Game Story

The knock on UCLA for so long has been softness, that the Bruins are koala bears on Demerol, tough as rose petals, rolls of six-ply Charmin Ultra.

The knock on Rick Neuheisel has been the same, that he can assemble a corps of skill position talent but not develop the grittiness needed for slug-it-out football.

So much for that theory.

UCLA not only defeated the No. 7 Texas Longhorns, 34-12, on Saturday at Texas Memorial Stadium, the Bruins beat them into submission.

For a half, this was two teams playing poorly, UCLA thrilled to maintain a 13-3 lead despite having just six passing yards and turning the ball over twice.

Then the Bruins smacked the heavily favored Longhorns around, turning the fight from Buster Douglas-Mike Tyson - UCLA was two-touchdown underdogs - to Muhammad Ali-Sonny Liston.

It wasn't over that early, but Texas was left on the canvas by the end, UCLA physically
dominating the match.

"When I walked out for pregame, and they were out there joking around, laughing, tossing the ball around, I knew their focus wasn't there," said UCLA junior safety Rahim Moore, who had eight tackles and one tackle-for-loss. "If you looked at the look on our faces, we were coming out here for war. This wasn't only a football game. This was a boxing match. We were throwing punches out there."

Early on, they weren't landing.

The Bruins had negative-six yards in the first quarter, the Pistol offense simply not working against the ultra-fast Texas defense. Sophomore quarterback Kevin Prince was sacked twice, losing 27 yards in the process, sophomore running back Johnathan Franklin had a fumble at the UCLA 19-yard line, and Texas followed with a Justin Tucker 31-yard field goal four plays later.

The Bruins showed life on their first drive of the second quarter, moving the ball 29 yards before a dropped pass from Prince to tight end Cory Harkey helped stall the drive, forcing a Jeff Locke punt at the UCLA 49-yard line.

And that's when things changed.

Junior linebacker Sean Westgate (Oak Park) flew down on punt coverage and poked the ball from the hands of Texas returner Curtis Brown at the Texas 4-yard line, and two plays later, Prince found redshirt freshman Ricky Marvray in the right side of the end zone for a 1-yard touchdown pass.

You want tough? Prince was limping on the sidelines before the drive, after coming up lame following a six-yard run, but ignored the trainers' advice and marched onto the field for the key possession.

You want tough? The Longhorns' next three possessions went a little something like this: UCLA fourth-down stand at the 40-yard line, a Garrett Gilbert fumble, and an Akeem Ayers interception of a Gilbert pass. Senior kicker Kai Forbath hit two field goals following the stand and the Gilbert fumble as the Bruins began to gain momentum.
"Once we went up at half, we came back in here and that kind of reassured us that we could
compete with these guys," Prince said.

UCLA did not merely compete, however.

The Bruins bulldogged the Longhorns to the ground and stood over their vanquished opponents for a photo-op, grinning widely.

UCLA opened the third quarter with a pivotal 80-yard touchdown drive, with Franklin getting chunk after chunk, 56 of his game-high 118 yards coming on that drive alone, highlighted by a beautiful 35-yard run. After four- and seven-yard runs by junior running back Derrick Coleman and a seven-yard Prince carry, Franklin bulled his way into the endzone for an 11-yard touchdown run, running over three Longhorns in the process.

"Opening drive of the third quarter was a monster drive," Neuheisel said. "Not only did it give us a 17-point lead, but it was a great signal from the offense to the defense; 'We're in, we're gonna help you get this done.' At that point, I really knew. Still had a lot of work to do - wasn't over by any stretch of the imagination - but I knew that we were coming together."

Coming together?

Legos come together. Lincoln logs come together. Puzzles come together.

UCLA fused into an almost-impenetrable wall, in all three facets of the game, going up 27-6 after a Texas field goal and a Prince 38-yard touchdown run before allowing a late 12-play, 80-yard touchdown drive by the Longhorns, capped off by a Gilbert-to-James Kirkendoll five-yard touchdown pass.

But just when the Bruins could have closed up shop, up two scores and an extra point, just 2 minutes, 37 seconds left in the game, they pounced, jamming their hooves on the Longhorn necks.

A botched onside kick attempt put the ball on the Texas 37-yard line, and Coleman - back after missing last Saturday's 31-13 win over No. 23 Houston following a brutal hit in a Week 2 loss to Stanford - ran three times, for two, six and 29 yards, a game-closing touchdown jaunt that left UCLA's tiny corner of the stadium in a frenzy.

"It's funny how nobody gives you a chance, man," Moore said. "Say you're just a warm-up team for next week. The whole world is doubting you. We weren't just playing the Texas Longhorns, we were playing the whole state."

The Eyes of Texas were on UCLA alright.

And the Bruins left them bloodied and bruised, and eventually closed shut.

Ali would be proud.