Daily Bruin: Secondary, D-line share in the blame

By David Woods

The Bruins' secondary has been garnering much of the blame for Saturday's defensive debacle against Washington State, but to a large extent, the 515 total yards allowed and 405 through the air was not entirely their fault. UCLA's defensive line managed to put very minor pressure on Cougar quarterback Alex Brink, which allowed him to pick apart the secondary with pinpoint accuracy.  "You can't just leave your corners out there and your safeties out there with no help," defensive end Bruce Davis said. "When they have three or four seconds to throw the ball, it puts a lot of pressure on the defensive backs. I hate to see all the blame placed on the DBs. For the DBs to play well, the front has to play well."  Davis himself managed two sacks in the game, but they came very early. After the first quarter, the Cougar protection became nearly impenetrable, with Davis describing it as almost like a punt-block protection.  "They were sliding the line and bringing in a tight end and running back to block," Davis said. "They were just stepping back and keeping us in front of them."

Also contributing to the Bruins' struggles on defense was the extent to which they were on the field. But despite the fact that UCLA's defenders were on the field for 37 minutes of Saturday's game, they stopped short of blaming the UCLA offense for their inability to get rest.  "That's on us for not getting off the field," cornerback Alterraun Verner said. "We can control that if we wanted to. I'm not frustrated (with the offense) one bit."  Davis echoed Verner's statements, saying that the Bruins need to go back to the defensive playmaking that was a hallmark of their aggressive defense earlier in the year.  "When we have an opportunity to make a play, we have to make a play," Davis said. "It's hard to be a defense that's on the field 70 or 80 plays. We can't do that no matter how athletic and fast we are.  "The offense is going to do what they're going to do. But if the other team doesn't score, we're going to win."

REFEREE INTERFERENCE: Contributing to UCLA's struggles was the questionable penalty calls by the Pac-10 officials working the game. On one occasion, Verner was called for pass interference in the end zone on a play where it appeared he had nearly perfect coverage, putting his hands up at the proper time to knock the ball back.  "The referees thought they saw something," Verner said. "I thought I had good coverage. Even a receiver came up to me after the game and said I had good coverage.  "But you can't blame the referees. (Defensive end Justin) Hickman told me to just get back out there and make another play."

LIKELY REDSHIRTS: Wide receiver Joe Cowan and cornerback Michael Norris, both out since the preseason with PCL tears, are in all likelihood not going to play this year. Both will apply for medical redshirts, according to coach Karl Dorrell. Cowan practiced with the team on Tuesday in a no-tackle practice.  "He looks out of shape," Dorrell said jokingly. "He looks heavy. I told him he looks like a tight end right now. Better watch it, we'll be moving him down to a three-point stance instead of a two-point stance."  Dorrell also had a few words on the other injuries to the team.  "For the most part, we're in pretty good health," Dorrell said. "Other than you lost your quarterback, one of your best tight ends. Lost a back. So we're in pretty good shape."