OSU DEFENSE NOT BLOWN AWAY BY UCLA.Byline: Lee Barnathan Daily News Staff Writer Few thought UCLA's high-powered offense would have much trouble with Oregon State, the Pacific-10's traditional doormat and 0-3 this season in conference. The Beavers' defense, however, entered Saturday's game allowing just 15 points per game - third-best in the conference and 19th nationally. In the last five weeks, no one has been able to stop this Bruins offense that has scored 66 points twice and is averaging a school-record 42.7 points per game this season. Of UCLA's seven opponents, Oregon State's defense most closely resembles Arizona. The Wildcats were ranked in the national top 10 in total defense and rushing defense, yet the Bruins ran for 147 yards and scored 40 points. For most of Saturday's 34-10 Bruins' victory, Oregon State didn't let 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 pile up the stats. ``They kept us off-guard,'' UCLA offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator typically refers to the coach on a football team in the National Football League or College football who is in charge of the offense. This position aids the head coach by designing and scripting plays, delegating work to offensive position coaches during Al Borges Alan Borges (born October 8, 1955 in Salinas, California) is an American college football coach and the current offensive coordinator of the Auburn University football team. said. ``We weren't efficient with our passing game.'' The Beavers' fast and attacking defense pressured and limited UCLA quarterback Cade McNown Cade McNown (born January 12 1977 in Portland, Oregon) is a quarterback who played in the National Football League. He attended played college football at the University of California, Los Angeles. to one of his worst completion-percentage games, and did an excellent job holding down the Bruins' running game. UCLA failed on its first seven third-down conversions and made just three of 13 overall. McNown passed for just four yards in the first quarter and 80 yards in the first half. He entered Saturday having completed 68.6 percent of his passes in the last four games, and he hadn't thrown for less than 202 yards. A fourth-quarter surge gave him 210 yards, but he completed 11 of 25 passes (44 percent). ``McNown's a good play-faker. We knew that in films,'' Oregon State nose tackle Ryan Atkinson said. ``We were going to rush him and get to him as fast as we could.'' McNown gave credit to Oregon State. ``On paper, they're not big, but they play with heart and emotion,'' he said. ``They were tough on us.'' UCLA also rushed for just 40 yards in the first half and 113 in the game, below their 159-yard average. It didn't hurt Oregon State that Skip Hicks Brian "Skip" LaVell Hicks (born October 13, 1974 in Corsicana, Texas) is a former American football running back in the NFL. In his four seasons, Hicks played for the Washington Redskins and the Tennessee Titans. didn't play the second half because of a bruised knee suffered last week. Yet the Beavers had a simple plan: Play hard, stop the run and either blitz McNown or switch coverage during play-action passes play-ac·tion pass n. Football A pass play in which the quarterback fakes a handoff to a running back before throwing the ball. . ``Our defense has played well all year,'' Atkinson said. ``We stopped the run. We've stopped some pretty good teams, like Stanford and Arizona State.'' The linebackers were key to the defense, with Brian Rogers Brian Alan Rogers (born July 17, 1982 in Dallas, Texas) is a relief pitcher in Major League Baseball who currently plays for the Pittsburgh Pirates. He made his major league debut as a September call up on September 1, 2006. External Links
The problem, several Beavers said, was the defense stayed on the field too long and tired. ``It's hard for the defense to carry the team,'' Atkinson said. |
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