SPORTS EXTRA / FOOTBALL ’99 : All Together Now: Toledo Wants Unity : An off-season even more turbulent than end to ’98 prompts Bruin coach to take steps toward healing.

And then they joined hands, sang “Kumbaya” and lived happily ever after. Group hug!

Uh-huh.

Never mind ever after. The UCLA Bruins, at once a walking legal case and a case study for psychologists, are going for simply happy again, for the way things used to be in the good old days. You know, three games ago.

They have the Webb brothers (juniors Micah and Josh) and the Ball brothers (freshmen Mat and Dave), but at times during the recovery from Parkinggate and losses to Miami and Wisconsin to close last season, they would have been better off with Dr. Joyce Brothers. Stopping short of that--something of an upset given his penchant for trick plays--Coach Bob Toledo tried to bring his emotionally wounded team together with other not-so-naked bootlegs.

He had T-shirts made that emphasized words such words as “us” and “we” and “together.”

He again brought in a comedian to entertain the group and continued another tradition with a team party at a private beach in Malibu. But Toledo also initiated sessions in which players and coaches met in small groups to discuss non-football matters such as “Who are your heroes?” and “What are your greatest achievements away from the game?” He required once that offensive players go with defensive coaches and vice versa, wanting to eliminate even those divisions.

Picture Tony Robbins with a depth chart.

“We’ve got to be together,” Toledo said of the season ahead. “We can’t let outside forces interrupt the success that we want to have. We can’t let them tear us apart. We’re a family and we’re going to stick together.”

Let them tear the Bruins apart? Let outside forces interrupt the success?

“Do you really think that forces outside are more threatening than the forces inside?” someone asked Toledo.

“Yeah, because I keep seeing things being brought up, and when people keep bringing things up, it’s going to happen that way,” he said. “When we go to Stanford, it’s going to be wild, right? When we go to other places, they’re going to keep reminding us. And if we listen to that, that can tear us apart. We can’t pay attention to that. We’ve got to stick together.”

If last season was about breaking out--reaching No. 1 in the Bowl Championship Series ratings and No. 2 in the Associated Press poll in late October before finishing No. 8--this one is about staying close.

Even some players acknowledge the perception that this is a bridge season, between the success of 1998 and the what-could-be of 2000, when the quarterback and the offensive line will have experience and the vast majority of starters will be back. So what begins Saturday night against Boise State is also about maintaining the standards and the mood of a program that has gone 10-2 each of the last two campaigns.

And the Bruins, after nine months of self-inflicted hits created more cracks than a dropped carton of eggs, must prove those have been sealed, not merely temporarily smoothed over in the name of training-camp rejuvenation. The test of said foundation doesn’t figure to come in a few days at the Rose Bowl, but rather in a few weeks, when they may be 3-2, considering after Boise State they play at Ohio State, Fresno State, at Stanford and at Arizona State.

“I think that’s in the back of people’s minds,” linebacker Ryan Nece said of the unusual scrutiny that will follow this team. “If that does happen, I think the media and other people, our fans, might make excuses--’It’s this guy’s fault or that guy’s fault.’ But what makes a team really strong is if that does happen--and I hope it doesn’t--they can persevere.

“I’m pretty confident in that we have a coaching staff that has got all the players on the same page right now. They’ve got the cement all over those cracks, double-layered cement over those cracks. They’re doing a great job with us and they’re making the situation really, really good.”

Of course, the Bruins can’t contain the Ohio State defensive line with togetherness, as the virtual rookie at quarterback hands off to the sophomore walk-on starting at fullback. And try to tackle Arizona’s Trung Canidate or Oregon’s Reuben Droughns with a belly full of karma.

Outside forces, indeed.

A look at the inside ones:

QUARTERBACK: Drew Bennett goes from throwing 11 passes the last two seasons to replacing Cade McNown, for now. Backup Cory Paus could make a move for the job when he gains experience as Toledo plays both at the outset.

