WAKE-UP CALL UCLA ERUPTS IN 4TH QUARTER UCLA 30, COLORADO ST. 19.

Byline: Billy Witz Staff Writer

PASADENA - With its Saturday night kickoff, UCLA was the last team in Division I football to begin its season. The Bruins waited nearly three hours to really get going.

Sluggish offensively and error-prone on special teams for three quarters, the Bruins hit Colorado State with a flurry, scoring 23 points in the last 10 minutes to come away with a 30-19 victory in front of 58,078 at the Rose Bowl. The victory was the Bruins' fifth in a row in season openers and third against a ranked team.

The Bruins rallied with two touchdown runs by Akil Harris and Manuel White, then held off a late charge by the Rams.

CSU, trailing 21-13, drove for the potential tying score when quarterback Bradlee Van Pelt ran 6 yards for a touchdown on fourth-and-2 with 1:32 to play.

But the Bruins thwarted the attempted tying 2-point conversion, wrapping up Van Pelt, who then fumbled. UCLA safety Ben Emanuel scooped up the ball and raced 92 yards to give the Burins two more points.

UCLA recovered the kick and all but ran out the clock. White iced the game with his second touchdown run of the game with 1:01 left.

With backup quarterback Drew Olson at the helm, UCLA drove 52 yards for the go-ahead touchdown on Harris' 2-yard run with 9:52 to play.

Then, on Colorado State's ensuing drive, cornerback Ricky Manning's vicious hit on running back Cedric Sapp forced him to cough up the ball after a reception, and defensive end Rusty Williams pounced on it at the CSU 16-yard line.

On the next play, White went off tackle for 16 yards, reaching the ball just over the pylon at the goal line, and the Bruins, who had trailed all night, suddenly had an eight-point lead.

Until then the Bruins looked much like a team playing its first game against the 19th-ranked Rams, who were playing their third.

Colorado State's 13 points all came as a result of turnovers or poor special teams' play. The Rams started their three scoring drives in UCLA territory, at the 43-, 15- and 23-yard lines.

The UCLA defense, which allowed just 206 yards through three quarters, kept Sapp and Van Pelt in check most of the night. The Rams' best drive ended late in the third quarter, when Williams hit Van Pelt as he threw and the fluttering ball was hauled in by UCLA linebacker Brandon Chillar at the Bruins' 7-yard line.

UCLA's new short passing game was remarkably different from last season, but quarterback Cory Paus was well off target at times and early his receivers dropped three balls.

On the opening kickoff, the Bruins looked like the same bumbling Bruins of last November. Harris bobbled the opening kickoff, then fumbled it only to have teammate Tab Perry recover at the 11-yard line.

Perry then couldn't handle a short pass over the middle when he was hit by a pair of CSU defenders, and Craig Bragg had a third-down pass go through his hands. When the Bruins went to punt they had just 10 men on the field until Harris ran out late.

Colorado State, which received the ball at the UCLA 43, converted a pair of third-and-1s before Steve Morgan broke through to sack Van Pelt at the UCLA 18 and forced the Rams to settle for a 35-yard field goal by Jeff Babcock.

Dexter Wynn, whose 12-yard punt return set CSU up in UCLA territory for the first field goal, did much more damage the next time he got his hands on a ball. His 55-yard punt return, which punter Nate Fikse prevented from being a touchdown, for the time being.

Facing third-and-2 at the UCLA 7, the Rams pitched the ball back to Sapp, who pulled up and passed to tight end Joel Dreessen in the end zone to put the Rams ahead 10-0, one play into the second quarter.

The Bruins answered back when freshman receiver Junior Taylor took the ball on a reverse and, getting a nice block from Paus, wove his way through the CSU defense for a 49-yard touchdown. That was pretty much the offensive highlight of the half for the Bruins.

They managed to convert a fourth down at the CSU 38, when Paus hit White out of the backfield for an 11-yard gain. But it was wasted when Chris Griffith clubbed a 41-yard field goal about 6 feet off the ground.

Paus, escaping the rush out of his own end zone, threw a pass into double coverage that was picked off by Wynn who returned it 10 yards to the UCLA 23. The Rams settled for a 32-yard field goal from Babcock to take a 13-7 lead with 8:41 left in the half.

UCLA had a chance to get closer when the defense forced a punt with 1:57 left in the half, but James Jesson, a walk-on from the volleyball team, was called for roughing the punter when he clipped the hip of Joey Huber.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- color) UCLA's Cory Paus (10) is sacked during the Bruins' victory over Colorado State on Saturday.

(2) Colorado State quarterback Bradlee Van Pelt tries to get away from UCLA's pressure Saturday.

Gus Ruelas/Staff Photographer

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