UCLA ANALYSIS: THE LAUGH'S ON UCLA AND TO THINK, THEY ONCE WERE RANKED NO. 6.

Byline: Billy Witz Staff Writer

It was just five weeks ago a giddy Ryan McCann sat at the Rose Bowl interview-room podium after leading UCLA to a comeback win over Michigan, the second No. 3-ranked team the Bruins had vanquished.

Where should the Bruins be ranked?

Why not No. 1, McCann suggested with a grin.

It's turned out to be about the last laugh the Bruins have had.

McCann may have lost his starting job and suffered a shoulder injury that will require surgery, but his fall from grace hasn't been as precipitous as the rest of the Bruins.

After skyrocketing from unranked to No. 6 after the win over Michigan, the Bruins have lost three of four games, including Saturday night's 44-38 loss to Oregon State at the Rose Bowl, and have plummeted out of the Top 25.

Their fourth-quarter collapse, in which they blew a 10-point lead in the final 13 minutes and allowed 23 points in the quarter, simply mirrors their season.

The last time the Bruins have fallen so far was in 1984, when they began the season ranked No. 4 but fell out of the then-Top 20 after a 4-2 start that included wins over San Diego State and Long Beach State by a total of nine points.

Even then, the Bruins regrouped to win five of their last six, including a rout of Rose Bowl-champion USC and a win over Miami in the Fiesta Bowl, and finished No. 9 in the nation.

In fact, no UCLA team that has been ranked in the top 10 has ever finished unranked.

Yet, for this team, it will be a struggle just to reach a bowl game.

The Bruins, whose eight-game road losing streak is one short of a 78- year-old school record, play at Arizona on Saturday and at Washington two weeks later. If they don't win either, the Bruins would have to beat Stanford and USC merely to qualify for a bowl game and avoid the third losing season in coach Bob Toledo's five years.

The Bruins gave as determined an effort Saturday as they have all season. And for 50 minutes, it was arguably their most complete game.

But the collapse, amid Akil Harris' fumble, poor execution of the two- minute drill, a handful of calls by the officials - a non-pass interference call involving Freddie Mitchell was the most egregious - and a failure to stop third-string tailback Antonio Battle on a third-and-21 draw, was complete and thorough. It left the Bruins grasping for answers.

``I'm exhausted right now,'' Toledo said after the game. ``I'm proud of the way our football team battled back. . . . I feel bad for the team. They worked extremely hard this week and worked extremely hard for this game.''

But how much more fight do they have left in them?

And, more importantly, after pulling out wins over Michigan and Arizona State and surviving a comeback by Fresno State, back-to-back losses at the wire raise another question: Do they still believe they can win?

The defense can't stop anyone on third down - Cal and OSU were a combined 20 of 36 on third-down conversions. Meanwhile, the running game has disappeared and the passing game seems to come up a play or two short.

``We have to suck it up,'' strong safety Marques Anderson said. ``We were out there digging for a win. Sometimes things don't go your way. We couldn't come up with the plays we needed.''

``I don't know,'' cornerback Ricky Manning said when asked to explain the difference between the team that was No. 6 and these Bruins. ``It's something and we've got to find out what it is. There's no way we shouldn't be No. 1, 2 or 3 in the nation right now. We should have won every one of those games.''

Instead of playing for a national championship, the Bruins find themselves entering the home stretch of the season playing for much the same thing they did in last year's dreadful season: pride.

UCLA STATUS REPORT

GAME: 7

RESULT: Oregon State 44, UCLA 38

RECORD: 4-3, 1-3

THIS WEEK'S GPA: 2.08

CUMULATIVE GPA: 2.03

NEXT WEEK: at Arizona

QUARTERBACKS

Cory Paus, who threw for a career-high 363 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions, led the Bruins to 38 points for the third consecutive game. Yet for the second game in a row, his few poor plays were costly.

B

RUNNING BACKS

DeShaun Foster's return gave the Bruins a boost, but imagine how much more of a contribution he would have made if he'd been able to stiff-arm defenders. Akil Harris' fumble started the Bruins' unraveling.

B-

RECEIVERS

Best all-around game (no drops) by this unit even though Freddie Mitchell had his streak of 100-yard receiving game snapped at four. Brian Poli-Dixon had his most consistent game (6 catches, 93 yards) and Jon Dubravac and tight ends Bryan Fletcher and Gabe Crecion contributed.

B+

OFFENSIVE LINE

Blake Worley and Shane Lehmann made token appearances, but there wasn't much of a difference. Pass protection was adequate, but what happened to the run blocking?

D+

DEFENSIVE LINE

Bruins allowed season-high 253 yards rushing, but hard to be too critical of a unit that was without Kenyon Coleman, Sean Phillips and Ken Kocher, and had Anthony Fletcher and Rusty Williams playing hurt.

C

LINEBACKERS

Marcus Reese got the most playing time of the season, subbing for Ryan Nece and Tony White. Wasn't this supposed to be the unquestioned strength of the defense? 604 reasons why it isn't. And, yes, OSU tight end Martin Mauer is still wide open.

D

DEFENSIVE BACKS

They blanketed David Terrell and Freddie Milons, but get torched. Only bright spots were Marques Anderson recovering two fumbles, one of which he forced, and Ricky Manning forcing Ken Simonton's upchuck at the goal line.

D

SPECIAL TEAMS

Punt return team survived another touchdown thanks to a penalty and Chris Griffith missed his first field goal (42 yards) since the season opener. Only thing better than average was Nate Fikse's punting (45.2 yard average on six kicks).

C-

COACHING

Man coverage backfired on third-and-21 run by Antonio Battle, but any defense with 11 players should have stopped that play. Great effort and for 50 minutes made big plays when needed. Maybe the hard truth is Oregon State is just better.

B-

- Billy Witz

CAPTION(S):

photo, box

Photo: RICKY MANNING

UCLA cornerback said the Bruins haven't figured out what ails them.

Box: UCLA STATUS REPORT