UCLA Notebook

UCLA's poor tackling at times has become the worst-kept secret in the Pac-10.
"We knew their secondary had trouble against Oregon wrapping up the runner," Cal running back Shane Vereen said. "We knew that coming in, and we knew we would have to run hard against that. We knew we had to keep running our feet and good things would happen."
Turned out, great things happened for the Bears.
Vereen had 154 yards and a touchdown and teammate Jahvid Best added 102 yards rushing and a score and 51 yards receiving and a score in Cal's 45-26 win on Saturday at the Rose Bowl.
This, after the Bruins allowed Oregon's LaMichael James to run all around them in a 24-10 loss on Oct. 10.
Early in the season, missed tackles were made up for by superior talent. But the team's 3-0 start has plummeted to 3-3 with increased competition, and the Bruins now are one of two winless teams in Pac-10 play.
"I think we've tackled well for a large portion of the season," UCLA head coach Rick Neuheisel said. "Jahvid Best had eight yards on 17 carries, and 93 on the other. For a great portion of the game we're right where we need to be, making the plays, and then for whatever reason we get out of whack. We need to have that focus for the entire 60 minutes."
The defensive disappearing act has worn thin on its leaders.
Though quick to admit their own faults, several of the Bruins' more experienced defenders - senior linebackers Reggie Carter and Kyle Bosworth and senior defensive end Korey Bosworth among them - voiced their frustrations on Saturday night.
This is not a unit that lacks talent, they maintain.
They just lack consistency.
"We've got a lot of great players, we've got preseason all-Americans, past all-Americans, All-Pac-10 guys - we've got guys who can make plays individually and are great," Kyle Bosworth said. "I don't know if it's necessarily time for us to start kicking ass - this is something where you either want it or you don't. If you don't want it, we'll pull someone else up who does want it."
While UCLA knows it is certainly not too late to right the ship - the season is only half over - the team knows that Saturday's trip to Arizona has become absolutely critical.
"We really need to focus on getting this turned around, and I'm glad we've got an away game this week," Korey Bosworth said. "It's just going to be us. A lot of people are going to throw dirt on our grave, a lot of people are going to just give up on us. With this away game, it's really gonna come down to people in house. It's on our shoulders, and it's something we've got to do to turn around this program."

Williams Out
Since the loss of senior offensive lineman Micah Kia before the season, the unit has come out of games relatively unscathed.
Until Saturday.
Junior right guard Eddie Williams will miss at least four weeks after suffering a fractured ankle against the Bears. Freshman guard Stanley Hasiak is expected to move into the starting lineup at left guard, with sophomore Jeff Baca sliding into Williams' spot.