BIG TEN: A BIG PROBLEM? UCLA HOPING TO REVERSE WOEFUL TREND VS. MICHIGAN.

Byline: Billy Witz Staff Writer

It's a wonder UCLA keeps playing these games, really.

Every time the Bruins face a team from the Big Ten, it's the same old story: Corn-fed behemoths beat up quicker, smaller California kids at the line of scrimmage, run the ball until they give up their lunch money and then send the Bruins home to their mothers.

UCLA has played three games against Big Ten teams since Bob Toledo became head coach in 1996 and they've all ended the same way - with the Bruins flat on their backs:

--Michigan 38, UCLA 9: In 1996, Michigan had 559 yards in total offense, including 300 on the ground. Tailback Chris Howard carried 16 times for 109 yards and four touchdowns. Legend has it that at one point, Michigan ran the same play 14 consecutive times.

--Wisconsin 38, UCLA 31: In the 1999 Rose Bowl, Wisconsin totaled 538 yards in offense, including 348 on the ground. Ron Dayne kicked off his Heisman Trophy campaign for the following season by running for 246 yards and four touchdowns on 27 carries.

--Ohio State 42, UCLA 20: Last season, Ohio State ran up a mere 507 yards in total offense, including 241 on the ground. Michael Wiley rushed 22 times for 119 yards and two touchdowns.

The style might best be described as 5.7 yards and a cloud of dust.

``That's the way they play in the Big Ten, it's big on big,'' said UCLA cornerback Jason Bell, a fifth-year senior who has played in all three of those games. ``They say, 'Let's line up and see who is more physical.' Even though they've got some talented skill people, I believe that's their philosophy.

``When you can't do anything about it, it's very deflating. It's like here it comes again. Let's see what you can do about it. When I was a freshman, I remember (Michigan) smashing it down our throat over and over again. They ran the ball to death.''

So why will it be any different today when 14th-ranked UCLA, a five- point underdog, plays host to No. 3-ranked Michigan at 12:30 p.m. at the Rose Bowl?

Why won't Michigan just hand the ball to Anthony Thomas, who has rushed for 2,976 yards and 40 touchdowns in his career, and watch the Wolverines line, led by Outland Trophy candidate Steve Hutchinson, flatten the Bruins? It's simple, Toledo says. He recruited bigger and better players.

UCLA was simply a bad team when it played Michigan in '96, Toledo said. In the Rose Bowl against Wisconsin, UCLA started seven freshmen and sophomores - including a pair of freshman defensive tackles in Ken Kocher and Anthony Fletcher.

And against Ohio State last season, 11 players were serving handicapped-parking suspensions, including all three starting linebackers - Ryan Nece, Robert Thomas and Tony White.

The biggest cause for optimism today, however, might be that the Bruins have actually played good defense in their two games, particularly against the run.

Defensive ends Rusty Williams and Kenyon Coleman, and tackles Fletcher and Rodney Leisle, have controlled the line of scrimmage. It's allowed linebackers Thomas, White and Nece, and safeties Jason Zdenek and Marques Anderson, to prove they've become sure tacklers.

UCLA allowed Alabama's running backs 48 yards on 20 carries - a 56-yard reverse skewed the Tide's rushing stats - and held Fresno State to 26 yards on 23 carries. In the win over Fresno State, the Bruins also held on downs after the Bulldogs returned a punt to UCLA's 7-yard line.

It's a vast improvement from last season, when the Bruins allowed 189 yards per game and 4.5 yards per carry on the ground, both worst in the Pac-10.

``Our recruiting is starting to show,'' Toledo said. ``Our defensive front seven, and I've said that from day one, is the best group we've had since I've been here. We have better players in that group and we're starting to develop some quality depth.''

All the more impressive is that they've done it with minimal contribution from Kocher, their best interior lineman, who will play today despite a high ankle sprain.

UCLA was outstanding against an Alabama team that is looking to replace Shaun Alexander and a Fresno State team that simply wasn't as talented. But how will they do against a big, physical back and a big, physical 300-pounds-per-person line determined to ease the burden on freshman quarterback John Navarre?

It's a question that will be played out in front of an expected sellout of close to 90,000 and a television audience that includes much of the nation. But nobody is more eager to answer it than the Bruins themselves.

``Our line is sick of the criticism,'' Fletcher said. ``We've made steady progress. We've got great linebackers and we're one of the bigger defensive lines in the Pac-10.

``It's not hard to see where all the criticism comes from because teams have been running over us the past few years. We've played well sporadically but not consistently. That's what we have to do. We want to destroy the myth that we can't stop the run.''

MICHIGAN at UCLA

Today

12:30 p.m.

Ch. 7/1150-AM

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo: (1 -- color) Michigan quarterback John Navarre will be making his third career start today against UCLA.

Carlos Osorio/Associated Press

(2) Bob Toledo is 0-3 against Big Ten teams as UCLA's coach, but he says the Bruins are built to beat Michigan today.

John Froschauer/Associated Press