By Jay Heater
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
UCLA tailback Maurice Jones-Drew, the former De La Salle High School star, says he has a lot of friends on Cal's football team. That's just fine with Bears coach Jeff Tedford, who wants to see them get together as often as possible on the field. Tedford says a key to his team winning on Saturday at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena will be to make sure Jones-Drew has company at all times. "Once he catches it and gets you in open space, it is very difficult to tackle him one-on-one," Tedford said. "He has great lower body strength." In Cal's 45-28 victory over UCLA last season, Jones-Drew rushed for just 42 yards on 14 carries. However, he caught three short passes and turned them into 76 yards, including 27- and 43-yard touchdowns. That explosiveness makes Jones-Drew, who also is the Pac-10's leading punt returner, one of the conference's most dangerous players. It's also why Tedford worked hard to recruit Jones-Drew out of De La Salle, eventually losing the battle to UCLA because Jones-Drew wanted to play outside the Bay Area.
Now Tedford has to find ways to contain Jones-Drew, who is averaging 25.1 yards per punt return. "It's pretty scary," Tedford said. "You have to keep him bottled up, and it's hard enough to tackle him then. You get him in open space where people are coming down in lanes, and he has such great speed, he will hit every crease." Tedford said his team's defensive theme this week will be to eliminate the big play. "We have to make them earn everything they get," he said. That means keeping a couple tacklers around Jones-Drew on every play. "He is a guy who definitely makes you pay for your mistakes," Cal senior linebacker Ryan Foltz said. "He is extremely thick and powerful, and he has great vision. We have very little room for error. We just can't let a guy like that get started." Jones-Drew said he knows that Cal will make him earn every rushing yard. "Cal will play an eight-man front against us and there will be guys flying everywhere," he said. "It's going to be very exciting, me being from the Bay Area and playing Cal." Making the game more exciting is the fact both teams are unbeaten and ranked. Cal (5-0) is No. 10, and UCLA (4-0) is No. 20.
Now in their third year under coach Karl Dorrell, the Bruins finally might have developed into Pac-10 contenders. Jones-Drew, a junior, said the team has learned some tough lessons in the past, especially in two bowl losses under Dorrell. UCLA lost to Fresno State 17-9 in the 2003 Silicon Valley Football Classic and dropped a 24-21 decision to Wyoming in last year's Las Vegas Bowl. "Losing to Fresno State was an eye-opener for us," Jones-Drew said. "Then last year, we lost to a team we should have beaten. They were the better team that day, but there was no reason we should have lost to Wyoming. It taught us a lesson that you can lose at any time. You can't take any days off." Jones-Drew said the team's work ethic changed from that point. "Guys were tired of losing," he said. "We're playing to win this season, whatever it takes. We know we have to stay hungry and play hard every week." That doesn't mean there won't be bumps in the road. UCLA, 12-13 in Dorrell's first two seasons, barely beat Washington last Saturday and struggled to gain rushing yards for the second consecutive game. "We really weren't executing," Jones-Drew said. "It wasn't an effort issue. But we did have a bad day rushing for the second game in a row. I was making the wrong reads. I have to get it down."
He hopes to get it down this week. "We're jacked up for this game," he said. "It's like a rivalry game to us. We're ready."
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