Bruins Aren’t Intent on Coming Up Big

There’s pressure all around, not because of what might happen but because of what’s supposed to happen today at the Rose Bowl when No. 22 UCLA plays Houston.

The Bruins (2-2) are big favorites, so they are supposed to beat the Cougars.

Houston (1-3) gives up points and rushing yards in carload lots, so Heisman Trophy voters are supposed to be able to look at their Sunday papers and marvel at the exploits of UCLA running back Skip Hicks.

Pressure. Win big because you’re a 25-point favorite.

“That’s ridiculous,” Bruin Coach Bob Toledo said. “It’s hard enough to score 24 or 25 points, period. You’ve got to play and you’ve got to respect your opponent and earn everything you get.”

Pressure. Just run, and score.

“I don’t listen to people who say, ‘You should score a lot of points this week because this team isn’t as good,’ ” Hicks said. “You still have to play it between the lines. You have to say, ‘That’s the No. 1 defense, and I’ve got to go out there and rip up.’ ”

It isn’t the No. 1 defense. It’s one, Houston Coach Kim Helton said, that “other than not tackling anybody and not covering anybody, has been pretty good” with some veteran players learning a new scheme.

And one, Helton added, that is facing “a tremendous runner that is leading the world in touchdowns” in Hicks.

Houston has given up an average of 39.3 points, 171.5 rushing yards and 450.8 yards a game. Its win was by 45-43 at Minnesota.

That would seem to be fodder for a Heisman Trophy candidate.

“People say that ‘because he’s a Heisman candidate, he should get 200 yards, he should get 250, he should put up numbers,’ ” said Hicks, who has scored 13 touchdowns this season. “I feel a little pressure from that, but I’m just going out there with the idea that, if it’s open, I’ll get the yards. If it’s 150, under 100, more than 200, whatever.

“I’m not going to go into this game thinking I should get it. I’m going to go into this game saying, ‘I’m going to earn everything I get, and if it’s over 200, it’s not because they’re sorry, it’s because I was out there earning everything I get.’ ”

A 200-yard game would improve Hicks’ stock in the Heisman race. He is averaging 121 yards a game, best in the Pacific 10 Conference, but only 14th nationally. And Houston this week and Oregon next week--the Ducks are last in the Pac-10 in rushing defense--would seem to offer chances to reach that barrier.

He has never had a 200-yard rushing game.

His best was 190 yards at Washington State on Aug. 30.

He ran for 80 yards against Tennessee but caught seven passes for 117 yards.

The Bruins lost both games.

“You lose a game, people always look at the loss,” Hicks said. “They don’t remember, ‘He got four touchdowns, he got 190 yards.’

“These last two games, I get almost 100 yards [96] against Texas, I get more than 100 yards [118] against Arizona, and we win and all of a sudden I’m a Heisman candidate.

“In the first two games, I had 190 yards at Washington and 197 total yards against Tennessee, and nobody said anything.”

Even if all goes as planned for UCLA, and the Bruins are able to forge a big lead, Toledo is not off the hook.

Keep playing Hicks, letting him roll up yards and points, maybe even get that elusive fifth touchdown?

He has scored four in a game four times, including last week against Arizona.

Or sit him in deference to a schedule that still has six games left and a philosophy of not running up a score that is part of the creed of the Union of College Football Coaches, save, perhaps, the Gainesville, Fla., local?

“There’s always that temptation, to keep him in for yards and touchdowns,” Toledo said. “I like to see him get honors and awards, but you don’t want to get him hurt, and I don’t want to run up a score on anybody.

“He’d like to get five touchdowns, and I’d like to see him get it. But every game is different and you always have to wait until the beginning of the game and see what happens. When you go into a game and figure, ‘I’m going to play this guy in this quarter, or we’re going to do that,’ then you find yourselves in a big-time fight.”

Regardless, Hicks is enjoying the limelight after spending much of four seasons in the shadows.

“It feels pretty good,” he said. “I feel it gets me pumped up for Saturdays. They’re watching me like I used to watch everybody else play. I couldn’t wait to see each week how the Heisman candidates were going to do, so it’s kind of exciting to know each week that you’re going to have somebody watching you to see what you do, whether you go up or down the ladder.”

This week’s rung is Houston. The pressure is on.

*

WHO:

Houston

WHERE:

Rose Bowl

WHEN:

3:30 p.m.

TV:

Fox Sports West 2

RADIO:

AM 1150

INSIDE

WEAR AND TEAR

* Travel and injuries have taken a toll on Houston, which has lost three of four. C6