Bad Situation Gets Worse for Bruins

UCLA woke up to even more of a blue Monday than it had expected.

The Bruins were not merely left to try another combination in the secondary, but also to paste together an offensive backfield as well as keep the entire football team together emotionally.

Oh, and also face the knowledge that a loss Saturday at Arizona State likely knocks the defending Pacific 10 Conference champions out of the conference race in Week 2.

“I don’t want to say we’re at a crossroads,” Coach Bob Toledo said. “I did say it was a critical game, though.”

The problems the Bruins knew all too well--the defensive backs are not doing the job--came with the sudden twists of learning that tailback DeShaun Foster’s sprained right ankle was much worse than originally thought and that Drew Bennett had suffered a strained elbow two days earlier at Stanford. Even with the hoped-for return of Cory Paus, UCLA will still have two beat-up quarterbacks, meaning that third stringer Scott McEwan and even No. 4 Ryan McCann will get extra work this week.

At least UCLA knew about the injury to Foster. He hurt the leg in the first quarter, still rushed for 100 yards in a boost to the beleaguered ground game, and wore a walking boot out of the locker room strictly as a precaution, the medical staff said. But the condition apparently worsened overnight and into Monday, by which time he was being listed as questionable for Saturday’s game at Tempe.

The Bruins didn’t even know about Bennett until Monday. He had stayed with his family in the Bay Area for the weekend rather than return to Los Angeles Saturday night. Only upon his return did he mention getting hit on UCLA’s final offensive play in Palo Alto, resulting in a strained right elbow.

For now, Bennett is questionable for Arizona State, which wouldn’t be such a worry except that Paus is still not healthy enough to handle the normal practice schedule as he continues to recover from the bruised chest muscles suffered Sept. 18 against Fresno State. The Bruins expect him to reclaim the starting job in Tempe, but have no such confidences that it will be at full strength.

So a backfield of Keith Brown, bumped up to No. 2 at tailback partly because he is from Arizona, and Bennett, or even Brown and McEwan, is possible for what is essentially a must-win game for UCLA’s Rose Bowl hopes.

The defensive backfield offers equal instability, although that uncertainty doesn’t have so much to do with injuries.

The secondary has been a constant source of frustration for the Bruins, back to last season, to where Toledo feels like he has run out of options. And then Stanford passes for 465 yards, the most ever by a Bruin opponent, and Troy Walters gains 278 yards receiving, the most in Pac-10 history, leaving Toledo to rake his mind anew.

The result will be one new starter, a starter at a new position and a spot on the bench for frequently burned Joe Hunter. Ryan Roques, No. 1 at strong safety the last two games, replaces Hunter at left cornerback, while Eric Whitfield gets the promotion to take Roques’ former spot. Ricky Manning Jr. remains at right cornerback and free safety Joey Strycula will be the only defensive back to remain in the opening lineup the first five games.

It is a a brittle group, and not only the secondary. All the Bruins.

They are out of the top 25 for the first time since Sept. 13, 1997, just before the 20-game winning streak, and by Saturday night could find themselves all but out of the Rose Bowl race.

“If we go 0-and-whatever, we’re going to stick together,” said sophomore flanker Freddie Mitchell, who added, “It’s frustrating. But I feel more for the seniors than the team as a whole. They put forth the effort to work hard, during the summer and early in the season. It’s us young guys who haven’t done much.”

Said Toledo: “I’m trying to remain positive. They’re a young team and I’m trying not to break their spirits. They’re fragile.

“I know what happens to teams when that starts to happen. I want to keep them positive.”

Others will try harder in that regard. Co-captain Danny Farmer, for example, said he plans to be more vocal this week.

And Roques said, “I think we’ve got a good team. But we probably don’t have the experience, the veterans who have started three years and who have started four years. We don’t have the veterans who know how to respond and carry a team. But I think we have the talent.”