Schedule May Stunt Bruins’ Growth

UCLA coaches and administrators believe 7-4 is possible. The staff is talking 8-3. The players end each practice by chanting, “Rose Bowl.”

There hasn’t been this much enthusiasm at Spaulding Field since Training Camp 1994, before J.J. Stokes’ deep thigh bruise and a six-game losing streak soured spirits.

The optimism may be well-founded.

Cade McNown is twice the quarterback he was last August. The receivers are catching passes. Tailback Skip Hicks is healthy and ready to run for 1,500 yards behind a big, experienced offensive line.

Safety Shaun Williams appears ready for an All-America season. The Bruins are bigger and faster on defense. After a full year of working with coach Bob Toledo and staff, they know the coaches. They know the system.

Is this a better team than the 1996 version, which finished 5-6 overall and 4-4 in the Pacific-10? Absolutely.

Will it win more games? Not necessarily.

There is the small matter of the schedule, which includes six 1996 bowl participants and five teams ranked in the preseason Top 25.

If the Bruins are still standing after the opener on Washington State’s artificial turf and the back-to-back brawls with Tennessee and Texas in Weeks 2 and 3, they’ll have a bowl bid in the crosshairs.

The most important Saturdays may be the two on which UCLA does not play.

The Sept. 20 bye, after UT and UT, provides ample training-room time before a winnable stretch against Arizona, Houston, the Oregon schools and Cal. The second bye, Nov. 8, precedes a Washington-USC finish.

Whether the Bruins emerge from this gantlet with five wins or seven depends on the defensive line.

It is not the only deficiency - speed at receiver and experience in the secondary are others - but it is the only true weakness.

Players with experience lack size. Those with size, including promising freshman Kenyon Coleman, lack experience. It’s a frustrating combination for the Bruins, who have not seen an all-conference defensive lineman since Terry Tumey in 1987.

To compensate, defensive coordinator Rocky Long will: 1) use linebackers and safeties to crowd the line, 2) rotate eight or 10 men throughout the three line positions to keep them fresh, and 3) hope Darren Cline, Jeff Ruckman, Damon Smith, Pete Holland and Weldon Forde play 30 pounds bigger than they are.

Holmoe cracks down

New California coach Tom Holmoe survived as a player in the NFL because of smarts rather than athleticism, so one might figure he’ll try to sell schemes to players with quiet logic and shrewd persuasion.

Often called more laid-back than his predecessor, Steve Mariucci, Holmoe was expected to be a football technician.

Practices suggest a very different approach.

“Practices are harder,” tailback Tarik Smith said. “The periods are longer. There’s a lot more contact.”

Holmoe is the first to admit that practices are more physically demanding.

“We’ve got to be tougher,” he said. “Last year we missed tackles - a lot. We missed blocks - a lot.”

Under Mariucci, players who were late to practice or meetings had to rise for 6:30 a.m. runs.

Holmoe has taken the so-called “Dawn Patrol” a step farther. He groups players into teams of eight and forces the entire eight-man team to run if one of its members commit a transgression.

Around the conference

The Los Angeles Daily News picked Washington State to finish third in the Pac-10 race, behind only Washington and Stanford… . Oregon lost its leading receiver for up to four weeks when Damon Griffin was injured during a recent practice… . USC senior receiver Larry Parker might have to redshirt because of a foot injury. Parker will undergo tests to determine the injury’s severity… . USC tight end Junior Rickman has been held out of practice with a leg injury, allowing freshmen Antoine Harris and Lonnie Ford to overtake the senior on the Trojans’ depth chart.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: PAC-10 THIS WEEK UCLA at Washington State (-1) Saturday, Martin Stadium, 12:30, ABC With Tennessee and Texas looming on UCLA’s schedule, the Bruins need this one badly. But the Cougars are even more desperate, having ended last season on a four-game skid. Ryan Leaf outduels Cade McNown, while WSU’s defense finds a way to keep Skip Hicks under 100. The pick: Cougars 30, Bruins 27

New Mexico St. at Arizona St. (-38) Saturday, Sun Devil Stadium, 6 p.m. Nothing like easing into the season. Boise State and Southwestern Louisiana must not have been available. The pick: Sun Devils 72, Aggies 13 - Mike Sando

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = From staff and wire reports Staff writer Mike Sando contributed to this report.