College Football

Stemming The Tide
UCLA's defense figured out how to stop Alabama and got the Bruins a rare road win

You couldn't have blamed UCLA fans on Sunday morning if they had trekked to Malibu to watch the sun rise over the Pacific. Their Bruins won on the road the night before, and they won with defense, two highly unlikely events in recent times. With the 20-17 win at Alabama, UCLA gave notice mat after two mediocre seasons it is ready to contend for the Pac-10 tide again.

The victory was a testament to the benefits of experience. The Bruins started 10 seniors, including five on defense, on which cool heads were essential. UCLA could only guess how to prepare for the offense installed by new Alabama coach Dennis Franchione, and it devoted at least half its preparation to solving the option Franchione used to devastating effect at TCU last season. "We've been bombarded with information," cornerback Ricky Manning Jr. said three days before the game. "It's been confusing. We have a meeting today about TCU's offense and Alabama's offense from last year. There's no telling what Alabama will throw at us."

In fact, UCLA didn't know how little it knew. Last winter Franchione took his staff to Clemson to study the Tigers' offense and sent offensive coordinator Les Koenning Jr. to study Northwestern's. Before last Saturday's game Franchione estimated that 40% of Alabama's offense would be new. "We will have a touch of option, but you won't walk away thinking we're an option team," Franchione said. " UCLA will see a lot of things it's never seen from us. We'll use a lot more shotgun."

Franchione hoped the shotgun would protect junior quarterback Tyler Watts from mistakes by the two freshmen—Wesley Britt and Justin Smiley—starting on the offensive line. The Bruins struggled early against the amalgam of the option and the shotgun, leaving wide receiver Antonio Carter uncovered for a 78-yard touchdown pass that staked the Tide to a 7-0 lead. Bruins defensive coordinator Phil Snow adjusted by putting a fifth man on the line, and Alabama didn't score another touchdown until 2:13 remained.

Franchione, hailed in the preseason by Alabama players for the discipline he instilled, watched his team commit a school-record 15 penalties (for 93 yards). Trailing 20-10 early in the fourth quarter and needing two feet for a first down inside the UCLA two-yard line, the Tide put three backs in the back-field and Watts under center. In the sodden air of Bryant-Denny Stadium, the formation looked like the ghost of the wishbone with which Bear Bryant won 103 games and two national tides in the 1970s. Watts took the snap, and the option flowed to the left. So, too, did UCLA linebacker Brandon Chillar, strong safety Jason Stephens and Manning, the latter shoving tailback Ahmaad Galloway out-of-bounds inches short of the first down. Rarely has a defense that allowed 458 yards been so effective. Of course, a few of those penalties, plus two turnovers, helped.

UCLA won only its second read game in its last 12 attempts. The Bruins had no penalties and no turnovers, remarkable on any Saturday and unheard of in an opener. "We're a veteran team," said UCLA coach Bob Toledo afterward. "There's no nonsense."

Upstart Fresno State
There's Bite in Those Bulldogs

With his lineman's build and curling Fu Manchu, Fresno State coach Pat Hill looks like a bouncer, which is fitting given how his Bulldogs are tossing one big-name school after another on its ear. After winning 24-22 at Colorado on Aug. 26, Fresno State pounded Oregon State 44-24 in front of a record home crowd on Sunday night. If the Bulldogs win at Wisconsin tins Saturday and at Colorado State on Oct. 13, Hill believes that his team can make a run at the Rose Bowl, site of this season's national championship game.

The Bulldogs are part of the Western Athletic Conference, whose champion is guaranteed a berth in one of the four BCS bowls only if it finishes among the top six in the final BCS ranking. That's why Hill front-loaded his schedule with name schools, figuring he could give his team a boost in the strength-of-schedule component used in the formula to determine the BCS ranking. "Is there room for a Gonzaga of college football?" he asks, referring to the West Coast Conference basketball team that has reached the Sweet 16 three years running. "Nobody wants to give the mid-majors a chance. If we can win with our schedule, we should be considered a major-college team trying for the same trophy everybody else is."