Bruins’ Defense Goes to Dogs

At the right time and definitely in the right place, you could say Weldon Forde and the rest of the UCLA defense Rose to the occasion.

In a performance that, in its own way, was as impressive as UCLA’s offensive pyrotechnics, the Bruin defense absorbed three early Washington touchdowns in Saturday’s crucial matchup, then basically slammed the Huskies to the ground.

“Around the country, we’re not really known as being a physical defense--we’re supposed to be soft, I guess,” said Forde, the defensive end who sacked Brock Huard twice during UCLA’s overpowering 52-28 victory at the Rose Bowl.

“And Washington’s supposed to be this big, physical team and [All-American candidate] Jason Chorak’s this great, physical player. But we’re not soft. We’re as physical as anybody, and we showed that today.

“I think we showed we’re the best defense in the conference.”

They were once they got settled down.

Freshman cornerback Marques Anderson stepped in front of a Huard pass late in the second quarter, returned it 20 yards to the Washington 21, and set up quarterback Cade McNown’s 11-yard plunge to give UCLA a 28-20 lead at halftime.

Part of the reason for the wayward pass was that Forde was flying at Huard’s torso at the time he threw it.

And, in Washington’s first series of the third quarter, Forde set the tone by beating his blocker and tackling Huard hard for a six-yard sack, UCLA’s first of the game.

That’s when the Bruin siege began in earnest, and the Huskies never really seemed to recover. Huard was hit relentlessly, the Husky running backs started running into walls, and Washington woozily limped back into its locker room after the final gun.

After running for 134 yards in the first half, Washington had only nine in the second. In their first four second-half possessions, the Huskies, who scored 58 points against Arizona and 45 against Oregon State this season, managed only 17 yards.

“They started to bend after a while,” said UCLA linebacker Danjuan Magee, who had nine tackles. “They didn’t seem as tough, they weren’t into it in the second half. I’ve never seen Washington bend like that.”

UCLA didn’t bend in the early going--it got busted up.

The Husky offense caused confusion by switching up some personnel on the Bruins, who weren’t expecting Washington to use extra linemen at tight end and fullback.

That contributed to Husky tailback Maurice Shaw popping through for a 47-yard touchdown run on Washington’s first possession and several other troubling UCLA defensive moments.

Backup tailback Jason Harris broke one for a 55-yard score early in the second quarter, and receiver Ja’Warren Hooker leaped for a 28-yard scoring pass to give Washington a 20-14 lead midway through the second.

“I wasn’t worried as much as I could’ve been,” UCLA defensive coordinator Rocky Long said. “One of their big plays was just their receiver outjumping us. We had pretty good coverage and their guy made a great play.

“On one running play, their guy came through and we missed a tackle that would’ve been for a two-yard gain. So I wasn’t too upset. The players were in the right places. We weren’t playing badly. We just had to execute our scheme.”

As Cade McNown and Skip Hicks kept churning away the yards and the big plays and the touchdowns in the second half, Washington kept getting more and more frustrated.

“I think the turning points were the sack and the interception and just us acting wild and crazy out there, flying to the ball and celebrating every play,” Magee said. “In the second half it just seemed like we had it, and they didn’t.

“We got on a roll and we just kept going. Our offense was on a roll, then we got on a roll, and there was no stopping us.”