TOLEDO GETS WISH BUT COULD REGRET IT.Byline: Jon Wilner Daily News Staff Writer When Arizona quarterback Ortege Jenkins vaulted past Washington last Saturday with one of the most dramatic plays in Pac-10 history, there was joy in Westlake Village. One of the community's most prominent residents, 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 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. , was rooting for Arizona. Toledo, it seems, is a sucker for the spotlight. ``I was kind of hoping Arizona would win,'' Toledo said. ``I wanted to get to this point. I love the excitement. I love the big games.'' He's got one. No. 3 UCLA and No. 10 Arizona collide tonight in Arizona Stadium , marking the first time in seven years a conference game has featured two top-10 teams. Rarely are stakes higher in early October. The winner stays within range of the Fiesta Bowl The Fiesta Bowl, now sponsored by Tostitos tortilla chips (a Frito-Lay product), is a United States college football game played annually since 1971. Originally, the game was hosted in Tempe, Arizona at Sun Devil Stadium where it remained until 2006. and takes a massive stride toward the Rose Bowl - especially if it's Arizona (5-0), which has its toughest games at home. ``They could run the table after this,'' 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. said. ``The road to the Rose Bowl or an undefeated season runs through Tucson.'' Long-suffering Wildcats watchers - Arizona is the only conference team which has never played in the Rose Bowl postseason - are calling tonight's game the biggest sporting event in Tucson history not named the Final Four. On Monday, 36 hours after Jenkins' improbable vault, Arizona sold 5,839 game tickets, a single-day record. Game-related stories have run on the front pages of both local papers, next to reports on the stock market and impeachment impeachment, formal accusation issued by a legislature against a public official charged with crime or other serious misconduct. In a looser sense the term is sometimes applied also to the trial by the legislature that may follow. proceedings. A massive billboard on Interstate 10, perhaps the best advertising space in town, bellows: ``Bring on the Bruins.'' Screen savers Screen Savers may refer to:
For this week, at least, Tucson is a football town. ``This is the biggest game of the year, maybe in school history,'' Jenkins said. UCLA's school-record winning streak Noun 1. winning streak - a streak of wins streak, run - an unbroken series of events; "had a streak of bad luck"; "Nicklaus had a run of birdies" , now at 13 games, is in unprecedented jeopardy. The Bruins (3-0) are without their big-play receiver (Freddie Mitchell For the fictional character, see . Freddie Lee Mitchell (born November 28, 1978 in Lakeland, Florida) is a former American football wide receiver in the NFL who most recently played for the Philadelphia Eagles. He was a 1st round draft pick in the 2001 NFL Draft out of UCLA. ), their starting tailback (Jermaine Lewis Jermaine Lewis (born October 16, 1974 in Lanham, Maryland) is an American football wide receiver in the NFL. A star high school athlete at Eleanor Roosevelt High School, he was a two-time team MVP as a running back while also starring as a sprinter on the track team, setting ) and their best defensive lineman (Kenyon Coleman Kenyon Octavia Coleman (born April 10, 1979 in Fontana, California) is an American football defensive end for the New York Jets of the NFL. He was selected with the 12th pick of the fifth round of the 2002 NFL Draft out of the University of California, Los Angeles by the Oakland ). McNown is slightly off his game. The defense has just three senior starters and a slew of injuries at linebacker. ``It's a defining game for both teams, definitely for us,'' said Bruins receiver Brian Poli-Dixon, a Tucson native. ``Our competition has been mediocre.'' Historically, the Bruins have not played well in Arizona Stadium. Actually, that's not quite true. They've been awful - outplayed, outcoached, often laughed out of town. They've lost four consecutive games in Tucson by a combined 134-51, and in several instances weren't beaten so much as beaten up. Rushing yards tell no lies and the Wildcats have outrushed UCLA by 1,064-227. ``At times, we haven't matched their physicalness,'' said longtime Bruins assistant Bob Field. In 1989, the Wildcats made a game-week switch to the power-I formation, rushed for 480 yards and handed UCLA its worst loss in 10 years, 42-7. The Wildcats literally broke UCLA in 1992, fracturing Arnold Ale's leg and cracking Sean LaChapelle's ribs. Trailing 23-0, the Bruins kicked an 18-yard field goal with a minute remaining to preserve their 243-game scoring streak, an NCAA NCAA abbr. National Collegiate Athletic Association record. UCLA avoided embarrassment in 1994 and '96, losing by 10 and 18 points, respectively. The '96 meeting was especially tough, with Arizona cornerback Chris McAlister - son of ex-Bruin James McAlister and a former recruit - returning a kickoff 100 yards to secure the win. ``The critical thing is to come out early - we don't have to dominate, but we have to play sound, smart football and not get in a hole in an atmosphere like that,'' Field said. McAlister's back this week after a one-game, NCAA-imposed suspension for accepting an improper $14,000 loan from a Texas bank. He and linebacker Marcus Bell lead a defense that compensates for its lack of size with speed and aggressiveness. What makes these Wildcats better than past versions is their playmakers Playmakers is a TV series on ESPN that depicted the lives of the players on a fictional professional football team. The show starred Omar Gooding, Marcello Thedford, Christopher Wiehl, Jason Matthew Smith, Russell Hornsby and Tony Denison. : receivers Jeremy McDaniel and Dennis Northcutt, tailback Trung Canidate, and quarterbacks Ortege Jenkins and Keith Smith, the Newbury Park native. Combined, Smith and Jenkins have better numbers than McNown, and they are just as dangerous with their feet as their arms. Containing the quarterbacks - along with limiting turnovers and controlling the tempo with its rushing game - are UCLA's priorities. ``It's probably the best Arizona team I've seen in a long time,'' Toledo said. ``In the past, they had really good defense. But you knew if you scored a couple or three touchdowns, you had a chance to win. That's changed. They have a really good offense.'' Which bring us to the moral of this story: Be careful what you wish for Be Careful What You Wish For is a 2006 novel written by Alexandra Potter. It tells the story of thirty-year-old singleton Heather Hamilton who is constantly wishing for things. . UNFRIENDLY CONFINES UCLA has found it difficult to win against Arizona in Tucson in recent years. The Bruins, who take a 3-0 record and No. 4 ranking into Arizona Stadium tonight, have lost the last four road games in this series and are 4-7 overall as visitors: 1996 Arizona 35, UCLA 17 1994 Arizona 34, UCLA 24 1992 Arizona 20, UCLA 3 1989 Arizona 42, UCLA 7 1988 UCLA 24, Arizona 3 1985 UCLA 24, Arizona 19 1983 Arizona 27, UCLA 24 1981 UCLA 35, Arizona 18 1980 Arizona 23, UCLA 17 1971 UCLA 28, Arizona 12 1927 Arizona 16, UCLA 13 CAPTION(S): Box BOX: UNFRIENDLY CONFINES (see text) |
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