Buffaloed Again? Bruins Hope Not

On a UCLA team so young the offense sometimes might field a lineup without a single senior, the defensive line is the Bruins’ backbone.

Four players, elbow to elbow, all seniors: Mat Ball, Rodney Leisle, Ryan Boschetti and Dave Ball.

They’ll have something to prove from the outset against Colorado in the first game Sept. 6.

Last season, the Buffaloes rushed for an astonishing 325 yards and Chris Brown ran for 188 yards and three rushing touchdowns in a 31-17 victory over the Bruins.

Leisle admits he thinks about that game “a little bit.”

“Mainly just to see what we did wrong, try to work on stuff that we need to,” he said. “It’s a bad deal that happened, but like I say, hey, we can’t look back.”

UCLA running backs coach Eric Bieniemy was a Colorado assistant then, and he remembers being amazed by what the Buffaloes were able to do against the Bruins.

“I’m telling you, we watched the Oklahoma State game and the [Colorado State] game and we’re sitting there like, ‘Wow, they’ve got some players up front.’

“We had just had the terrible loss against ‘SC, and as a coaching staff, we really had no direction knowing which way our team would go. We had a quarterback situation too. But our players came out and performed. Talking about it from a Colorado perspective, our players were well-conditioned and they felt if they played hard that they had an opportunity to win.”

This season the Buffaloes have Bobby Purify and Brian Calhoun to lead the running game -- and UCLA has Bieniemy on its sideline, as well as a defensive line that would like to make amends for last season.

“I’m not going to sit back and mope around, I’m going to be fired up and ready to go,” Leisle said. “I think everybody is. Bieniemy obviously will contribute to it. That’s how he is, he’s a fiery coach.

“We’re obviously the biggest guys, on the line, and mainly the strongest guys. If we get out there and dominate, it starts with us. If we go out and set the tempo, the team’s going to follow.”

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Offensive coordinator Steve Axman is more interested to see how quarterbacks direct the offense on a drive than how they do in drills, but UCLA’s first time practicing the two-minute offense Wednesday did little to clarify the quarterback situation.

Matt Moore had a pass intercepted on his first play, though the offense was able to knock the ball loose from cornerback Matt Clark on the return.

Then Drew Olson completed four of six passes for two first downs before the drive stalled at midfield after he was sacked twice.

Moore returned, and with the help of a long completion to Jacques Lazarus set up a 40-yard field goal by Justin Medlock.

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Linebacker Justin London is the latest player to sit out because of a minor injury, with a sore arch and ankle, but freshman running back Derrick Williams is expected to miss considerable time -- a week to 10 days -- because of a sprained knee.