbar--signaled garbage time.

“Everyone had an opportunity to play tonight: third-stringers, walk-ons,” Bruin Coach Bob Toledo said. “It was a good opportunity to get lots of guys in there.”

When the Bruins next took over, on the Indian 35-yard line, second-string quarterback Steve Buck was under center, and he handed the ball to freshman Keith Brown on seven of the eight plays before Greg Andrasick, the second-string kicker, was successful on a 21-yard field goal to make it 37-0.

Exit Brown, enter Akil Davis, usually a scout-teamer, but on the Bruins’ final drive, the perpetrator of runs of 13 and 41 yards. Fullback Jarvis Watson finished things off with a nine-yard bull up the middle.

It was left to Hicks to finish the evening with bravado, in a statement that perhaps will make Toledo quiver during the two weeks he has to prepare the Bruins for their next game.

“I hope maybe Michigan noticed this,” Hicks said. “We’re looking forward to going up there [Sept. 28 at Ann Arbor].”

Zaunbrecher is simply looking forward to going home.

“By the end of the season, we’ll be a solid team,” he said. “UCLA was supposed to beat us, and they did.”