Cougs Show Their Better Half WSU’s Sterling Start Stops 16th-Ranked Bruins In Tracks
There was a time in the not-so-distant past when Washington State would have needed 60 minutes of the best football it was capable of playing to beat UCLA.
Saturday, 30 were enough.
The Cougars, sparked by a rejuvenated running game and Jay Dumas’ 72-yard punt return for a touchdown, abused the 16th-ranked Bruins in the first half of their Pacific-10 Conference opener and then persevered for a 24-15 win.
The victory, witnessed by a Martin Stadium crowd of 33,711 and a regional ABC television audience, pushed WSU’s overall record to 2-1 and injected a huge dose of confidence into the Cougars’ collective psyche heading into next Saturday’s matchup against defending national champion Nebraska in Lincoln, Neb.
“We’re right where we want to be, 1-0 in the conference and going to Nebraska,” Cougars quarterback Chad Davis said after a 16-for-25 passing day that produced 151 yards and one touchdown. “It’s a non-conference game, but we’re going down there with full intentions of winning.”
Teammate Dwayne Sanders was even more direct.
“That Nebraska game is going to shock a lot of people,” the senior defensive end told reporters, “because we’re going to win. You guys look for us. You heard it here first from Dwayne Sanders.”
That might not have been the kind of sentiment Cougars coach Mike Price wanted to have aired just a week prior to butting heads with the No. 2-ranked and unbeaten Cornhuskers, but he wasn’t about to let tomorrow’s bulletin-board quotes spoil the sweetness of a second consecutive win over the Bruins.
“Like I said all along, this team is getting better every week and we’re going to continue to make steady progress,” Price said.
WSU, coming off a bye week, put together a remarkable first half, outscoring the Bruins 24-0 and pounding out a 239-38 advantage in total yardage. Frank Madu ran for 77 of his team-high 110 yards and the Cougars tacked on a 20-yard scoring pass from Chad Davis to Eric Moore, a 7-yard touchdown run by Derek Sparks and a 41-yard Tony Truant field goal onto Dumas’ punt return.
Meanwhile, WSU’s defense refused to let the Bruins’ offense draw a breath.
So dominant were the Cougars in the second quarter that UCLA ran only 11 plays, three of which were punts and only one of which netted positive yardage.
“It was just a great win,” said WSU offensive coordinator John McDonell, who got a splendid performance from his offensive line and 171 rushing yards from his running back tandem of Madu and Sparks. “UCLA is a premier team and they’re loaded with ability and talent.
“This was a fun day, a big win.”
It did come complete with a full complement of troubling second-half moments, however, as the Bruins (0-2, 2-2) slowly sliced into WSU’s huge halftime lead.
And it might have ultimately ended in a not-so-fun day had the Bruins not spit out a couple of excellent scoring opportunities WSU tried to spoon-feed them early in the second half. The Cougars, after dominating on both sides of the football in the first half, let UCLA shove its running game into gear shortly after intermission.
The Bruins marched steadily from their 20-yard line on their first third-quarter possession and seemed ready to score when tailback Karim Abdul-Jabbar, who rushed for a game-high 125 yards, broke loose after catching a short pass from Ryan Fien near the Cougars 20.
But the threat ended in a bizarre manner when WSU cornerback Brian Walker came up and knocked the ball out of Jabbar’s hand as he was stretching for the end zone.
The ball landed just short of the goal line and then bounced into and out of the end zone, giving WSU the ball at its 1-yard line.
Three plays later, though, Madu was tackled in the end zone for a safety and UCLA was on the board.
The Bruins took the ensuing kick and marched to the WSU 20 before settling for the first of Bjorn Merten’s two field goals - a 38-yarder that made it 24-5.
It looked like they might score a touchdown when Fien found wide receiver Kevin Jordan breaking open over the middle right near the goal line, but his pass ripped through Jordan’s hands and rolled harmlessly out of the end zone.
UCLA received another break when Shad Hinchen fumbled while returning the ensuing kickoff and Bruins free safety Anthony Cobbs recovered on the WSU 25.
But WSU, led by the low charge of linebacker Johnny Nansen, stuffed backup tailback Skip Hicks on third-and-1 from the 3 and Merten had to kick a 23-yard field goal.
UCLA did manage to score on its next possession as Jordan hauled in a 31-yard touchdown pass from backup quarterback Cade McNown, but that was as close as the Bruins would get as another Merten field-goal try from 47 yards out sailed wide left with just more than 6 minutes left.
“Generally, Washington State just dominated the football game from start to finish,” said coach Terry Donahue, whose Bruins were coming off a 38-31 loss to Oregon last Saturday. “They had two weeks to prepare and that’s a huge advantage. Regardless of that, they did an excellent job.”
WSU managed only 115 second-half yards, but junior offensive tackle Scott Sanderson credited UCLA’s halftime adjustments for his team’s paltry offensive numbers.
“They switched up a little bit on defense,” said Sanderson. “They started to run a little more 46 and slanted more. They tried more line mixes than they’ve tried all year.
“They were trying anything possible, I think, just to confuse us and get us off balance. But I think we handled it pretty well. Outside of the mental mistakes we made, we played a great game.”
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