Defense Is a Blizzard of Ahs

CORVALLIS, Ore. â€”  Their coordinator is named Snow. Their leader’s jersey is adorned with a snowman. They continue to swarm and slap the other guys like wet flurries.

Now that the UCLA defense is officially good enough for a nickname, it drops easily from the gaping jaw.

The Blizzard of Westwood.

It’s a bit corny, but then, so were the Bruins who raced through the cool shadows to a sunny corner of the end zone here Saturday to lead their fans in cheers after a 38-7 rebuttal of trash-mouthed Oregon State.

“Before the game they said we hadn’t faced a top offense yet,� said linebacker Robert Thomas with a smile. “Well, we still haven’t.�

It’s a bit unsubtle, but then, so was the defensive play that typified the game, a leveling of Beaver receiver George Gillett by Jason Stephens in the third quarter, forcing a fumble that led to the fourth Bruin touchdown.

A hit so loud, the press box seemed to shake.

Stephens said it was the hardest hit of his four years. It was possibly the hardest hit of Coach Bob Toledo’s six years.

It was born of an idea that has turned the Bruin defense into something that sounds like the unique recording blared over the loudspeaker here before big plays.

A recording of a chainsaw.

“I saw him catch the ball and run at me and thought, one of us is going to do down--and it has to be him,� Stephens said.

Since that fateful game at Miami in 1998--are we ever going to stop bringing that up?--the Bruin defense has constantly endured similar collisions.

The ball carrier always had expectations.

The ones getting knocked silly were always the Bruins.

For more than two years, the defense has dragged an offense and title hopes and two coordinators and perhaps even a piece of the head coach’s job security down with it.

This summer, Toledo sat in his office and proclaimed that enough was enough.

“Our defensive players are older, smarter and healthier,� he said at the time. “I know that I will be judged on how they do. And I’m telling you, they’re going to be better.�

For three games, there were hints that he was right, but only hints.

It didn’t take a tide to wash out disorganized Alabama. There are few teams more irrelevant than Kansas. And only the Galaxy came to the Rose Bowl with fewer scorers than Ohio State.

The Bruins were 3-0 and coming off a defensive shutout, but none of it mattered until Saturday.

Now, it does.

Now, the question has become a declarative sentence.

An offensive power has fallen in the Northwest woods, and everybody is going to know about it.

With their best defensive start in 21 years, the 12th-ranked Bruins will go nowhere but up.

“Defensively, they wore us out,� Beaver Coach Dennis Erickson said. “And it’s embarrassing.�

Not as embarrassing as the 55-7 whipping of the Bruins by the Beavers two years ago. But, unlike Erickson, Toledo refused to pile on.

“I was tempted,� said Toledo, who used second-stringers in the fourth quarter and threw on only two of UCLA’s last 14 plays. “But it’s not me.�

It also was not as embarrassing as the 49.5 points the Beavers averaged in the last two games against the Bruins, nor as embarrassing as the average of 581.5 yards the Bruins allowed in those games.

This, in a way, was worse.

“Shock,� said UCLA lineman Kenyon Coleman. “I don’t think they were blown away. I think they were shocked.�

Just 220 total yards? Only one penetration inside the Bruin 44-yard line? And that was only against the Bruin second string?

The Bruin defense was so overwhelming, so quickly, that when lineman Ken Kocher was helped from the field early in the game with a knee injury, he refused to leave the sideline.

A couple of series later, trainers slipped a brace on the knee, and he returned to the game.

“We were going so crazy, I wanted to be part of it,� he said.

They were so relentless, the offense did something it has rarely done before. It watched.

“I love standing there and watching them right now, the way they are all flying around,� tackle Mike Saffer said. “In the past, the offense would think about how we had to keep scoring because we never knew what would happen. Now, we’re all watching.�

Jonathan Smith is the first top quarterback the Bruins have faced this year. Yet he was gone by the fourth quarter, having played so poorly that those left in fast-emptying Reser Stadium cheered wildly for his replacement.

“What we preach is always, hit the quarterback,� said new defensive coordinator Phil Snow. “Get him out of his rhythm. Get him out of his comfort zone.�

Ken Simonton is the first top running back, and Heisman Trophy candidate, the Bruins have faced this year. Yet he was benched after fumbling early in the second quarter, and gained a career-low 26 yards.

When asked what he thought the Beavers (1-2) needed, he said, “A sense of, ‘Why am I here doing this?�’

Isn’t that the definition of knocked silly?

Goodbye Heisman hype for Simonton, hello Butkus hype for Thomas.

That’s the award given to the nation’s best linebacker, a contest whose early leader must certainly be UCLA’s defensive leader.

“This is as well as I’ve ever seen Robert Thomas play,� said fellow linebacker Ryan Nece. “He’s out of his mind.�

He wears the snowman--No. 8--and the Blizzard of Westwood starts with him.

He bounced Smith around, collared Simonton, held the Beavers’ tight ends to three catches, led the team in tackles as always, with nine.

“We wore them out, we handled them, they didn’t have nothing,� said Thomas. “A new year, a new attitude.�

And a new nickname, to be imprinted on T-shirts soon, special T-shirts, torn at the collar, grass stains on the sleeves, the kind that don’t easily shrink.

*

ill Plaschke can be reached at [email protected]