Along the way, the coach hopes someone takes control so he can dump the platoon system, while Scott McEwan and Ryan McCann wait in the background for a chance at a position that is far from settled.

RUNNING BACK: DeShaun Foster, impressive as a freshman reserve, gets his coming-out party, except behind a walk-on fullback, Matt Stanley, the first two games and what may be a patchwork offensive line every game. Durell Price, the only scholarship fullback, returns from his suspension Sept. 18 against Fresno State, almost certainly in his old job as the starter.

Toledo has given the same assurances to the tailbacks as last season: All three will play. It’s Foster and Jermaine Lewis the first two games, before Keith Brown comes back from suspension and hopes he hasn’t already been separated from the field, because of the layoff and because Foster will be getting more carries than in ’98.

RECEIVERS: Flanker Danny Farmer is a star, an All-American candidate who is closing in on school records for yards and receptions, and he’s only the start. His backup, the gregarious Freddie Mitchell, is back after sitting out most of last season with a broken leg and still dangerous in the open field. Brad Melsby has taken the job as No. 1 split end from incumbent Brian Poli-Dixon, but there should be chances for all four since the Bruins hope to throw with the same frequency as last season.

Four tight ends will be used, including the likely star of the future, freshman Mike Seidman. Gabe Crecion is the starter, followed on the depth chart by Bryan Fletcher, Randy Hakes and Seidman.

OFFENSIVE LINE: A strength last season has become a concern after three standouts left for the NFL, one a year early, one promising underclassman quit football and another was dismissed from school for academic reasons. Only Brian Polak and Oscar Cabrera are back among the starters, and Cabrera not until the third game. Three players may eventually have to play two positions.

DEFENSIVE LINE: Fiery new assistant coaches John Pearce, who handles the ends, and Jethro Franklin, who works with the tackles, have instilled enthusiasm as the 4-3 defense was being installed. It comes with the move from the 3-4, and from embattled coordinator Nick Aliotti to replacement Bob Field and a renewed emphasis by Toledo on fundamentals. Like tackling.

Ken Kocher and Pete Holland will start at the ends. The tackles have so far been impressive for different reasons: Kenyon Coleman, a talent to begin with, because his inspired play has set him up for a big season, and the combined strides of Rusty Williams and Travor Turner have been so pleasing to Toledo that it might negate the planned move of Santi Hall to the line.

LINEBACKERS: Several starters and key reserves (Nece, Tony White, Robert Thomas, Ali Abdul Azziz) are back. Eventually. Their return for Game 3 could turn a group that in ’98 was inexperienced and crumbled under the weight of Aliotti’s information overload into a solid corps.

Two freshmen, Asi Faoa and Marcus Reese, should contribute not only because of the suspensions.

SECONDARY: The oft-maligned unit from last season is off to a bad start because Marques Anderson is done for the season after being suspended from school, Ryan Roques and Eric Whitfield are out the first two games and Audie Attar will miss the opener as a team-imposed discipline for being in a fight during the off-season. Between all that and the injuries Jason Bell and Jason Stephens have been dealing with, it has become Toledo’s other great concern, along with the offensive line.

SPECIAL TEAMS: The kickers are all new: Chris Griffith on field goals and extra points and Nathan Fikse on punts and kickoffs. But the kick returners are a proven commodity, with Mitchell and Lewis at the forefront.

COACHING: Part of the reason a 9-2 regular season is realistic and a conference championship remains a possibility despite the problems on the field (offensive line, quarterback, secondary) is because of the considerable assets off the field.

At the forefront, of course, is Toledo, a motivator and an offensive mind to everyone--and a leader to his players during tough times.

UCLA

STARTERS LOST: 11

LETTERMEN RETURNING: 45

FIRST GAME

Saturday, Boise State

Rose Bowl, 6 p.m.

FIRST PACIFIC 10 GAME

Sept. 25 at Stanford