UCLA’s Lewis Makes a Stand

It’s first down again, and there’s plenty of time on the clock.

By his reckoning, Jermaine Lewis has three seasons as UCLA’s starting tailback ahead of him, starting Saturday afternoon at the Rose Bowl against Texas. Of course, he also has enough people around to remind him about Week 1 a year ago.

It was fourth and goal at the one, 2:53 remaining, UCLA down, 37-34, trying to come back on the road and beat Washington State. Star runner Skip Hicks was on the sideline, needing a breather at very much the wrong time. Lewis got the call.

It wasn’t so much that he didn’t score, that the Cougars took over and churned out the final minutes for the victory that started their gloriously improbable run. That simply would have been a missed opportunity. It’s that Lewis, a redshirt freshman in his college debut, did not properly execute “Power one,” missing the hole on the left side and getting stopped.

“Well, the hole was there,” guard Andy Meyers, a senior now, said the other day. “And that’s OK, because it’s all over with and he’ll never make that mistake again.”

Pause.

“He better not.”

A laugh.

“He won’t do it,” Meyers said, smiling. “He knows what he’s doing.”

The Bruins think so, having made Lewis the No. 1 tailback. That was after a close preseason battle with Keith Brown. The battle will continue into the season, though, and could tighten as freshman DeShaun Foster gains experience. The position could eventually be run by committee.

But for starters, the player with 56 carries to his credit follows in the cleatsteps of Hicks and Karim Abdul-Jabbar as the featured back in an offense that has produced four consecutive 1,000-yard seasons. Not to mention that he gets a chance to repair that image from a year ago.

“If people remember that, they remember that,” Lewis said. “But right now, it’s a new season and they’re going to remember me from the last thing I do. I’ll just try to do some new things so they won’t remember it.”

If only it had been so easy to reason that way at the time. For the next two or three weeks, the mistake hit Lewis harder than any defensive line ever could have. There were dropped punts and he was taken off punt returns. There was lost confidence.

The irony is--and it’s usually forgotten--that Lewis had made a great play to get the Bruins that close against the Cougars.

UCLA had capitalized on Larry Atkins’ interception by driving 85 yards to make it first and goal at the nine. Hicks lost a yard, then went out, after his 27th carry. On second down, Lewis lost two yards.

If the drive had stalled there, it would have meant a chip-shot field goal for the dependable Chris Sailer and a probable tie. But on third down, Lewis made an outstanding diving catch on a swing pass from Cade McNown, putting the ball at the one.

So there it was, fourth down. UCLA had three timeouts left but refrained from taking one, electing not to conserve time for the Cougars on the ensuing drive, even though a timeout would also have allowed Hicks a chance to rest and get back into the game. Instead of the experienced 230-pounder, the Bruins went with a 5-foot-7, 170-pound freshman.

Coaches also could have gone with Sailer for a 37-37 tie, but that would have given Ryan Leaf more than 2 1/2 minutes to get the Cougars into field goal range.

The decision was made to send Lewis over right tackle, behind emerging star Kris Farris on the same side with two tight ends. When Lewis ran to the wrong spot, half of Pullman jumped him short of the goal line.

“It could destroy you,” Coach Bob Toledo said of the emotional fallout that followed. “If you dwell on that particular play, it could follow you the rest of your life.

“After the play, it took him a couple weeks to get over that kind of thing. But he’s over it.”

You could say that.

“Now,” Lewis said, “it’s like a joking thing.”

A joking thing.

“When [teammates] bring it up, they use it sarcastically,” Lewis said. “They just joke around with me--Cade is like, ‘You won’t run that way again, huh?’ ”

Said Meyers, “That usually would be me, but I really haven’t busted his hump about that one. I know that he’s probably heard enough of that.

“What would I get on him about? Being short. Something he can’t do anything about.”

This other stuff? He can do something about that. Starting Saturday.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

The Lewis File

1997 statistics for UCLA tailback Jermaine Lewis, now a 5-foot-7, 177-pound sophomore. His best outing was 75 yards rushing against Oregon:

RUSHING

Carries: 56

Yards: 305

Yards per carry: 5.0

Long: 33

Touchdowns: 2

RECEIVING

Receptions: 4

Yards: 37

Yards per reception: 9.3

Long: 36

KICKOFF RETURNS

Number: 14

Yards: 294

Average: 21.0

Long: 31