Big plays help Bruins handle Aztecs again

A pair of early game-breaking plays helped UCLA continue its dominance of San Diego State.

Maurice Drew capped the Bruins’ opening drive with a 57-yard touchdown run and linebacker Spencer Havner returned an interception 52 yards for another score, propelling UCLA to an easy 33-10 non-conference victory on Saturday in Pasadena, Calif.

Coming off a bye week, the Bruins (3-1) extended their winning streak against the Aztecs to 17 games and improved their overall record against them to 19-0-1. UCLA converted three turnovers into 13 points, including two of Justin Medlock’s career-high four field goals.

“It was a good solid performance,” coach Karl Dorrell said. “My concern going into this game was that you’re not quite sure how your team’s going to play after a bye week. So it was good and positive.”

Quarterback Drew Olson completed 14 of 29 passes for 158 yards, including a 23-yard scoring strike to Tab Perry that gave UCLA a 27-3 cushion with 11 minutes left in the third quarter. Perry had three receptions for 34 yards in place of starting wide receiver Craig Bragg, who is sidelined because of a dislocated left shoulder.

“Our passing game sputtered a little bit in the first half, but overall I think we did pretty good,” Olson said. “Anytime you have a running game like we have, it’s so much easier for me.”

Drew carried 21 times for 161 yards. Two weeks ago, the sophomore tailback had scoring runs of 62, 58, 47 and 37 yards in a 37-31 victory at Washington — while tying a Pac-10 record with five touchdowns and rushing for a school-record 322 yards.

“It’s not me,” Drew said. “I’m just running. The offensive line is doing all the hard work and making sure I’m not getting touched.”

San Diego State (2-2) lost to a Pac-10 opponent for the 14th consecutive time since beating California 33-9 in the 1995 season opener.

The Aztecs controlled the ball for the first 4:40 of the game, settling for a 36-yard field goal by Garrett Palmer. Just three plays later on third-and-3 at the UCLA 43, Drew bounced off a missed tackle by strong safety Josh Dean and galloped the rest of the way untouched to put the Bruins ahead to stay with 9:28 left in the first quarter.

“I did not believe that he was going to have the performance again like he had in Washington, but there was one quick flashback today that did resemble some of the runs he made two weeks ago,” Dorrell said.

Havner, a junior who was moved back to inside linebacker this season after playing the outside position last year, increased UCLA’s lead to 14-3. He stepped in front of Matt Dlugolecki’s short intended pass for Marcus Edwards on third-and-6 at the UCLA 49 and raced all the way to the end zone with nine minutes left in the half.

“I think Matt made a couple of critical errors that got us behind,” coach Tom Craft said. “In the second half we moved the ball all right and got into a rhythm, but couldn’t convert.”

Havner’s interception was the seventh of his career and the third that resulted in a touchdown. He also picked off a pass in last year’s 20-10 win over the Aztecs.

“The position I prefer is inside linebacker,” Havner said. “I have a good knack for reading the quarterback. Sometimes I get overanxious, but today it worked out well.”

Medlock extended the margin to 20-3 with second-quarter field goals of 22 and 40 yards, the latter coming 23 seconds before halftime. He also had a 43-yarder and a 44-yarder in the fourth.

Medlock’s 22-yarder came four plays after San Diego State punter Michael Hughes mishandled the center snap and recovered his own fumble on the Aztecs’ 13 for a 23-yard loss.

“We ended up taking advantage of some opportunities,” Dorrell said. “We may not have scored many touchdowns, but we got the points when we needed to get them.”

Dlugolecki was 23 of 42 for 215 yards and was intercepted twice. Michael Franklin had a combined 94 yards on 11 rushes and eight receptions. Wide receiver Jeff Webb caught seven passes for 71 yards.

Arizona State 28, Oregon 13

Andrew Walter threw three touchdown passes and Hakim Hill rushed for 135 yards and a score as the Sun Devils (5-0, 2-0) turned back the Ducks (1-3, 0-1) in a late game in Eugene, Ore.