UCLA vs. Miami

Time: 11 a.m.

* Site: Orange Bowl

* Records: UCLA 10-0, Miami 7-3

* TV: ESPN

* Radio: KXTA (1150)

* The offenses: The Bruins, averaging 40 points a game, need to score at least 31 to finish No. 1 in the Pacific 10 for the first time since 1993. Scoring 39 points would put them at 39.9, the most at the school in 26 years. Edgerrin James is the first Hurricane to twice rush for 1,000 yards, and he has gone for at least 100 in the last five games, breaking Ottis Anderson’s school record for the longest streak. James also has scored 16 touchdowns, setting another Miami mark.

* The defenses: Defense is the weak spot for both teams, but Miami’s Derrick Ham has 12 sacks in 10 games, which puts him among the national leaders and in a third-place tie on the Hurricanes’ single-season list. He will go against UCLA’s best offensive lineman, Kris Farris, in the individual matchup of the day. Bruin safety Larry Atkins was named second-team All-American by Football News.

* Key to the game: “We’re 60 minutes away from going to the national-championship game,” Farris said. “The important thing is for us to keep our focus in Miami and not Tempe.”

* Fast fact: The 20-game winning streak is now twice as long as the former school record.

* Line: UCLA by 9 1/2.

NOTES

They’ve Long Since Taken Out Trash

The record isn’t the same, but neither is the image, a trade-off Miami seems more than willing to accept.

The team UCLA faces today in the Orange Bowl is a distant relative to the trash-talking, fatigues-wearing, finger-pointing Hurricanes who regularly contended for national championships, not to mention other less-envious images. The late ‘90s version, paying the price for past indiscretions with the reduction of scholarships as part of an NCAA penalty, has instead become the underdog building a new program and a new reputation.

“I think if you don’t follow us day to day, are just kind of a casual observer, you only believe what you remember,” said Scott Covington, the quarterback from Dana Hills High. “If the only thing you know about Miami is what they were, that’s probably the opinion you’ll take. But if you’ve been watching us for any period of time, it’s obviously a different group.”

Said Coach Butch Davis, in his fourth season: “It was not a mandate. It was just something that went along with the staff’s personality, my personality. I think, clearly, even with the football players, they were ready for a change. The commitment here academically is exceptionally strong. There’s an awful lot to be proud about--four national championships in the last 15, 16 years. We’ve got to build on that tradition and bring it back to where it needs to be.

“We’ve put a tremendous amount of requirements [on] academics. One of the things that Miami has done a great job in, over the last 10 or 12 years we’ve graduated in excess now of over 70% for nine of the last 11 years, and the last four years it’s been over 85%. The academic credibility has been outstanding, at the same time even when we were winning.”

The rain that hit Southern California this week proved a brief interruption for UCLA--hindering one practice and making footing difficult on Spaulding Field for several others--but little else. Not that it was a major concern.

“We’ve been practicing so long for this game, it doesn’t matter,” Coach Bob Toledo said.

Indeed, this is the third week the Bruins have spent preparing for Miami. There was the full week in late September, before the originally scheduled trip to South Florida was postponed, a brief one last week around the Thanksgiving break, and four more days this week before they left Friday.

“We worked harder for this game than we’ve worked for anybody,” Toledo said. “It’s like a bowl game.”

HOW THEY COMPARE

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UCLA Miami 40 Scoring 35.3 25.3 Points allowed 23 272.7 Passing 241.6 191.2 Rushing 186.1 463.9 Total offense 427.7 261.8 Passing defense 210.9 145 Rushing defense 133.5 406.8 Total defense 344.4

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