A Wary Week Off for Bruins

Ahhh, the bye week.

A time for the Bruins to relax a little, to take the day off on Friday, to watch a little college football on TV this weekend.

Also a time to beware.

Last season, the Bruins were 4-1 heading into the bye week. They lost to unheralded California in their next game, 46-38, in triple overtime. Then they lost to Oregon State, 44-38.

The season went bye-bye.

It’s a different year and attitude this season. Not to mention that the Bruins were hit hard by injuries when they approached the bye week last season.

“We couldn’t do some of the fundamental things,” Coach Bob Toledo said. “You keep a fine edge by hitting.”

Toledo said the mental approach has also changed while the Bruins await Washington on Oct 13.

“Our players are 4-0,” he said. “They’re very confident. They’ve worked very hard. They’ve done a great job of handling what’s happened so far.”

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Toledo has coached plenty of running backs in his 33 years in the business.

Karim Abdul-Jabbar and Skip Hicks at UCLA. Rodney Thomas and Greg Hill at Texas A&M.; Derek Loville at Oregon. And Toledo was defensive backs coach at USC when Ricky Bell, Charles White and Marcus Allen were there.

But he puts DeShaun Foster in a class by himself.

“Nobody’s better than he’s been,” Toledo said. “He reminds me more of Marcus than any of them. He looks nice running with the football. He’s got great vision and he glides and he’s powerful. The thing about him is he’s faster than Marcus was. [Foster’s] the best tailback I’ve ever coached.”

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Linebacker Robert Thomas and receiver Tab Perry practiced for the first time since suffering concussions against Oregon State. Neither player took part in high-contact drills.