Time for Their Own Defense

It hasn’t slipped past UCLA what else today brings, in addition to high-scoring Stanford: the start of its Pacific 10 schedule and defense of its conference championship.

“It comes up because this is our first Pac-10 game,” defensive end Kenyon Coleman said. “This is where it counts. Everything counts for the national championship, but this is where you get to the bowl game.”

It came up Monday, the first day the Bruins gathered after the Fresno State game. Players talked about it, not needing anyone to remind them that, even with no national title to play for, major goals remain attainable.

“Definitely,” defensive tackle Ken Kocher said. “We might have lost players and had the thing over the summer, but we’re still the Pac-10 champions and we’re going out there to show them we’re still champions and we’re going to try and keep it.”

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The Bruins aren’t the only ones working to contain Stanford.

Tyrone Willingham, Stanford’s coach, is too.

“I think first of all we have to be very careful,” he said of the Cardinal’s 2-0 conference start. “It is, simply, just two wins. Please understand we’re very pleased with that, but I think we have to temper any excitement.

“We’re playing this weekend probably the most consistent and probably the best team in the conference. That gets all my attention. I don’t have enough time to worry about where we are because it’s not where we are now that’s important. It’s really where you’ll be at the end of the season.”

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Flanker Danny Farmer is expected back in the opening lineup after sitting out two of the first three games because of a sprained left ankle. “He said he’s about 95%,” Coach Bob Toledo said. That’s as sound as Farmer has been since hurting the ankle Aug. 21. He and backup Freddie Mitchell are scheduled to start, along with split end Brad Melsby, in which case the Bruins would open with a one-back set.