Defense Becomes Ravenous

There is a sign in UCLA’s locker room at the Rose Bowl that reads: UCLA DEFENSE, ITS AN ATTITUDE.

Until Saturday, in the Bruins’ 13-6 victory over Ohio State, there was more wrong with that sign than the missing apostrophe. Until Saturday, or at least in recent years, UCLA’s defense wasn’t an attitude, it was a joke.

Suddenly, we have the Baltimore Ravens West. A team that made tackling inefficiencies legendary, that won mostly by having the ball last and making damn sure it scored with seconds remaining, suddenly makes you think of Lawrence Taylor or Ray Nitschke.

This is a team that nearly rode Coach Bob Toledo’s wild-and-crazy offense and Cade McNown’s wild-and-crazy passing arm to a national title in 1998, before going to Miami and making Edgerrin James into Red Grange. The next Miami player UCLA tackles will be the first.

“I remember that day all too well,” said Robert Thomas, who played as a freshman in that game, actually made a few more tackles than most of his teammates and has grown into the Bruins’ Monster Mash. Middle linebacker Thomas, a senior from Imperial High, had nine tackles Saturday and spent more time in the Buckeye backfield than most of the Buckeye running backs.

Some statistics are needed to support the hyperbole:

* By giving Ohio State 121 yards rushing and 45 passing for a total of 166, UCLA was the stingiest it had been since 1996, when it gave Northeast Louisiana 153. And any similarity between Northeast Louisiana and Ohio State is purely coincidental.

* By allowing Ohio State and its senior quarterback Steve Bellisari only those 45 yards passing, you had to go back to 1994 in a game against Oregon State for comparison sake. The Bruins gave up zero yards passing that day, but that was when Oregon State was Oregon State and neither the forward pass concept, nor Dennis Erickson, had arrived in Corvallis.

* Also, you have to go back to 1992, when the Bruins gave up a total of 31 points in their first three games, to find anything like the 40 they have given up in their victories over Alabama, Kansas and Ohio State. And the three opening opponents that year? Fullerton, Brigham Young and San Diego State.

So this is not a development to be taken lightly in Bruinville. Matter of fact, it was such a shocker to most in the gathering of 73,723 that, as the team left the field, a large gathering of fans actually chanted “Defense, Defense.” Many of the fans had that deer-in-the-headlights look, probably because they hadn’t seen this many stops since the 1954 national championship team.

The architect of this miracle is Phil Snow, newly hired as defensive coordinator, and, according to Snow, given all the freedom in the world by Toledo to make the Bruins into something other than a run-and-shoot football team.

“He actually let us go full out in full pads against his first-team offense in training camp,” said Snow, conjuring up images of DeShaun Foster as a blocking dummy. “These kids have gotten a lot of bad publicity the last couple of years, and I think unfairly last year, so we wanted to change that.”

And so they have, apparently. Although next up is Oregon State, which will have been off for three weeks, which is likely still smarting from a loss to Fresno State and which was, at the end of last season, perhaps the most proficient offensive team in the country. Certainly, that will be a test. But then, even if this proves to be a down year, Ohio State will never be Soft Touch U.

Thomas said that the difference this year is that Snow teaches the defense about offenses.

“We recognize things quicker--formations, setups,” he said. “It is all clearer now.”

Ryan Nece, another veteran Bruin defender who spent much of that ’98 Miami game tackling air, said that things are so good now that the defense is eager to be out on the field, no matter how much the offense is struggling, as it did Saturday with seven fumbles.

Ricky Manning Jr., another defensive veteran, also praised the Snow regime.

“He has taught me a lot,” Manning said. “He has turned a B-plus into an A-plus.”

And so the story line develops. Phil Snow, miracle man. Phil Snow, Wizard of Westwood.

All right, so that one’s taken, but stay tuned.