Toledo Has Long Memory

Coach Bob Toledo took a piece of paper from his pocket after practice Tuesday and showed part of the list he had written, reminders of things to tell the team.

One entry:

“Morton: I guarantee victory.”

The Bruins had officially not forgotten. USC tailback Chad Morton predicted at the Pacific 10 Conference media day in early August that this was the year UCLA’s eight-game winning streak in the series would end, a comment the Bruins let fly right by with minimal interest. Until this week.

“It’s been brought up Monday,” said Toledo, well known for his use of bulletin-board material. “It’s been brought up today. I think it’ll be brought up a few more times. They might even see it.”

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“They’ve been saying stuff since before the season,” cornerback Ryan Roques said. “They’ll talk. They’re always going to talk. But we’re just going to focus on going out there and putting together a good game plan.”

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The battle for the starting quarterback job in 2000 starts Saturday.

The original plan of giving Ryan McCann a chance in spring practice to unseat Cory Paus was dramatically altered when Paus suffered a season-ending fractured collarbone last week against Washington, not only putting McCann in the opening lineup against USC but also giving him a chance to get a jump on winning the permanent job.

“Absolutely,” Toledo said, also noting of the season finale: “I think that’ll be a telling story.”

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Two seniors, free safety Joey Strycula and fullback Durell Price, were picked by teammates as game captains for Saturday. They join Pete Holland and Danny Farmer, the season-long choices. . . . Split end Brad Melsby was named to the GTE All-Academic District 8 second team.