UCLA Pulling Out the Stops on Defense

They don’t have a bandwagon or a theme song. Nor are they the darlings of sports talk radio or television analysts.

But the UCLA defense’s role in the Bruins’ 3-0 start has been just as important as that of DeShaun Foster, Ryan McCann or Freddie Mitchell.

UCLA put the early breaks to the national title hopes of Alabama and Michigan. Both teams were ranked third in the polls when they came to the Rose Bowl, and both left limping and wondering what hit them. In between those contests the Bruin defense held off upstart Fresno State on a day the offense was listless and lurching. And the opponent’s scoring total has gone down every game.

It is noteworthy that UCLA, now ranked sixth in the nation, has trailed after the first quarter of every game this season, but has come from behind to win. It is also noteworthy that all three victories have come at home.

But there is little doubt all three teams ran into a bone-jarring, snarling bunch of Bruins fully intent on wiping out the horrible memories of last year’s 4-7 season when the defense was as soft as rose petals.

In 1999 only one opponent, Oregon, rushed for fewer than 100 yards, and the Ducks didn’t need to run because they passed for 344 yards. Stanford (672), Arizona (588), Oregon State (559) and Ohio State (507) each rolled up more than 500 yards of total offense in their victories over UCLA.

“The whole season was the low point,” junior linebacker Robert Thomas said, when asked to pick one.

Coach Bob Toledo doesn’t think his defense has established an identity yet. But it is turning into the kind of strong, pounding defense he has always wanted to complement the high-octane offenses he has had since coming to UCLA in 1996.

“If you look at our defense,” Toledo said, “we’ve had some big stops this season on third-and-one and fourth-and-one situations. I think we’ve defended the running game well except for that long gain in short yardage by Michigan last week. I think we’re playing against the pass fairly well.

“We’re showing we can be physical. I want them to believe in that.”

Defensive coordinator Bob Field said the team’s faith in its ability to play defense was restored during spring practice.

“We knew we would be better,” Field said. “The players committed themselves in the off-season.”

Sophomore defensive end Rusty Williams cautions against judging UCLA’s defensive success too quickly. But, he said, the level of improvement on defense is obvious.

“The difference, in one word, is attitude,” said Williams, who started all 11 games last year as a freshman and was tied for second on the team in sacks (3.5). “We’re mean and nasty. . . . We run around like crazy guys out there, and I don’t think we did that last year.”

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It’s hard for anyone to look good in a 4-7 season. And the defense, in particular, was a mess.

The handicapped-parking scandal before the season and injuries during the season kept Toledo and Field continually juggling personnel. Field also was teaching his system to a defense that was listening to its third coordinator in three seasons (although Field was a Bruin defensive coordinator for 14 years under Terry Donahue).

In addition, the defenders who were left were primarily freshmen and sophomores, who didn’t have the savvy or the physical maturity to succeed consistently against the variety of offenses they faced weekly.

“Things obviously had to get better,” Thomas said. “We started off last season young, and some people had no confidence. So in the off-season, after listening to all the criticism about us, the defense got together and said we had to make a change.”

Their physical makeover began in the weight room and on the track. As a unit the defense put on 600 pounds of muscle in the off-season and, according to Toledo, recorded 90 personal bests in their weightlifting totals. Outdoors, the Bruins ran and ran to lower their 40-yard dash times.

UCLA also has been helped by the return of Marques Anderson, who missed last season for disciplinary reasons. The 6-foot, 208-pound junior safety, tied with Thomas for the team lead in tackles (17), gives the secondary a muscular presence. In three games Anderson has broken up five passes, forced a fumble and recorded one of the Bruins’ four sacks.

“It hurt to watch the games last season,” Anderson said. “I went to a couple of them, and saw us struggling on both sides of the ball. But defense is what I play, and I felt I could contribute, so I was real eager to come back.”

There was an on-field attitude adjustment for the other Bruins as well--hit, tackle and don’t be afraid to make plays. For example, cornerback Ricky Manning Jr. is the team’s third leading tackler with 14. It’s normally not a great idea for two of a team’s leading tacklers to be in the secondary. But Manning said it’s part of UCLA’s total defensive package.

“Everybody on defense should be able to tackle,” said Manning, a sophomore. All this translates into a defense that, so far, is moving its statistics in the right direction.

Last season opponents averaged 189.7 yards rushing, 254.9 yards passing and 28.3 points a game against UCLA. After their first three contests, the Bruins are giving up 145 yards rushing, 159.7 yards passing and 21.7 points a game.

Most important, the defense is not hanging around the field. So far the Bruins are spending 25:29 a game stopping people, more than six minutes a game less than last season.

“Against Michigan we had 11 defensive series that were three-and-out,” Toledo said. “Last year our defense didn’t get off the field. We kept letting teams make plays against us. And offensively we weren’t good enough to sustain any drives.”

UCLA’s defense took a hit this week when defensive end and team leader Kenyon Coleman had surgery to remove torn cartilage from his left knee. He is expected to be sidelined four to six weeks.

“For Kenyon to go down, that’s a big loss,” Williams said. “But the rest of the defensive line is playing awfully well right now.”

Now that they raised the bar, the Bruins will find out quickly how much higher they can go.

They start Pacific 10 Conference play Saturday at Oregon. It is UCLA’s first road game, and the 2-1 Ducks are ranked 12th nationally in total offense (453.3 yards).

The Ducks also have some issues: Oregon has lost four in a row to UCLA, including last year’s 34-29 nail-biter at the Rose Bowl, and has a 16-game home winning streak. The last team to beat them at Autzen Stadium? UCLA, in 1997.

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Making a Stand

Comparing the UCLA defense after three games of the 1999 and 2000 seasons:

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1999 2000 Pts. allowed 23.3 21.7 Rushing yards 170.7 145.0 Passing yards 222.7 159.7 Total offense 393.4 304.7 Yards per play 5.1 4.8

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