Pac-12 doormats UCLA, Oregon State reinvented into winners

How dramatically can a team reinvent itself in the course of one offseason? Well, how many yards did UCLA gain in Week 2?

The Bruins wore their traditional blue and gold uniforms Saturday against Nebraska, but anyone who had the misfortune of watching their offense the past several years would not have recognized the squad that knocked off the 16th-ranked Huskers, 36-30. Two years ago, Rick Neuheisel's Bruins ranked 100th nationally in total offense; last year they were 72nd. In two weeks under replacement Jim L. Mora, UCLA has fared better than all but two teams nationally in racking up 645 yards against Rice and 653 against Nebraska, the most the Huskers have allowed in a game since 1956.

As he left the Rose Bowl field, redshirt freshman quarterback Brett Hundley yelled to the crowd: "This is just the start."

Two other first-year Pac-12 coaches, Arizona's Rich Rodriguez (59-38 over defending Big 12 champ Oklahoma State) and Arizona State's Todd Graham (45-14 over Illinois) notched impactful Week 2 victories Saturday. Slowing down Oklahoma State's high-powered attack had to be particularly satisfying for Rodriguez after the grief his defense took during his failed Michigan tenure.

But no major program in America has undergone a more radical offensive transformation than UCLA's under Mora and new coordinator Noel Mazzone.

After Neuheisel's failed attempt to run the Pistol offense, first with the completely miscast Norm Chow, then with NFL-import Mike Johnson, Mazzone has installed a hurry-up, one-back attack that the Bruins have seemingly picked up with ease.

"They're a bunch of young guys that have done a good job overcoming my coaching," joked Mazzone, who, coincidentally, was ousted at Arizona State when Graham replaced Dennis Erickson.

The seemingly obvious reason UCLA has improved is Hundley, a gifted dual-threat athlete who was 21-of-33 for 305 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions against Nebraska. He had a 72-yard touchdown run the week prior against Rice on his first college play. After years of watching guys like Kevin Craft, Kevin Prince and Richard Brehaut either struggle or get hurt, fans finally have the game-changer they've been awaiting in Hundley.

But Hundley has a lot of help. He's got a veteran tailback in Johnathan Franklin who has exploded in the new offense, gaining 214 and 217 yards, respectively, in his first two outings. And he's got a pair of talented classmates in redshirt freshmen Steven Manfro and Devin Lucien, who have upgraded UCLA's receiving corps.

"I thought we had a lot of skill guys, some good team speed," Mazzone said of the roster he inherited. "I didn't really know about the offensive line."

Indeed, the O-line had been a sore spot for several years, and this team is starting three true or redshirt freshmen. But Mazzone's offense may be as friendly as any for an inexperienced blocker. Quick passes, often to the running backs, require less protection and make it difficult for opponents to blitz.

UCLA's defense will have its own problems stopping people this season -- Nebraska's Taylor Martinez broke a 92-yard touchdown run, and the Huskers averaged 6.6 yards per play -- but Bruins fans finally have cause for excitement.

It doesn't always take a massive coaching overhaul to resuscitate a fallen program, though. One need only look further up the West Coast to Saturday's stunner in Corvallis, Ore., where Oregon State -- 5-7 and 3-9 the past two seasons -- knocked off two-time defending Big Ten champion Wisconsin. A team that ranked 84th nationally in total defense a year ago (and in fact lost 35-0 to the Badgers in Madison) shut out Monteé Ball and Co. for 58 minutes, hanging on to win 10-7 after a late Wisconsin touchdown. It was an eye-opening performance for a Beavers team whose original opener against Nicholls State got postponed.

At most BCS-conference programs, a pair of down seasons like the ones Beavers coach Mike Riley just endured would have elicited so much heat he'd have been compelled to fire half his coaching staff. But Corvallis is a different kind of place.

"We have a good group of people I've been with for a long time," Riley said Sunday. "We know we had a couple of rough years but we just kept working. We believe in what we do with kids, that it's about growth and development."

Riley and longtime defensive coordinator Mark Banker employed a couple subtle tweaks Saturday (they played more nickel than usual, with cornerback Jordan Poyer notching a key sack of Badgers quarterback Danny O'Brien using that look), but for the most part, Oregon State is employing the same approach of developing overlooked players into the type of unit that produced a Top 25 rushing defense when the Beavers played Oregon for a spot in the Rose Bowl in 2009.

Four sophomore starters -- defensive linemen Scott Crichton and Dylan Wynn, linebacker D.J. Welch and safety Ryan Murphy -- got notably bigger and/or faster after being pressed into action as freshmen. Welch, who had 18 tackles last season, had seven against the Badgers, including two for loss.

Results like these aren't usually the byproduct of one side. Nebraska had issues defensively last season, and apparently those problems have grown worse. Wisconsin was given great benefit of the doubt for a team that lost an NFL opening-day quarterback (Russell Wilson) and six assistant coaches; clearly, these aren't the same Badgers.

But nor are these the same Bruins or Beavers.

"I like the confidence our whole team played with [Saturday]," said Riley. "I loved everything about the offseason, but it was still a mystery to me how we might look like, and not having that first game, the mystery lasted longer.

"I sure hope we [can keep it up], because we play some great running teams."

Indeed: After another bye week, Oregon State's next game is against ... UCLA.

Louisiana-Monroe makes history

In the wee hours of the morning, as the highlights from Louisiana-Monroe's stunning 34-31 upset of eighth-ranked Arkansas played on endless loop, the man most responsible for the heroics went home and straight to bed.

"My arm was sore from throwing [67] times and I had a headache from yelling and screaming," Warhawks quarterback Kolton Browning said Sunday. "But I'm feeling great today."

Browning, a three-year starter from Manbank, Texas, shattered all of his previous career highs with a 42-of-67, 412-yard, three-touchdown performance in leading the Warhawks back from a 28-7 third-quarter deficit. With Razorbacks star quarterback Tyler Wilson sidelined in the second half with an injury, Arkansas went scoreless over the last 24:42 of regulation, but it still took two astounding fourth-down conversions at the end for ULM to compete the upset.

First, on fourth-and-10 from the Arkansas 23-yard line with less than a minute remaining, the left-handed Browning stepped up in the pocket and went for the home run, hitting receiver Brent Leonard just in front of his defender and in just the right spot for Leonard to step into the end zone. "It was a great relief," said a reserved Browning. "It's crazy when you go in there with [53,000] people yelling, and suddenly it gets quiet."

After Arkansas kicked a field goal in its half of overtime, the Warhawks opted to go for it on fourth-and-one from the Razorbacks' 16. Browning rolled to his left looking to go downfield again, but Arkansas had his receivers covered. So Browning channeled his inner-Vince Young vs. USC, cutting back across the field and making a beeline for the right corner of the end zone. "I looked back and there's a big hole," Browning said. "I saw all that grass there and I went for it."

In doing so, Browning capped Louisiana-Monroe's first win over an SEC foe since knocking off Nick Saban-led Alabama in 2007. That win came against a 6-6 Crimson Tide team; this came against an Arkansas team that won 11 games a year ago and entered the game ranked eighth in the country. It marked the Sun Belt's first-ever win over a top 10 foe and the Warhawks' first victory over a ranked team since moving up to Division I-A in 1994.

"Everybody was excited," said Browning, a fourth-year junior who's yet to experience a winning season. "We did what we always knew we were capable of doing, which is beating what everybody considers an elite opponent. We enjoyed finally getting over the hump."