STICK TO THE BASICS TOLEDO MAKES LATEST IN LIST OF BLUNDERS.

Byline: Billy Witz Staff Writer

Nobody loves putting on a show more than UCLA coach Bob Toledo. He joked last week he was bringing out his ABC game plan for Oregon.

Too bad he meant the network. What he really needed was some decision-making that was as simple as ABC.

The sticking point, if not the turning point, of UCLA's 31-30 loss Saturday to Oregon was Toledo's decision to try a fake field goal on fourth-and-15 from the Ducks' 25-yard line.

The Bruins, ahead by six at the time, would have moved them ahead by two scores. Certainly, the way kicker Chris Griffith has kicked lately - he just had a PAT blocked and he's missed more field goals already than in any of his first three seasons - a 42-yarder isn't a gimme. But neither is fourth-and-15.

And as for the upside: if the fake works for a touchdown, the Bruins are ahead by two scores, just like they would have been with a field goal.

The decision didn't catch Oregon by surprise, with freshman Aaron Gipson tackling Marcedes Lewis seven yards shy of a first down. And it didn't catch many coaches in the Pac-10 by surprise.

All it did was reinforce the widely held opinion that Toledo tries too hard to win with flair. Often enough, as happened Saturday, he ends up getting hit right in the aesthetic.

Toledo is becoming to college football what Phil Mickelson is to the PGA Tour or Mike Martz is to the NFL. Stay close and they'll beat themselves.

In fact, it almost happened the week before. UCLA led Oregon State by 15 points when it had fourth-and-1 at the Beavers' 49-yard line early in the fourth quarter. Given that the Beavers' offense hadn't scored since the first play of the game - and that UCLA owned a 15-point lead - why do anything to help them?

Of course, the Bruins were stopped, Oregon State scored and so began a wild fourth quarter.

The troubling part is that this isn't a two-week trend. It dates back to as long as Toledo has been the coach at UCLA:

--In the 1997 season opener at Washington State, Toledo neglected to call timeout to get Skip Hicks, who had scored four touchdowns and ran for 190 yards, into the game on fourth- and-goal from inside the 1-yard line. Jermaine Lewis was stopped short, a play that kept UCLA from going to the Rose Bowl.

--Tied with Oregon in 1998, a Hail Mary pass gave UCLA the ball at the 3-yard line with eight seconds left. Instead of using his timeouts to either move the ball to the center of the field or give his field goal unit time to set up, Toledo rushed them onto the field. Kicker Chris Sailer missed the 21-yard kick but took them both off the hook when he booted the game- winner in overtime.

There are other examples, some more egregious than others: Watching the final 32 seconds waste away without using a timeout in a 21-20 loss to Oregon that would cost them a bowl berth in 1996; an unsuccessful fake on a 49-yard field goal with a six-point lead against Wisconsin in an eventual 21-20 loss in the 2000 Sun Bowl.

There are all kinds of ways to solve this. Hire an old sage, like Joe Torre has done with Don Zimmer and Phil Jackson has with Tex Winter. Or make probability and statistics a required course for graduate assistants.

Or Toledo can borrow a lifeline from Regis Philbin. That might be the best page yet from the ABC game plan.

UP NEXT

Saturday

at Cal

4 p.m.

TV: TBS

CAPTION(S):

photo, box

Photo:

UCLA football coach Bob Toledo has been criticized for unique play-calling in critical situations over the years, often resulting in losses.

Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer

Box:

REPORT CARD: UCLA vs. OREGON