Pointless Exercise for Bruins

UCLA’s recent push for a greater appreciation of its offense ended Saturday afternoon in a 17-0 loss to California before 55,559 at the Rose Bowl, marking the first time in more than five years that the Bruins have been shut out.

The last time it happened was Sept. 24, 1994, against Washington State, making it a first in the 3 1/2 seasons Bob Toledo has been coach. The Bruins had been in single figures once during that time, his third game after replacing Terry Donahue, a 38-6 loss at Michigan on Sept. 28, 1996.

The scoring streak for the entire program lasted 60 games, also the run for at least scoring a touchdown.

“This is the worst,” senior tailback Keith Brown said. “I don’t ever remember getting shut out in the first half any time that I’ve been here, let alone an entire game.”

He is excused for forgetting. UCLA hadn’t been shut out in a first half since Oct. 19, 1996, when Brown played as a true freshman. It has been that long for even that relatively minor indignity.

And it was that bad Saturday. The Bruin offense generated only 168 yards, its worst output since it gained only 158 in a 20-0 loss to Arizona State on Oct. 24, 1992. Equally telling is that UCLA had all of 55 offensive plays against Cal, went three and out on its first five possessions and didn’t have a first down until the second quarter.

The game was 17:25 old by then--and it came only thanks to a defensive holding penalty. That drive was five plays long and ended with a Cory Paus interception. The drive after that lasted five plays. The one after that lingered for 11, but also included Paus being benched for two plays in hopes he would settle down, before he returned and soon fumbled on first and 10 at the Cal 37 to end the Bruins’ deepest penetration until the final minutes of the game.

In all, the Bruins, 3-4 overall and 1-3 in the Pac-10, had seven drives that went three plays and punt. Nathan Fikse, averaging about five punts the first six games, had nine against Cal.

The problems were obvious from the start. The Bruins weren’t panicking when the offense managed only four yards on 15 plays in the first quarter, or when the biggest gain on the ground was two yards by Paus, or when the biggest gain through the air was eight yards from Paus to Freddie Mitchell. But they also weren’t being unrealistic.

“I wasn’t thinking it wouldn’t get any better than that,” Paus said. “I was hoping it would get better than that. But after every third down, there was more urgency. It wasn’t happening.”

Said Al Borges, the offensive coordinator: “That’s when you start wondering, ‘Hey, are we ever going to get a first down here?’ ”

The Bruins eventually did, on the penalty. The first self-generated one came with a little less than 12 minutes to play in the first half, when Paus scrambled for a 27-yard run. The other significance of that play was that it alone surpassed the rushing total of any UCLA running back.

Paus rushed 11 times for 67 yards. Drew Bennett, the former backup quarterback who came in for an ill-fated series, ran for three yards in one option try. Otherwise, Brown had 21 yards in eight carries, Durell Price was stopped for no gain in his sole carry, and Jermaine Lewis had minus-four yards in five rushes.

Total for the tailbacks and fullback: 14 carries, 17 yards.

The offensive line accepted its share of blame. But it wasn’t only the running game. Paus, acknowledging taking a step backward in his development, completed nine of 28 passes for 81 yards, with none worth more than the 13-yard completion to Brad Melsby.

The Bruins’ two best deep threats?

Danny Farmer, after the second-greatest day yardage-wise in school history a week earlier against Oregon, had three catches for 32 yards, with a long of 13.

Mitchell had two catches for 19 yards.

“I think we were all frustrated out there, to be honest,” center Troy Danoff said. “I don’t know about more or less than Cory. We all had a lot of reason to feel bad out there.

“Our defense played such a good game, and we got shut out. We didn’t have any kind of running game. We didn’t get anything from the offensive line.”

Indeed, the defense, in a contradiction from last season and a continuation from last week, carried more than its share of the load. Help came in that the opponent was Cal--ranked last in the conference at the start of the day in scoring, passing and rushing--but it was commendable work nonetheless.

Cal (3-3, 2-1) got its first touchdown, with 6:12 to play in the first quarter, on a drive that began at the UCLA 28 after the Bruins punted from their own end zone. Two plays later, a pair of true freshmen from Southern California hooked up: Kyle Boller from Hart High in Newhall threw 27 yards to Joseph Echema from Hawthorne High.

That was it for the Bears until the fourth quarter, before Saleem Muhammad turned a draw up the middle on third and 25 into a 33-yard touchdown run for a 14-0 cushion with 10:45 remaining, capping a 41-yard drive. The only time they had to go any real distance to score was the 10-play, 86-yard journey that led to Mark Jensen’s 18-yard field goal with 2:42 left, which supplied the final 17-0 margin.