BRUINS BONDING SESSION IS FRUITFUL.Byline: Jon Wilner Daily News Staff Writer One by one, they stood in front of their teammates and opened their hearts. The captains, then the defensive line, then coach Bob Toledo Bob Toledo (born March 4, 1946, in San Jose, California) is an American football coach, recently hired as head coach at Tulane University. He is best-known as the thirteenth head coach at UCLA. . It was one of the most memorable Friday nights of the Toledo tenure, and it spurred the No. 3 Bruins to one of their most impressive wins in years, a 52-28 victory over No. 10 Arizona on Saturday night. ``It was the most emotional meeting I've ever been associated with,'' linebacker Ryan Nece Ryan Clint Nece (born February 24, 1979 in San Bernardino, California) is a professional American football player who plays for the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers as one of their starting linebackers. said. ``There was so much energy, so much togetherness.'' The meeting was especially important for the defensive line. Young, injured and ineffective, Toledo knew that if the Bruins could not stop Arizona's running game and pressure its quarterbacks, UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX would face its fifth consecutive loss in Arizona Stadium . The Bruins staggered early but finished strong. They limited Arizona to 29 yards rushing in the second half by doing something previous UCLA teams could not: They dominated the Wildcats physically. ``This game was punch for punch, pound for pound,'' Arizona offensive lineman Yusef Scott said. ``UCLA just threw more punches.'' Many were thrown by rookies. True freshmen defensive linemen Ken Kocher Ken Kocher (born 1980-07-30 in Fullerton, California) is an Arena Football League defensive lineman for the Columbus Destroyers. Kocher was a Parade High School All-American and a standout at UCLA. and Anthony Fletcher helped stuff Arizona's ground game. Linebackers Nece and Tony White pressured the quarterbacks. While UCLA recorded just two sacks, it hounded Ortege Jenkins and Keith Smith For other persons named Keith Smith, see Keith Smith (disambiguation). Keith Smith(1952-2006) was a former English rugby player; he excelled in playing centre. He first played with Yorkshire Colts rugby then advanced to Roundhay. all night. ``They just whipped us physically in the fourth quarter on our home field,'' Arizona coach Dick Tomey Dick Tomey (born June 20 1938, in Bloomington, Indiana) is a football coach. He is currently the head coach at San Jose State University. Early positions The DePauw University graduate and Phi Kappa Psi member held assistant coaching positions at Miami University, said. ``That really hurts.'' The physical pressure helped force three Arizona turnovers. (UCLA had none.) The Bruins stripped receiver Dennis Northcutt in the first half and intercepted both Smith and Jenkins in the second. The telling turnover came in the fourth quarter, when White grabbed a Smith pass on the Arizona 20. On the next play, Keith Brown rumbled 20 yards for the clinching touchdown. ``We had a great team meeting,'' Toledo said. ``The kids really counted on each other. They made some bold statements and they backed them up.'' And the Bruins won the late rounds, outscoring Arizona 31-7 in the second half. ``We went in at halftime and had them right where we wanted them,'' Toledo said. ``It was tied up and we were wearing them down. They got one touchdown in the second half. Offensively, we knocked them off the line of scrimmage line of scrimmage n. pl. lines of scrimmage Football Either of two imaginary lines extending across the field parallel to the goal line at the ends of the ball as it rests prior to being snapped and at which each team lines up for and we were running hard.'' |
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