October 3, 1998
PASADENA, Calif. - No. 4 UCLA forced three first-quarter
turnovers to spark 28 unanswered points en route to a 49-17 routing of WSU
in front of 67,210 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.
The win extended the Bruins' record 13-game winning streak dating back to the 1997 season and
moved them to a perfect 3-0 in 1998, 1-0 in Pac-10 play, while dropping the
Cougars to 3-2 on the season, 0-2 in conference play. WSU looked ready to
fight early in the rematch of 1997's Pac-10 co-champions, but after driving
33 yards into Bruin territory, DeJuan Gilmore dropped the handoff from
Steve Birnbaum and UCLA's Pete Holland recovered near midfield to give the
Bruins' potent offense spectacular field position.
Six snaps later, Jermaine Lewis drove his way through the Cougar defense for a five yard
score and the early lead. After forcing a WSU punt, the Bruins needed only
four snaps to extend that lead when Keith Brown carried the football 10
yards to paydirt.
Ahead 14-0, UCLA had only begun to fight. Just 16 seconds later the Bruin offense was back on the field after Ryan Roques
intercepted Paul Mencke's pass in relief of a shaken Birnbaum. Cade McNown
carried the load on UCLA's third straight scoring drive, completing three
passes for 51 yards and elevating over two Cougar defenders for his first
rushing touchdown of the season.
While the Cougar defense finally managed to stop UCLA on its next possession, it could not hold off the Bruins for
long. Three minutes into the second quarter, UCLA scored its fourth
unanswered touchdown on a 6-yard run from Lewis. Down 28-0, the Cougars
finally answered the Bruin challenge with seven minutes to play in the
first half when Kevin Brown dodged defenders on his 19-yard trek into the
endzone.
UCLA supported its national ranking on the following possession, driving 52 yards in five plays, including a two-yard endzone plunge by
Brown, to regain a 28 point advantage, 35-7. The Cougars would chip away
at the UCLA advantage before the end of the second quarter with a 34-yard
field goal by Rian Lindell that brought the score to 35-10 at halftime.
Second half action was not as explosive as the first, but saw the Bruins
increase their lead to 39 points. An eight-play, 65-yard drive ended in a
seven-yard touchdown pass from McNown to Brian Poli-Dixson to put UCLA up
42-10 at the end of the third quarter.
Backup quarterback Drew Bennett joined the action in the fourth quarter, throwing a 12-yard touchdown pass
to Randy Hakes with 4:47 to play. Before the final minutes ticked away,
Birnbaum dialed up a long-distance touchdown to Adam Davis prevent the WSU
offense from going scoreless in the second half. The 68-yard strike was
the third longest of the season for Birnbaum, who threw a 97-yard touchdown
pass to Taylor and a 75-yarder to Leaford Hackett in earlier games.
WASHINGTON STATE 0 10 0 7 17
UCLA 21 14 7 7 49
TEAM QTR TIME SCORING PLAY (Yards/Plays/Drive Time/How Gained Possession)
UCLA 1 9:58 Lewis 5 rush (Sailer kick) (42/6/1:58/fumble)
UCLA 1 7:06 Brown 10 rush (Sailer kick) (48/4/1:21/punt)
UCLA 1 4:45 McNown 6 rush (Sailer kick) (54/7/2:05/interception)
UCLA 2 12:34 Lewis 6 rush (Sailer kick) (6/1/0:04/punt)
WSU 2 7:03 Brown 19 rush (Lindell kick) (74/8/3:22/punt)
UCLA 2 4:10 Brown 2 rush (Sailer kick) (39/4/1:06/punt)
WSU 2 0:00 Lindell 34 kick (44/3/1:04/interception)
UCLA 3 0:09 Poli-Dixson 7 pass from McNown (Sailer kick) (65/8/2:54/punt)
UCLA 4 4:47 Hakes 12 pass from Bennett (Sailer kick) (48/9/4:13/punt)
WSU 4 4:22 Davis 68 pass from Birnbaum (Lindell kick) (80/2/0:25/kickoff)
TOTAL OFFENSE - WSU 69/314/4.6. UCLA 75/479/6.4.
RUSHING - WSU 37/161/68/93/1/19: Brown 21/109, Gilmore 5/14, Mencke 2/6,
Thielbahr 2/1, Birnbaum 7/-37. UCLA 46/272/16/256/5/40: Lewis 15/94,
Foster 12/77, Brown 10/31, Stanley 1/29, Reynosa 2/11, Walendy 1/8, McNown
1/6, Verti 1/0, Price 3/0.
PASSING - WSU 32/13/1/221/1/68: Birnbaum 29/13/0/221/1/68, Mencke
3/0/1/0/0/0. UCLA 29/16/1/223/2/51: McNown 27/14/1/205/1/51, Bennett
2/2/0/18/1/12.
RECEIVING - WSU: Davis 2/71, Brown 2/42, Thompson 2/34, Roquemore 2/26,
Hackett 2/12, Tyalor 1/22, White 1/7, Gilmore 1/7. UCLA: Farmer 5/100,
Poli-Dixson 3/40, Neufeld 2/26, Foster 2/14, Price 1/19, Hakes 1/12,
Dubravac 1/6, Wilkins 1/6.
INTERCEPTIONS - WSU: Matthews 1/9. UCLA: Roques 1/0.
PUNTING - WSU: Anderson 7/270/38.6/47. UCLA: Sailer 5/200/40.0/51.
PUNT RETURNS - WSU: Moronkola 2/16. UCLA: Foster 5/34, DuVal 1/16, Abdul
Azziz 1/15.
KICKOFF RETURNS - WSU: Gilmore 3/82, Moronkola 1/19. UCLA: Foster 2/60,
Team 1/-2.
SCORING - WSU: Davis 6, Brown 6, Lindell 5. UCLA: Lewis 12, Brown 12,
Sailer 7, McNown 6, Poli-Dixson 6, Hakes 6.
FIRST DOWNS - WSU: 17/9/6/2. UCLA: 23/12/9/2.
FUMBLES/LOST - WSU: 3/3. UCLA: 3/1.
PENALTIES/YARDS - WSU: 8/-44. UCLA: 11/-118.
POSSESSION TIME - WSU: 29:47. UCLA: 30:13.
THIRD-DOWN CONVERSIONS - WSU: 3/15. UCLA: 3/11.
ATTENDANCE - 67,210.
WSU TACKLERS (T-P-A) -- Matthews 11/10/1, Price 11/5/6, Thompson 7/4/3,
Riley 7/4/3, Philley 7/2/5, Smith 5/3/2, Martin 4/3/1, Gleason 4/3/1, Meier
4/3/1, Newman 4/3/1, Nance 3/2/1, Ratcliff 2/2/1, Emmerson 2/2/0,
Meriwether 1/1/0, Taylor 1/1/0, Moronkola 1/1/0, Marong 1/1/0, Gibbons
1/1/0, Geces 1/0/1, Hawkins 1/0/1, Hedeen 1/0/1, Hunsaker 1/0/1.
WSU SACKS -- None.
WSU TFL - Matin 1/-4, Marong 1/-4, Nance 1/-2, 1/-1, Price 1/-1 Philley
1/-1, Smith 1/-3, Gleason 1/-3.
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