Bruins Are Efficient, if Not Electric

If UCLA was looking to make a statement with an impressive performance against San Diego State at the Rose Bowl Saturday, it didn’t happen.

But the Bruins proved efficient enough to defeat the overmatched Aztecs, 33-10, behind Maurice Drew’s third straight 100-yard plus rushing effort and Justin Medlock’s career-best four field goals.

“A win’s a win and we don’t care if we go out and put 50 points up or two points,” offensive guard Robert Cleary said after UCLA (3-1) had 410 yards in offense but punted six times before a crowd of 52,308.

“We had some hiccups and maybe we were not as smooth as we’ve been the last couple of games but we still had a productive day and got the job done. That’s all that matters.”

Linebacker Spencer Havner returned an interception 52 yards for a score, Tab Perry caught his first touchdown pass of the season and Drew added a 57-yard touchdown run for the Bruins, who defeated San Diego State for the 17th consecutive time and improved to 19-0-1 in the series.

Although the Aztecs (2-2) had 402 yards in offense, they could not match up against UCLA, which scored touchdowns on its first possession of each half and registered 10 points off two San Diego State turnovers.

“They’re a good team,” Aztec Coach Tom Craft said about the Bruins. “They’ve got good balance and marvelous athletes. I think they’re one of the better teams we’ve played.”

Once again Drew was the main man for the UCLA.

In rushing for 161 yards on 21 carries, Drew may not have had the numbers he had in his previous game when he rushed for a school-record 322 yards and five touchdowns against Washington, but they were solid enough to lead the Bruins on Saturday.

“It was good for us to go through a game like that where we didn’t have quite the production we had of two weeks ago,” said Coach Karl Dorrell, whose Bruins have accounted for more than 400 yards in offense in each game this season.

“Some people probably expect us to have 300 yards on the ground on an every week basis, but I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

Drew did have a few people thinking flashback the second time he carried the ball. After San Diego State took a 3-0 lead on a 36-yard field goal by Garrett Palmer, the Bruins needed only three snaps to take a 7-3 lead.

On third down-and-three from the San Diego State 43, Drew blew through a hole created by textbook blocks from Paul Mociler and Marcedes Lewis, spun away from San Diego State’s Josh Dean and ran untouched for his seventh touchdown of the season.

“I wouldn’t say I was thinking that he’s going to have another game like last time after that run but it did feel good to see us get off on the right track,” said fullback Michael Pitre, who also made a good block on Drew’s scoring run.

However, big offensive plays like that did not happen often for the Bruins, who had to rely on their much-maligned defense to put San Diego State away.

With middle linebacker Justin London out because of an ankle injury, and defensive tackle C.J. Niusulu suspended for violating athletic department policy, UCLA’s defense stepped up with big plays to frustrate San Diego State quarterback Matt Dlugolecki, who entered the game with five touchdown passes and a 59.6% completion percentage.

“We did some work over the bye week and got some of the issues that have plagued us over the early portion of the season cleaned up,” Dorrell said about UCLA’s defense. “For them to have the performance that they had today was very pleasing.”

Dlugolecki, who completed 23 of 42 passes for 215 yards, was pressured into poor throws throughout the game. His biggest mistake came in the second quarter when he tried to force a pass in front of Havner, who gathered in his seventh career interception and returned it for his third career touchdown to give UCLA a 14-3 lead.

“Matt made a couple of critical errors that set us back a bit,” Craft said, “but we’re not going to make any excuses.”

With leading receiver Craig Bragg not in uniform because of a shoulder injury, Drew Olson did not have a great game but he completed big throws when needed. Olson finished 14-of-29 passing for 158 yards, including a 23-yard touchdown to Perry that gave UCLA a 27-3 lead early in the third quarter. Olson also completed a third-down pass to freshman Marcus Everett that led to Medlock’s third field goal.

“Offensively, we started well but sputtered in the middle,” Dorrell said. “We didn’t score as much as we hoped, but we did score when we needed to and did a nice job of taking advantage of our opportunities.”