UCLA’s Season of What Might Have Been

For 48 minutes and 54 seconds, UCLA played as it had much of the season. It was occasionally brilliant, but frequently porous, mistake-prone and with a huge big-play trade deficit.

For 11:06 and into overtime of a 48-41 victory over USC, the Bruins played better, longer, than they had all season. It was a strong end to a 5-6 (4-4 in the Pacific 10) season that, but for the final five minutes against Stanford, could have been 6-5, with a Sun Bowl game yet to play; or 7-4, with an upset of Arizona State’s Rose Bowl apple cart.

It was a season with few surprises.

“If you were betting, you would have picked us to be about where we are now,” Coach Bob Toledo said when the Bruins were 2-3 after a 34-22 loss to Arizona State.

“Isn’t this about where you picked us?” he asked reporters when the Bruins were 3-4 after a 38-29 win over California.

It was. And it was also a reminder that UCLA had a young team and a new coach, with some good athletes who needed to be bigger good athletes.

That was a constant when opposing coaches talked about the Bruins.

“They have some great athletes,” said Washington’s Jim Lambright.

“Wonderful athletes,” Washington State’s Mike Price said.

” . . . athletes,” said Arizona State’s Bruce Snyder.

But athletes aren’t always good football players, and frequently the best athletes make the most mistakes.

“It was the thing that hurt us most this season,” Toledo said Sunday. “We didn’t make the routine tackle, the routine run, the routine throw, the routine catch, the routine block. When you make the routine plays, occasionally you’re going to get a great athletic play that can make a real difference.”

Rodney Lee made a brilliant diving catch on UCLA’s final touchdown drive in regulation Saturday; Tod McBride made one against Washington that set up the final Bruin touchdown in a 41-21 loss. But both dropped passes, as did all of the receivers all too often in a season in which no one stood out as the go-to guy when the offense needed a critical first down.

Cade McNown threw a strike to Danny Farmer for a 52-yard touchdown against USC, only a quarter removed from a miserable pass that was intercepted by Sammy Knight and returned 74 yards for a touchdown. He finished the season with 2,424 yards and 12 touchdowns, but with 16 interceptions.

Skip Hicks ran for 11 yards for a touchdown, then ran 25 yards for the game-winner in overtime Saturday. But he fumbled four times during the season.

The defense made big stops in the game’s closing moments against USC, but gave up 260 receiving yards to R. Jay Soward.

It was a place to start, but more foundation is needed. While their brethren are preparing for bowl games, UCLA coaches are fanning out across the country in search of talent, particularly big talent.

“Sure, we want somebody at every position, but what we really need is big people,” Toledo said. “We need three or four offensive linemen and three or four defensive linemen.

“The most disturbing thing this season was watching Michigan and Washington pushing us, making three or four yards a carry. They were patient. Most people aren’t. If other teams had been patient enough to take three or four or five yards a carry, it would have been tougher for us.”

UCLA played with a defensive line that included Travis Kirschke, Jeff Ruckman and Weldon Forde, with Darren Cline and Damon Smith subbing. Only Kirschke, at 278 pounds, has lineman size, and he is a senior.

Ruckman, a converted linebacker, played nose guard at 245 pounds and frequently struggled at dealing with 600 pounds of blockers on every play. Forde, at 235 pounds, also played the nose, but then moved to end, where he still had to contend with 300-pound tackles.

The replacement process is going to take time, because even the best recruit is going to need a year or more to grow into college football.

The Webb twins, Micah and Josh, were redshirted and have size at 6-feet-5, 270 pounds and growing. They are going to get long looks next season.

The offensive line used a freshman, two sophomores and two juniors as starters, with junior Sean Gully as the top substitute.

“Oh boy, they probably made the biggest improvement all year,” Toledo said. “[Assistant coach] Steve Marshall did an outstanding job with them, and they really like him and are responding to him.”

But more are needed.

Tight ends Mike Grieb and Gabe Crecion are the future, but senior Jamal Clark is a pleasant past. In September, Clark looked like the converted tackle he was. By season’s end, he had played himself into an NFL training camp.

What remains now is for Toledo to keep the players he has and add to them. Juniors Hicks, who rushed for 1,034 yards; and defensive back Shaun Williams, called UCLA’s best football player, will have meetings with the coach this week in an attempt to keep them in school and out of the NFL draft.

“I think they need another year in college, and that’s not just because I want to keep them,” Toledo said.

And it remains to him to try to keep backup quarterback Steve Buck from transferring, though the offer is only to compete for a job that is McNown’s to lose for two more seasons.

It was a beginning.

“It’s been fun, it’s been exciting,” said Toledo. “I knew going in that this wouldn’t be easy. I knew we didn’t have an overabundance of players.

“But I think I’ve got my stamp on the program now, and I like our future.”

That future points to Sept. 6, when the Bruins open at home against Tennessee, and the next week, when they travel to Texas.