RUSH HOUR STALLS UCLA COLORADO RUN GAME TOO MUCH COLORADO 31, UCLA 17.

Byline: Billy Witz Staff Writer

PASADENA - With his tattooed biceps, shaved head, scowling face and hulking 300-pound frame, UCLA defensive tackle Rodney Leisle cuts a menacing figure, one the Bruins like to think of as the perfect poster boy for a tough, physical football team.

Gutty little Bruins? Not by the looks of Leisle.

Yet, in the near-empty locker room late Saturday afternoon, Leisle sat in front of his stall, looked down at the game program with his picture on it laying on the floor and shook his head meekly in disgust.

The worst part of UCLA's 31-17 loss to Colorado in front of 63,880 on a sweltering 99-degree day at the Rose Bowl wasn't that it came to a team that had been humiliated by USC the week before. Or that it snapped a nine-game nonconference, regular-season victory streak. Or that the 20th-ranked Bruins were undone by their own mistakes.

The worst part of this one was that the Bruins were forced to look in the mirror.

The Big Bad Bruins, with an offensive line that is supposed to sap opponents of their will and a defensive front that is supposed to crush their desire, simply were beaten to the punch. Over and over again.

``We're trying to create a new image, that we're not soft,'' Leisle said. ``This makes us look soft again.

``Here I am on the cover, and we give up like 300 or 400 yards rushing. That makes me look bad. It makes us all look bad. It's a bad feeling, man.''

Colorado's tailback tandem of Chris Brown, who rushed for 188 yards and three touchdowns on 26 carries, and Bobby Purify, who added 87 yards on 14 carries, not only hurt a lot of feelings. They conjured up memories of ghosts of UCLA defenses' past - namely Edgerrin James and Ron Dayne.

In fact, Brown's 188 yards were the most by a UCLA opponent since Dayne rushed for 246 in the 1999 Rose Bowl. Colorado's 325 yards rushing were the most by an opponent since Washington rambled for 349 in 2000.

``It's very humbling,'' said defensive end Asi Faoa, one of 10 linemen the Bruins played. ``It's an eye-opener for us. They just ran it down our throat.''

The offensive line didn't have it much better. After averaging 202 yards a game in victories over Oklahoma State and Colorado State, the Bruins ground to a halt. They were held to 62 yards rushing and just 2.2 a carry.

``It makes a big difference if you can't run the ball,'' offensive tackle Bryce Bohlander said. ``If you can't run, they tighten up on the pass.''

Early on Saturday, the Bruins' defense seemed to have a handle on things. Then Colorado (2-2) ground out a 17-play, 67-yard drive late in the first half that ended with Patrick Brougham's 29-yard field goal and put CU ahead 10-7 with 23 seconds left before halftime. The Buffaloes converted three third downs on the drive.

``At the end of the second quarter, we knew we had control of the game,'' Colorado offensive tackle Wayne Lucier said.

And indeed they did. The long drive ignited a stretch of five consecutive possessions in which the Buffaloes scored. The sixth one was ended not by the Bruins (2-1) but by the end of the game.

UCLA, which forced seven turnovers in its first two games, couldn't stop the Buffaloes or pry the ball away from them. Meanwhile, the offense couldn't generate big plays of its own.

After Brougham's 39-yard field goal put CU ahead 13-7, UCLA quarterback Cory Paus threw one of his few ill-advised passes, trying to squeeze the ball between two defenders to Craig Bragg. Strong safety Kory Mossoni intercepted the ball at the UCLA 41, and three plays later Brown scored on a 7-yard run to put Colorado ahead 21-7.

Paus responded by converting two third-down passes and moving UCLA to the Colorado 3-yard line before the Bruins self-destructed. Manuel White was dropped for a 1-yard loss, and Akil Harris was brought down for a loss of 4 yards. The Bruins then were penalized for breaking the huddle with 12 players, and Paus' third-down pass in the end zone was incomplete, forcing them to settle for Chris Griffith's 30-yard field goal to make it 21-10 with 3:16 left in the third quarter.

``They did a great job of controlling both lines of scrimmage,'' UCLA coach Bob Toledo said. ``They banged on us pretty good.''

The rest of the way the UCLA defense was a montage of linemen getting moved off the ball and linebackers and safeties missing tackles.

The coup de grace was supplied by Colorado fullback Brandon Drumm, a 230-pound senior, who crushed UCLA linebacker Spencer Havner, a 232-pound freshman, with a lead block on Brown's final touchdown run, an 8-yarder that put Colorado ahead 31-10 with 3:34 to play.

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(color) UCLA receiver Ryan Smith is sandwiched between two Colorado defenders. It was like that all day for the Bruins, who lost 31-17.

Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer