No place to run, no place to hide

Rick Neuheisel has made an emphasis in practice to say that UCLA will be able to run the ball or "die trying."

During live scrimmage drills in the afternoon, the front seven of UCLA's defense had the Bruins' running backs on life supports.

Of the 17 carries Christian Ramirez, Johnathan Franklin, Milton Knox and Derrick Coleman combined for against the first- or second-team defense in 11-on-11 competition, eight went for no gain or negative yardage.

Knox had a 10-yard run that could've gone longer had the play been carried out and Ramirez produced a 6-yard gain in the last offensive series.

Still, senior receiver Terrence Austin remains positive about the direction of the offense under redshirt freshman quarterback Kevin Prince.

"Honestly, I think it's looking pretty good," Austin said. "We're doing a lot better than we were last year. We're coming together. Last year, we were always guessing what's happening next. But this year, this group has had a lot more repetitions together."

As for Neuheisel, he remains optimistic, the Bruins will improve on a rushing attack that ranked 116th in the country last year.

"We just have to keep slugging away. It's like Rocky pounding on that meat in the locker room, we just have to keep at it," Neuheisel said. "I like the progress. The defense is still ahead of the offense, but it doesn't look like it's so one-sided (like it's been in the past). We still have to get our assignment blocks down and keep them from slashing gaps, so we can get better protection."