Drew Does What Bruins Ask of Him

It wasn’t the kind of superhuman performance Maurice Drew enjoyed five weeks ago against Washington, when he rushed for 322 yards and five touchdowns to almost single-handedly lift UCLA to victory.

But on a sunny Saturday against Stanford, the sophomore tailback who has worn a bull’s-eye on his back in the form of a No. 21, showed a Rose Bowl crowd of 54,021 that he was not going to stay down for long.

More important, he showed the Cardinal.

Drew, who in the previous three games had rushed for 22, 42 and 54 yards, gained only seven in the first half but finished with a team-high 105 as UCLA pulled off a surprising shutout against Stanford, 21-0.

While the Bruins’ defensive effort was the bigger story, that of the 5-foot-10, 200-pound running back, who scored on a three-yard pass play and a 68-yard punt return, was not lost on the UCLA coaches.

“I wouldn’t say he’s been struggling,” Coach Karl Dorrell said. “There are expectations a lot of us put on him about what his numbers should be week in and week out. But he finds the end zone and gets points for our offense.

“He’s doing exactly what we ask him to do.”

Since the big show Sept. 18 in Seattle, opponents have been formulating defensive strategies with No. 21 in mind. As they have stacked the line to try to stop Drew, the rest of the offense has opened up.

Quarterback Drew Olson, whose three-yard backfield toss to Drew with 11:52 left provided the game’s final scoring, now has 15 touchdown passes.

“Other defenses are not going to allow him to have those types of games if they can help it,” said Eric Bieniemy, who coaches the Bruin running backs, “which is good because in the past few weeks Olson has had more success with his receivers, but it also has turned the attention away from [running backs] Manuel White and [Chris] Markey. They’ve made the most of the opportunity, and that’s a sign that the team is going in the right direction.”

The Bruins were holding on to a 7-0 lead early in the second quarter when Drew pointed himself in the right direction after catching a punt. He cut sharply to the right and sprinted 68 yards for a touchdown.

“I went around to the right and it was just me and Trey Brown and the punter and we were just running,” Drew said. “I knew Trey Brown was going to make the block. I wasn’t worried about it at all.”

With Olson passing so much in the first half, Drew carried only four times for seven yards. But in the second half, they decided it was wise to try to keep time of possession in their favor.

They turned mostly to the player with a large Superman tattoo emblazoned on his right biceps area. Drew, who came into the game ranked second in the Pacific 10 Conference in rushing with 787 yards for a 112.4-yard average, responded by fumbling after a drive deep into Stanford territory.

But he made up for it, gaining yardage in chunks on runs and after swing passes from Olson. His best run was a blast up the middle for a 30-yard gain late in the third quarter to move the Bruins into more comfortable territory at their 48.

“He played with more patience today,” Bieniemy said. “In the past few weeks he had been pressing it and trying to make the big play. Today he took a step back, took a couple of deep breaths and allowed the game to come to him.”