BRUINS DEFENSE INOFFENSIVE.

Byline: KAREN CROUSE

The UCLA defense can appreciate what it's like to be St. Louis outfielder Brian Jordan and have a stadium laden with spectators fidgeting impatiently in their seats, enduring you so they can embrace Mark McGwire when he steps up to the plate, fireworks as close as his fingertips.

The Bruins' defense isn't deluded; it knows the big-top offense with ringleader Cade McNown is the Greatest Show at the Rose Bowl on any given Saturday. A pile of points are what the people pay to see, not a pile of players atop some opposing running back or receiver.

UCLA's second-year head coach Bob Toledo isn't dumb; he knew exactly what he was doing Saturday when he ordered his players to let Washington State have the ball first if the Bruins won the pregame coin toss.

So what if 67,210 people had flocked to the Rose Bowl to see shimmering spirals and rapturous runs? Toledo told his team on the eve of its Pac-10 opener against the Cougars that if the Bruins had any say in it, the fans were going to see the defense first.

Talk about pressure. The defense hadn't exactly done anything to grab the fans' attention and hold it in the first two weeks. But that was before Toledo told the defense he wanted it on the field first, to see what it could do.

The answer, as it turned out, was plenty.

On the eighth play of the Cougars' opening drive, a bees nest of Bruins stripped running back DeJuan Gilmore. Junior defensive end Pete Holland pounced on the loose football at the Cougars' 42-yard line and McNown and Co. took it from there, marching methodically to the end zone in six plays.

Before it was all said and won, 49-17, the UCLA defense would force two more fumbles and finagle an interception. That they gave up 314 net yards to a tottering Cougars offense was something to be addressed another day.

For the moment, the Bruins defense took pleasure in having answered Toledo's challenge. The gauntlet in the weeks just ahead will be thrown by Arizona and Oregon, owners of the best offenses in the conference besides the one the UCLA defense suits up next to daily.

The Bruins defense knows it can't allow Arizona's Trung Canidate or Oregon's Reuben Droughns to squirt free for substantial gains like the Cougars' Kevin Brown did on his way to 109 yards. But the remaining schools on UCLA's schedule also have to know now there's more to beating the Bruins than confounding McNown.

He had a so-so Saturday (14 of 27 for 205 yards with one touchdown and one interception), yet the Bruins still notched their school-record 13th consecutive win.

Score one for the defense.

``We know we have to improve each game,'' said senior free safety Larry Atkins, who takes charge of the defense the way McNown does the offense. ``Now we know we can stop teams from running up and down the field like they were the first two games.''

In double-digit wins over Texas and at Houston, the defense surrendered an unbeatific 55 points. It stood seventh in the conference in rush defense and ninth in average total defense, its 415 yards allowed an eyesore covered pretty well by the Bruins' liberal application of offense.

The defense could hide behind the team's 45.5-point scoring average and its 2-0 record and its No. 4 national ranking. But it couldn't escape the game videotape sessions.

The makeover of the defense began in earnest Tuesday when the players realized defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti wasn't playing the film back at half speed, that the Bruins were really THAT slow.

``We had had enough of our offense carrying us,'' Holland said. ``Those defensive rankings don't lie. We had to be honest with ourselves. If we wanted to stay one of the top-ranked teams in the country, the defense was going to have to establish itself.''

On Wednesday, everybody from Atkins to Zdenek (that would be free safety Jason) came out focused and fiery. ``We really picked up our intensity in practice,'' said freshman linebacker Ryan Nece. ``Our attitude was the biggest difference. The coaches kept telling us, the games are like a piece of art and each of us should want to put his signature on it.''

On Saturday, Nece's fingerprints were all over the completed canvas. He left a mark no one could miss with eight tackles, including a sack. Atkins led the way with nine tackles, six of them unassisted.

``I guess there's been a couple of comments that our defense wasn't as tough as it could be,'' sniffed junior cornerback Ryan Roques, who was never far from the pile. ``We weren't getting a lot of respect. But we realized we hadn't earned it.''

The defense made a nice down payment Saturday, earning kudos from none other than the man who had challenged it.

``I was pleased with the way we swarmed to the ball,'' Toledo said. ``We were very aggressive. It was tough to see who did what . . . there were so many guys flying around.''

Their task this week? To stay grounded.