Fiesta Fantasy

Monday, September 28, 1998

Fiesta Fantasy

By Rocky Salmon

Daily Bruin Staff

The UCLA football team sent a message to the world to open the season on Sept. 12: The Bruins are not all about Heisman candidate Cade McNown.

Even though the Bruin quarterback would throw for 339 yards and three touchdowns against the Longhorns, McNown was only one factor in UCLA's 49-31 shellacking of the University of Texas.

With questions about the effects of the losses of Skip Hicks and Jim McElroy, the departure of defensive coordinator Rocky Long and the return of only five players who played five games on defense last year, UCLA was ready to answer.

The Bruins would greet the 73,070 fans in attendance at the Rose Bowl with an almost perfect first half. Receiving the ball first, UCLA was faced with a third down and eight at their own 46 when a new Bruin emerged from the shadows.

Out of the shotgun, McNown would hit freshman flanker Freddie Mitchell for a 16-yard pick up and a crucial first down.

Then, head coach Bob Toledo reached into his bag of tricks, and let Mitchell be the star of the day. McNown handed off to Jermaine Lewis, who handed off to Mitchell on a reverse. Mitchell then threw the ball 34 yards into the end zone, where split-end Brian Poli-Dixon caught the pass for UCLA's first touchdown of the year.

"Freddie Mitchell gives us a different dimension," Toledo said. "It was a designed play and we were going to run it the first time we got past the 50-yard line. Mitchell threw a great ball, and the wide receivers all had an excellent first half."

The wide receivers for UCLA stepped up big to prove that the departure of game breaker McElroy can be compensated by a great team receiving corps.

Each receiver would end up catching a touchdown pass, including a 79-yard touchdown pass, from McNown to Mitchell, that would close the doors on any chance that the Longhorns had of catching up to the Bruins.

Next on the list of doubts to cancel off was the loss of Skip Hicks.

Jermaine Lewis and DeShaun Foster would pick up where Hicks left off. Lewis powered in two touchdowns, and Foster sprinted in for another to help keep Texas' Heisman threat, Ricky Williams, off the field. By halftime, Lewis would have a 71 to 68-yard rushing advantage over Williams.

But in the second half, Williams would prove why he is a Heisman Trophy candidate, amassing 93 yards in the second half and three touchdowns.

"Lewis had a great game and gave us another look," Toledo said. "He hit the holes quick and had a few big runs.

"In the first half, we ran like a well-oiled machine, but parts started coming off in the second half. We started making mistakes, mentally and physically," Toledo said.

At halftime, UCLA had a 35-3 lead, but would tire in the fourth quarter as Texas ran for 21 points, led by Williams.

"In the second half we did not make plays as crisp and had a lack of effort," McNown said. "I threw a pick I shouldn't have thrown. We just lost focus. If this was the Texas team of last year, things might have been different, but by scoring on the first three possessions in the first half, we had a nice lead."

The UCLA defense held Texas in check for the first half. But in the second half the flood gates opened, as two UCLA turnovers put the defense on the field longer then they would have liked. The Bruin defense appeared to be fatigued.

Since UCLA is such a young team, the Longhorns exploited the mental mistakes, but it was too little too late, as Texas dropped to 1-1 on the season, and UCLA accomplished its two goals.

"We had two accomplishments we were trying to achieve entering the game,"said Toledo. "One was to win the first opener in the years I have been here, and two, to win our eleventh straight victory. We did both, and the latter is quite amazing, and I take pride in it. UCLA has been around for quite awhile and has a great tradition, so beating the record is something to be proud of."

HOUSTON - Jermaine Lewis ran for four touchdowns, and Cade McNown threw a 61-yard touchdown pass to Brian Poli-Dixon, as No. 4 UCLA extended its school-record winning streak to 12 games with a 42-24 victory over Houston on September 19.

McNown started slowly and finished fast in keeping the Cougars (0-3) from pulling off a major upset. He was 17-of-32 for 315 yards with one interception.

Lewis, who didn't have a run longer than nine yards in the game, scored on runs of 1, 8, 1 and 3 yards. He finished with 63 yards on 16 carries.

The Bruins (2-0) took a 21-14 halftime lead and used an interception by Santi Hall to set up a 1-yard touchdown by Lewis with 9:55 left in the third quarter and a 17-yard interception touchdown return by Ryan Roques with 9:04 to go in the third quarter to take control at 35-14.

The Cougars closed the gap to 35-24 on Jason McKinley's 3-yard touchdown pass to Orlando Iglesias and Mike Waddell's third field goal of the game, a 35-yarder.

McNown completed two third-down passes, one a 41-yarder to flanker Danny Farmer, to set up Lewis' 3-yard touchdown run with 5:01 to play.

Injuries were the story of the game for the Bruins, with freshman punt returner Freddie Mitchell suffering a broken femur.

Mitchell is expected to be out of commission for the rest of the season.

Sophomore defensive lineman Kenyon Coleman was also injured, and is expected to miss a month of play.

Staff and wire reports contributed to this article.

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