Bruins Ride Tide to Spot in Top 25

UCLA’s return to football prominence took a big step Sunday. A return to the poll.

The Bruins, after starting the season unranked, used their 35-24 victory over Alabama to catapult all the way to No. 16, their highest ranking since before the Sept. 11, 1999, loss at Ohio State, two weeks before being voted out of the top 25 all together. The Crimson Tide, meanwhile, dropped from No. 3--prime contention for a national championship--to No. 13.

The rest of the immediate value of the season-opening victory was more apparent than Alabama’s over-inflated hype. Most prominently, the emotional payout for a team just off a trying season is incalculable.

If pride had been restored with an off-season of healing, this was about proving it would translate into something.

“Basically, the whole thing was,” tailback DeShaun Foster said. “Everyone was counting us out. The line was six. We just wanted to show the country that we’re back.”

Part of the way, at least. If nothing else, it was the chance to prove they can consistently play with the national powers--and No. 3 Michigan visits Sept. 16. That wasn’t all that was proven Saturday:

* Foster, when healthy and given running room, can be dominant. It’s nothing he didn’t show in flashes in 1998 as a true freshman, but he took it to a new level with a workhorse-like 42 carries--38% of his entire ’99 total. Sprung by an awesome showing by the offensive line, the result was 187 yards, 69 better than his previous career best and the most by a Bruin since Skip Hicks had 190 against Washington State in 1997.

“I’m surprised we ran that well,” Bruin Coach Bob Toledo conceded. “But that was part of our plan. To run.”

Said Alabama quarterback Tyler Watts: “The best thing [we] could have done was have our offense hold the ball and keep DeShaun Foster off the field. He’s a great running back and an extraordinary athlete.”

* Ryan McCann’s inexperience at quarterback showed when he tried to force a throw into double coverage, resulting in a potentially devastating 91-yard return for a touchdown by Reggie Myles, but the shoulder injury that will sideline starter Cory Paus three to four weeks doesn’t have to be a major blow to the Bruins. McCann and Paus were in a tight race for the No. 1 since job the end of last season, so there isn’t a great disparity in talent.

Paus won the job because his playing time last season gave him a better feel for the offense, an intangible being that he had a leadership quality that rallies teammates. The emotion of Alabama and the impending arrival of Michigan--after Fresno State this week--should mean McCann won’t be needed to stoke the fires. Besides, Paus has a better arm.

* Even with the unexpected change in quarterbacks after the first series, the Bruin offense looked a lot more like the ’98 version than last season’s sputtering group, which coasted to the finish by scoring seven points or less in four of the last five games.

Toledo and offensive coordinator Al Borges called a flanker reverse for Freddie Mitchell on UCLA’s second series, a play that lost three yards but perfectly set up what would follow on its next possession: Mitchell taking another reverse, only this time pulling up to throw a 31-yard touchdown to Brian Poli-Dixon. The 396 yards of total offense was 69 more than the Bruins averaged a year ago.

“As much as we were saying that we weren’t dwelling on last season and the only thing we were taking from it was learning, every player had a chip on their shoulder,” tackle Mike Saffer said. “Everyone was playing like we had something to prove.”

Alabama believes it. The pollsters too.