Bruins Show Ill. Will

CHAMPAIGN, ILL. —  Those who think Karl Dorrell doesn’t show his emotions enough should have seen the UCLA football coach during the final seconds of the Bruins’ 35-17 victory over Illinois on Saturday.

With a smile on his face that would have made Don King proud, Dorrell pumped his fist and congratulated his players after they ended an almost 11-month winless streak with their first victory of the season.

“Even though we lost last week [31-20 to Oklahoma State], we totally felt that it wasn’t a continuation of a year ago,” Dorrell said of the Bruins, who had suffered six defeats in a row dating to last season’s victory over Arizona State on Oct. 25 before beating the Fighting Illini in front of 47,457 at Memorial Stadium. “We had a lot of positives, and we felt good about the direction we’re going.”

Quarterback Drew Olson had a career-high three touchdown passes, including two to Craig Bragg, and running backs Maurice Drew and Manuel White combined for 239 yards rushing and two scores for the Bruins, who had their most complete offensive performance in years with 481 total yards.

But it was the Bruin defense, which gave up 426 yards rushing last week to Oklahoma State, that set the stage for the victory with a goal-line stand on Illinois’ first possession.

Thanks to a 46-yard pass play from Jon Beutjer to Kendrick Jones, the Illini took the opening kickoff and drove deep into UCLA territory. But on fourth and one from the Bruin four-yard line, tailback E.B. Halsey was stopped short of the first down by a defensive charge led by tackle Kevin Brown, linebacker Aaron Whittington and strong safety Jarrad Page.

“That play really set the tone,” said linebacker Wesley Walker, who started in the middle and moved outside later in the game when Justin London was on the field.

“On that drive, we had a couple of communication problems that put ourselves in a bad position. The stand on fourth down was huge because it told the whole defense that we could make a stop when we needed to make one.”

Even though Illinois had 456 yards in offense, it was a far cry from a week ago when the Bruins couldn’t buy a tackle when it counted.

“I know that I was thinking when they were moving the ball at first that ‘Darn, we’re having a bad drive already,’ ” said Walker, who finished with five tackles, including a sack. “But we settled down and got that stop -- something we didn’t do against Oklahoma State.”

After forcing Illinois (1-1) to turn the ball over on downs, the Bruin offense took over. With linemen Mike McCloskey, Steven Vieira, Paul Mociler, Ed Blanton, Robert Cleary and Robert Chai (who rotated with Cleary) providing excellent protection for Olson and opening huge holes for Drew and White, UCLA needed only six plays to drive 96 yards to take a 7-0 lead. Bragg capped the possession with a diving catch on a 41-yard touchdown pass from Olson.

It was three downs and a punt on Illinois’ next drive, which was followed by another UCLA touchdown five plays later. This time Drew did it himself with a 47-yard touchdown run to put the Bruins ahead, 14-0, with 5:37 remaining in the first quarter.

Illinois, which defeated Division I-AA Florida A&M; in its season opener last week, cut UCLA’s lead to a touchdown when Beutjer completed a 16-yard scoring pass to Franklin Payne early in the second quarter.

But before halftime, the Bruins scored again when Bragg and Olson hooked up on a 14-yard pass to complete a five-play, 48-yard drive.

“The difference this week is that we all worked together as a collective group,” said senior cornerback Matt Clark, who had six tackles, including five solo, and broke up one pass. “It started with our defense and how we were able to stop the run.”

To open the second half, the Bruin offense picked up where it left off with a 10-play, 80-yard drive that ended with a one-yard touchdown run by White, who finished with 97 yards in 20 carries.

“Today part of the game plan was to get ahold of the line of scrimmage and dominate that and then take our shots downfield,” said Olson, who completed 14 of 21 passes for 208 yards with one interception. “We did that for the most part, took our shots and we ran the ball great today.”

After building a 28-7 lead, UCLA had some anxious moments when Illinois mounted a rally behind backup quarterback Brad Bower. With Beutjer on the bench after suffering bruised ribs from a hit by defensive lineman Justin Hickman late in the first half, Bower led the Illini to 10 consecutive points and they trailed by only 11, 28-17, early in the fourth quarter.

Illinois forced UCLA to punt midway in the quarter and started a drive on its own 17. That’s when UCLA’s defense, which came up with three turnovers, stepped up to clinch the victory.

Redshirt freshman Chris Horton, who took over for Page after he suffered leg cramps in the second half, made a diving interception of an ill-advised pass by Bower at the 15. On the next play, Olson threw his final touchdown pass of the game to tight end Marcedes Lewis, who carried two defenders into the end zone to give UCLA its final score.

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Streak Over

UCLA ended its fourth-longest losing streak in football with Saturday’s victory. The program’s longest losing streaks:

*--* No. Dates 13 Nov. 7, 1919 to Nov. 11, 1921 8 Jan. 1, 1943 to Nov. 13, 1943 7 Sept. 9, 1940 to Nov. 9, 1940 6 Sept. 17, 1994 to Oct. 22, 1994 6 Nov. 1, 2003 to Sept. 4, 2004

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KEYS TO VICTORY

Staff writer Lonnie White’s keys to victory:

Stop the run: Illinois rushed for 208 yards and gained 5.1 yards a carry, but compared to the 426 yards they gave up to Oklahoma State last week, the Bruins did a decent job of limiting the Fighting Illini’s ground attack.

Eliminate turnovers: The Bruins turned the ball over once, with quarterback Drew Olson’s lone interception being the result of a deflected pass at the line of scrimmage.

Utilize Marcedes Lewis: UCLA’s first play from scrimmage was a 23-yard pass play to Lewis and the tight end remained part of the offense all game, finishing with four catches for 62 yards and a touchdown.