Offense Wasn’t Expecting This

Any school marm knows the value of going back to basics. Most football coaches do too.

So after abandoning DeShaun Foster for an assortment of artsy-smartsy, touchy-feely trick plays and passes in a loss to Stanford, UCLA decided to hammer home lessons through repetition against Washington State on Saturday.

Foster carried on 13 of the Bruins’ first 15 first-down plays. But with the Cougars employing five defensive linemen on first down, the tailback had little running room. After nine of the Foster first-down runs, UCLA was left with second and seven or longer.

And Bruin quarterbacks Ryan McCann and Cory Paus could not deliver in obvious passing situations, combining to complete 10 of 27 passes for 140 yards with five interceptions.

So UCLA lost, 20-14, falling to 6-2, 3-2 in the Pacific 10 Conference. It’s something rarely said about Coach Bob Toledo--his offense was predictable.

“We might as well not have put a game plan together,” he said. “We dibbled and dabbled, used an unbalanced line, anything to try to move the ball.”

Should he have abandoned Foster runs on first down after recognizing the Cougars were putting a down lineman across from each Bruin offensive lineman?

Perhaps, but the criticism after the loss to Stanford was that he gave up on Foster too soon.

All season, UCLA has made key coaching moves during games. Witness the Bruins’ 93-10 scoring advantage in the third quarter, a testament to halftime adjustments.

This time, though, they were going to pound Foster into the line the way an old-school teacher hammers lessons into hard heads. Problem is, success is not guaranteed.

“We had good adjustments,” guard Eyoseph Efseaff said. “We had answers, but they had better ones.”

Linebacker Robert Thomas, who had a career-high 18 tackles, and the rest of the defenders continued to do their part. The Bruins picked off three passes and limited the Cougar offense to one touchdown and more than 200 yards below their average.

“We’ve got to look at the defense to see if we can shut them out,” linebacker Ryan Nece said.

The ingredients for a team built simply on defense are in place: a great running back; an excellent punter--Nate Fikse averaged 50.6 yards on seven boots against Washington State; a defense that can create points, as safety Ben Emanuel did when he returned an interception 29 yards for a score. But a team built on defense cannot afford mistakes. Games are usually low-scoring, which magnifies every turnover, penalty and missed assignment.

No team can overcome the seven turnovers UCLA had against Washington State. Oregon, another opponent with an excellent offense, is next. Keeping the ball out of the hands of quarterback Joey Harrington and running backs Onterrio Smith and Maurice Morris by utilizing Foster to eat up the clock undoubtedly will be part of the Bruin game plan.

But turnovers and penalties must be drastically reduced. The quarterback--probably Scott McEwan--must make at least a handful of plays.

And some imaginative calls should supplement the basics. After all, the most effective teachers know a well-rounded education is best.