Defensive Tackle Smith Suspended

Damon Smith, who earned a starting defensive tackle job with his play early in the season, has now earned a suspension for the last regularly scheduled game.

UCLA Coach Bob Toledo said Wednesday that Smith, a senior who transferred from Division II Ashland (Ohio) College two years ago, had been suspended for “team behavioral problems.”

A source close to the team said that Smith, who had traded words and pushes with a scout team player Tuesday and had been reprimanded, fought in the locker room after practice.

The punishment was probably as severe as it was because Smith--who has 21 tackles with three sacks--has a history of similar behavior.

He spent time at spring practice going through extra running after fighting a different scout team player during an intramural basketball game, and he trained on his own last summer, rather than with the team, because of social difficulty with some of the Bruins.

Toledo said the suspension was “a distraction and I don’t like it” during preparations for playing USC on Saturday, and added that the punishment was week to week, indicating that Smith could be reinstated for a bowl game.

Pete Holland will step into Smith’s starting defensive tackle spot, teaming with Jeff Ruckman in the middle of the defensive line.

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UCLA’s eight-game winning streak is its longest since 1987. The Bruins last won nine in a row in 1973, under Coach Pepper Rodgers. . . . UCLA is outscoring opponents, 191-76, in the second half and 103-49 in the fourth quarter. . . . UCLA has beaten Washington and USC in the same season only three times since 1957: 1965, 1983 and 1993. In each of those seasons, the Bruins advanced to the Rose Bowl.

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NEXT FOR UCLA

WHO: USC

WHERE: Coliseum

TIME: Saturday, 12:30 p.m.

TV: Channel 7

RADIO:

AM 1150

KLSX-FM (97.1)