Offense Blossoms Into Source of Strength

In 2003, UCLA’s offensive line was the weak link in a 6-7 season. The Bruin linemen did not run block well, gave up sacks and tired in the second half of games.

That hasn’t been a problem this season. UCLA’s offensive front has grown into a strength for third-year Coach Karl Dorrell, and its leadership and resiliency have been keys for the Bruins, who jumped eight spots in the Associated Press poll to No. 12 after Saturday’s 47-40 victory over California.

“Our philosophy is that we’re going to grind on you for four quarters,” senior guard Robert Cleary said. “We worked really hard on our conditioning.... Sometimes, we may not be pretty but we feel that once we get it going, we’re going to wear you down.”

In UCLA’s comeback win over Cal, the Bruins lost starting weakside guard Chris Joseph to a knee injury early in the first quarter. That could have been a tough blow for a line already under the gun against the Pacific 10 Conference’s top-ranked defense. But Cleary stepped in for Joseph and the Bruins broke out of a rushing slump by gaining 170 yards on the ground and finished off Cal with 80- and 75-yard fourth-quarter drives.

“Nobody thought that we’d be able to run on them,” sophomore guard Shannon Tevaga said. “We hadn’t ran in two games, so we wanted to show that we could run the rock.... Cal has a real good defensive front. But we got to them at the end.”

The Bruins didn’t always move the ball Saturday. They had five three-plays-and-punt drives. Offensive coordinator Tom Cable put the blame on himself for his play-calling.

“Yeah, there were times when I threw the ball too darn much,” Cable said of the Bruins, who had 395 yards in total offense and gave up only one sack against Cal. “That’s always going to be an issue to keep in that mind-set of being consistent. It’s not good for our defense to be in-and-out so much.”

But in the end, everything balanced for the Bruins, who passed 33 times and ran the ball 31 times. “That’s what we need, to keep a better mix,” Cable said. “That’s who we are.”

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For the first time this season, the Bruins, 5-0 overall and 2-0 in the Pac-10, will play outside Southern California when they face Washington State in Pullman on Saturday.

With the Cougars (3-2, 0-2) coming off a 24-21 home loss to Stanford, which lost at home to UC Davis this season, staying focused this week will be important for the Bruins, who struggled against 1-4 Washington two weeks ago after a string of lackluster practices.

Running back Maurice Drew said the Bruins learned from that experience and will not be concerned about style points against the Cougars.

“That’s the attitude of the team; it doesn’t matter who’s scoring or who’s doing what, as long as we’re winning,” Drew said, adding the 21-17 comeback victory over Washington “was a nasty win, but a win is a win.... We just want to keep winning.”

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Drew on his two long punt returns, one for 69 yards and the other for 81 yards and a touchdown: “On the first one, that was my fault because I got caught,” he said. “But on the second one, I refused to get caught.

“I just get pumped up and excited when the ball is in the air because everyone out there wants to block. It’s a great feeling to know they’re going to open holes for me. If teams keep kicking it, we’ll keep on running them back.”

Drew, who has accounted for 862 all-purpose yards (172.4 a game) leads the nation in punt returns (38.8 yard average) and has scored on returns of 72, 66 and 81 yards.

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The last time UCLA was 5-0 and ranked this high was 2001.