Sweet Road Alabama

Anything that lives 108 years is mighty tough. Mighty proud. Doesn’t die easily.

Alabama hadn’t lost a season opener here since 1893, a streak of 43 games.

So UCLA blows in like a cool ocean breeze and upends more than a century of tradition, beating Alabama, 20-17, Saturday night before 83,818 stunned fans at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

How hard is that to swallow for the Crimson Tide and new button-down, all-business Coach Dennis Franchione?

“It’s tough to let a team come in here and beat us,” Alabama receiver Freddie Milons said.

The No. 17 Bruins did it with blanks. Zero penalties. Zero turnovers. Zero Bruins who knew anything about the streak.

“Nobody ever told us that, not the coaches, nobody,” linebacker Ryan Nece said. “This game is psychological and I don’t know how we would have responded. I’m glad we didn’t know.”

Oblivious. That’s just the way Coach Bob Toledo wanted it. His team had won only one of its last 11 road games. That was something else not to dwell on.

The game. That captivated the Bruins’ attention.

“During walk-throughs I told them this was the most focused I’ve ever seen a UCLA football team,” Toledo said.

The walk-through was actually a slosh-through. It rained all day, but stopped about an hour before the game.

The raindrops were replaced by the pitter-patter of DeShaun Foster’s feet. The Bruin senior rushed for 110 yards in 24 carries and broke off a 40-yard run with seven minutes to play that got UCLA out of a deep hole.

The Bruins led, 20-10, at the time and after Chris Griffith made a pooch punt on a fake field goal to pin Alabama at its seven with 3:13 to play, the victory appeared clinched.

But out of the Tuscaloosa mist came Andrew Zow, the deposed Crimson Tide quarterback, and he connected with Milons on a 71-yard touchdown pass play to make it a three-point game with 2:13 left.

It seemed Bear Bryant, Wallace Wade and every other coach from Alabama lore wasn’t going to let Franchione be the first to lose in this campus stadium.

But Ed Ieremia-Stansbury recovered an onside kick and UCLA ate some time off with three Foster runs and a Nick Fikse punt that went out of bounds inside the Alabama 10.

One more chance for the Tide.

Starting quarterback Tyler Watts, whose scrambling and option running gave UCLA fits much of the game, returned. A hook-and-ladder play was successful for 26 yards and only Marques Anderson’s neck tackle of Ray Hudson kept the play from going for a touchdown.

Watts threw three incomplete passes, however, and UCLA had beaten Alabama for the second year in a row. And it was the first time the Bruins won while scoring as few as 20 points for the first time in Toledo’s six years.

“We won it, we won on the road, and that’s the main thing,” he said. “We can build on this. Our kids deserve a lot of credit.”

Credit the 23 UCLA seniors with providing the maturity to take care of the ball, avoid penalties and not panic after falling behind 10-0 early in the second quarter.

Credit new defensive coordinator Phil Snow with preparing his unit for Franchione’s option attack. Alabama was held to 159 rushing yards--Watts had 69--and the longest run was 15 yards.

Credit several unheralded Bruins with making big plays.

Tab Perry, a sophomore receiver who must fill the fleet shoes of Freddie Mitchell, made the biggest, a 53-yard touchdown reception of a Cory Paus bomb that put UCLA ahead, 14-10, six minutes into the second half.

With Paus struggling and veteran Brian Poli-Dixon dropping two passes, Perry stepped forward, making four catches for 103 yards.

Defensively, it was safety Jason Stephens making nine tackles and linemen Rodney Leisle and Anthony Fletcher plugging the middle and stringing out the option.

It was Ieremia-Stansbury scoring the first Bruin touchdown on a 10-yard run.

Watching in disbelief was the new Alabama coach, whose mind games were useless once the game started. He had refused to announce his starting quarterback and said he would have a “stare-down” with Toledo.

Turns out it was Franchione who blinked. With fourth and goal from the one and trailing, 20-10, early in the fourth quarter, the former Texas Christian coach called for the field-goal unit. Then called time out. Then went for it. And didn’t make it when Ahmaad Galloway was pushed out of bounds.

The three points Franchione spurned loomed large when Zow and Milons connected later.

On numerous other occasions, penalties hurt the No. 25 Tide. They had 15 for 93 yards, which was 15 for 93 yards more than UCLA. And none hurt more than jumping offside on a third-down play with six minutes to play that extended a clock-eating drive by UCLA.

“They made more mistakes than we did,” linebacker Robert Thomas said. “We have enough seniors who know that’s especially important early in the season.”

UCLA flirted with disaster more than once early on.

In the second quarter, two Alabama punts hit Bruin blockers whose backs were turned, but one was recovered by returner Ricky Manning and the other by the player hit by the ball, Matt Ware.

Eight first-half Alabama penalties helped keep UCLA close. Key was an encroachment call on third and three from the Alabama 23 that kept alive UCLA’s touchdown drive.

Akil Harris, subbing for Foster for one play, gained eight yards. Ieremia-Stansbury scored from the 10 on an inside handoff to cut Alabama’s lead to 10-7.

Blown coverage and a fortuitous bounce resulted in Alabama’s first touchdown with 6:06 left in the first quarter. A shotgun snap hit Watts in the shoulder pads and he batted the ball in the air, caught it and threw to Antonio Carter, who dashed 78 yards.

A 30-yard field goal by Neal Thomas put Alabama up, 10-0.

The 10 points proved easy enough for the Bruins to scale. Surprisingly, the 108 years were as well.

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No. 17 UCLA 20, No. 25 ALABAMA 17