You Can Rest Assured, Hicks Is Back

A week off probably benefited Skip Hicks more than any other UCLA player.

Hicks carried the ball 25 times for 147 yards and caught three passes for 106 yards in the Bruins’ 52-28 victory over Washington on Saturday, and one reason was “a lot of healing in those last two weeks,” he said.

“I had that little injury [a bone bruise] against Oregon, and those last two weeks helped me a lot. That was one of the things that I felt had limited me: my speed. [Saturday], I felt like I had 100% of my speed back.”

Hicks has 1,025 rushing yards this season, only nine short of his personal best, accomplished in 1996. He already has surpassed the 1,317 total yards he ran up last season, with 1,359 yards heading into Saturday’s regular-season finale against USC.

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The record of the first seven teams UCLA beat in its eight-game winning streak is 26-42, but win No. 8 came against Washington, which is 7-3.

That was important.

“They’ve been told so much that they’re not physical, and that they haven’t won a big game,” Coach Bob Toledo said. “They won a big game today and they were physical doing it.”

The Bruins certainly impressed Husky Coach Jim Lambright.

“They’re as good as any football team we’ve faced this season, including Nebraska,” he said.

The Cornhuskers beat Washington, 27-14.

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NEXT FOR UCLA

WHO: USC

WHERE: Coliseum

WHEN: Saturday, 12:30 p.m.

TV: Channel 7

RADIO: AM 1150

KLSX-FM (97.1)