Drew Finds Daylight in Dark Surroundings

On an afternoon in which storm clouds hung menacingly low across the sky, made even darker by an angry sea of purple rumbling in the seats of Husky Stadium, all Maurice Drew saw was daylight.

Glorious, spectacular daylight.

It was a day in which UCLA struggled mightily against a Washington team desperate for its first victory. But the Bruins had the ultimate weapon in Drew, whose artistry in the open field was just as glorious, and equally spectacular.

He squirmed his way through small holes and blasted through the gaping ones, finding safeties and cornerbacks that seemed all too often to have been off-guard and out of position.

Drew rushed for a career-high 322 yards and scored all five touchdowns and UCLA rallied from a 17-point first-quarter deficit, opened a 10-point third-quarter lead and held on for a 37-31 victory Saturday, as a genuine darkness fell over a sullen crowd of 65,235.

And afterward the 5-foot-8 running back reasoned that those on the other side of the ball simply couldn’t detect his presence because he spent so much time hiding behind his much bigger blockers.

“I don’t think the defense saw me the whole time,” he said.

Behind the running of Drew, the Bruins improved to 2-1 overall and 1-0 in the Pacific 10 Conference. His yardage total set a school record, bettering the 301 yards by DeShaun Foster against the Huskies in 2001.

Drew’s touchdown total was also a team record, and his five rushing touchdowns tied a Pac-10 record shared by five others.

Drew’s previous high was 176 yards last season against Arizona State. He eclipsed that halfway through the second quarter with a carry for 12 yards to the Washington 39. That gave him 182 yards in only seven carries.

On the next carry, he rushed for 20 yards to the 18, giving him 202 yards in eight carries, four of which resulted in touchdowns.

His 15-yard touchdown run shortly thereafter put the Bruins ahead for the first time, 27-24. And when a performance that also included a 62-yard touchdown run became validated by the victory, the player who sports a large Superman tattoo on his right biceps area, morphed back into the humble soft-spoken human being he is off the field.

“It’s not really me. The whole team did it,” he said. “The defense stopped them, the offense came in and made the holes for myself and [Manuel White], the fullback and receivers made their blocks and everybody just did what they had to do.”

Perhaps, but this was one of those special nights for a running back who seems well on his way to 1,000 yards and possible Heisman Trophy consideration. And his coaches and teammates made that clear to reporters.

“My first year here DeShaun went for 301, but I’ve never seen anything like that,” offensive tackle Ed Blanton said. “Every time he touched the ball it seemed like he was gone.”

Coach Karl Dorrell said he was not surprised by Drew’s effort, but he was sure happy to have it pay off the way it did. “It’s good to see the kid step up when given the opportunity,” he said. “That’s starting to trickle to a lot of us now.”

Drew’s performance follows a 142-yard game last week against Illinois. That gives him 508 for a season that has plenty of daylight left.

“I’m just trying to get better every week,” he told reporters, leaving them to wonder how much better he can get. “I try to set higher standards for myself, just as we set higher standards for ourselves. Now we’ve set the bar and we’ll see where we go from here.”