UCLA Earns a Rare Shutout

It had been six years since UCLA defensive coordinator Larry Kerr coached a game from the press box, and after the Bruins’ 21-0 victory over Stanford on Saturday, it’s going to be awhile before he coaches from the field again.

With Kerr calling a near-perfect game, UCLA’s defense -- which statistically ranked among the worst in the nation before Saturday -- harassed Stanford quarterback Trent Edwards all afternoon and registered its first shutout since 1996 and first over a Pacific 10 Conference opponent since 1987.

“I don’t want to overplay being upstairs because the players made the game,” said Kerr about the Bruins, who ended a two-game losing streak in front of 54,021 at the Rose Bowl.

“But I will say this, that it gave me a little bit better perspective on some things.”

On a day UCLA honored its 1954 national championship team, which limited opponents to 40 points all season, Kerr’s new viewpoint helped the Bruins’ defense dominate.

Led by the play of an aggressive front four, which had a strong game rushing the quarterback and stopping the run, the Bruins held Stanford to 307 total yards, the fewest allowed by UCLA this season.

“The effort has been there every week,” defensive end Kyle Morgan said. “We were just tired of the media and other people saying what we can and cannot do. They are not the ones out there playing. We are, and we wanted to prove something today and we did.”

In improving to 5-3 overall and 3-2 in the Pac-10, UCLA did not have a dominant game offensively. But with sophomore Maurice Drew rushing for 105 yards and scoring two touchdowns, including a 68-yard punt return, the Bruins scored more than enough points to drop Stanford to 4-4 and 2-3.

After throwing four interceptions in last week’s 48-42 loss to Arizona State, junior Drew Olson had an efficient game in completing 17 of 28 passes for 177 yards, including a three-yard touchdown pass to Drew in the fourth quarter.

“I’m pretty happy for him personally because that’s how you bounce back,” offensive coordinator Tom Cable said about Olson’s performance against Stanford. “What happened last week hurt everybody and he obviously took it pretty hard. But he showed some real grit.... That’s what you want your quarterback to do. I’m really proud of him.”

UCLA scored first late in the opening quarter when Manuel White finished an 85-yard drive with a two-yard touchdown run to put the Bruins in front, 7-0. Olson completed all four of his passes in the drive, including a 40-yard play to wideout Tab Perry and a 26-yarder to tight end Marcedes Lewis.

The Bruins extended their lead to 14-0 early in the second quarter on Drew’s electrifying punt return. After catching the ball on the UCLA 32-yard line, Drew received a good block from freshman Michael Norris, backpedaled out of traffic and then followed an open-field block by redshirt freshman Trey Brown to the end zone.

With a two-touchdown lead, the Bruins then turned to their defense, which was ready for the challenge.

“I’m not surprised at all, because it’s been a long time coming for this defense,” said linebacker Justin London, who had his best game of the season so far with 10 tackles, including seven solo and one for a seven-yard loss.

“We have a lot of pieces of the puzzle in place but we’ve been falling short. Today we put it all together. We didn’t miss too many tackles, maybe two or three, and that’s good for us. It’s taken awhile but guys are getting more comfortable. It comes down that we were excited to play this game.”

In the second half, neither team had success moving the football early. There were nine consecutive possessions that ended either with a punt, missed field goal or interception.

But the Bruins never panicked. With Stanford’s running game limited to 83 yards -- the lowest rushing total given up by UCLA this season -- the Bruins’ secondary was able to shut down Edwards and control his big receivers, wideouts Evan Moore and Mark Bradford, who combined for three catches for 17 yards.

“We could tell that we had them frustrated early,” said 5-foot-9 cornerback Matt Clark, who had another strong game with three pass breakups. “Our D-line played great because they applied pressure and had the quarterback moving around. Once that happened, the secondary had their receivers locked down all over the field.

“But I was kind of surprised that they did not throw the ball up to [6-7 Moore]. I thought they would do that more, but we really didn’t give him enough time to throw.”

UCLA finally put the game away on its first drive of the fourth quarter. With Drew and freshman Chris Markey combining for 33 yards on the ground and Olson completing all three attempts on the possession, the Bruins took a 21-0 lead on Drew’s touchdown catch.

From there, it was all about the shutout for Coach Karl Dorrell’s team. In recording their first shutout since they defeated Northeast Louisiana, 44-0, the Bruins needed a late goal-line stand to get it done.

After a 71-yard pass play from Edwards to tight end Alex Smith, who finished with 10 catches for 136 yards, Stanford failed to reach the end zone in four plays from the UCLA eight-yard line.

“We knew that this performance was coming,” said Dorrell, whose Bruins need one more win to qualify for a bowl game with three games remaining in the regular season.

“Last week, we didn’t finish the game. It was good to see how we could sustain today.”

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KEYS TO THE GAME

Lonnie White’s keys to the game and how the Bruins measured up:

Pressure Edwards. The Bruins had their best pass-rushing game of the season, sacking the Stanford quarterback twice and intercepting three passes.

Complete blocks. UCLA’s ground attack had a strong game behind an effective offensive line that produced 246 yards rushing, led by Maurice Drew’s 105.

Blue jerseys. After throwing four interceptions at Arizona State a week ago, Drew Olson had only one against Stanford, completing 17 to players in blue jerseys.