Bay Area Native Drew Collects 162 Yards on Punt Returns, Wins National Player of the Week Honors
By BRIAN BAINUM
Daily Cal Staff Writer
PASADENA, Calif.-Maurice Drew will be the last one to admit it. But for him, Saturday's matchup against Cal at the Rose Bowl was far from just another game. For one thing, the 5-foot-8 junior entered the showdown having struggled in his two previous games. Drew only accounted for 33 yards one week before against Washington, and 69 yards in the contest before that against Oklahoma. Also, Drew played his high school football at De La Salle in Concord, Calif., a mere 20-minute drive from the Berkeley campus. Many opponents from his prep days were lined up across from him, waiting to get a chance to dish out the punishment they were unable to give the dynamic tailback in high school-the Spartans never lost a game during Drew's playing career. Even his mother, Andrea Drew, said it. UCLA's meeting with the Bears meant a lot to her son. But it was only the play of Maurice Drew, scampering through, around, over and past Cal's would-be tacklers on what was a cool early-autumn evening at the Rose Bowl, that proved how big the game was to him. Drew, whose light-blue jersey read "Jones-Drew" in honor of his recently-deceased grandfather, had a record day indeed. He scampered for five touchdowns-three on the ground, one receiving and one punt return-and totaled 299 all-purpose yards, a mark that stands as the second-highest in the nation this year.
It was, in short, a performance that silenced questions of his ability to carry the team. After narrowly beating the Huskies, the Bruins practiced with a renewed focus, a focus that involved getting the ball in Drew's hands as much as possible.
"Even the (offensive) linemen were telling me, 'you got to run the ball better for us to win games,' and when they say it, you gotta do it," Drew said. While the constructive criticism from his teammates undoubtedly helped fire him up, the Bears were still able to contain him in the running game. Drew only picked up 68 yards on the ground, but did most of his damage receiving (52 yards) and on punts (162 yards). In a game that saw the two teams exchange several punches and counter-punches, Drew's big plays made all the difference in the world. He rumbled down the right side to score from 12 yards out in the second quarter, carrying Cal safety Harrison Smith with him into the end zone, making the score 14-14 after the Bears had jumped out to a quick two-score lead. In the second half, Drew delivered another blow, returning a David Lonie punt that was kicked directly to him 81 yards to give UCLA its first lead of the game. "It wasn't supposed to happen," Cal coach Jeff Tedford said. "We were trying to keep it away from him." The knockout combination came in the fourth quarter. Drew found the end zone twice in the last two minutes of the game. The first score, a 28-yard reception from Bruins quarterback Drew Olson, put UCLA in front, 41-40. The second, a two-yard dive as time expired, put the exclamation point on a game that earned Drew several national player of the week honors. "We let him get loose too many times," Tedford said. "Guys like him tend to put on a show. It was very impressive, no doubt about it." The show was particularly sweet for Drew due to his northern California ties. Several players on the Bears' defense faced him in high school games. "Everyone on Cal I played in high school, so it's a little personal," Drew said. "Those guys are trying to get after you because we beat them up a little bit in high school, so this is their chance to get back at me."
One of those players was Bears freshman wideout DeSean Jackson, who in his first game back home in southern California, had a career day, catching 10 passes for 128 yards and a touchdown. Jackson faced Drew in 2002, when Jackson's Long Beach Poly squad met the Spartans in a showdown at Memorial Stadium. "Unbelievable cat," Jackson said after the game. "He's out there making plays as running back, punt returner and kick returner. It's just hard to stop. When you have someone like that on the other side of the ball, we can't afford not to score. We can't afford field goals-we have to put seven points on the board." But due to penalties and lack of execution, Cal did not find the end zone when it needed to, and Drew was able to deliver the last blow. "I'm not going to sit here and say one guy beat us tonight, but pretty much everything they got was from Maurice," Jackson said.
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