UCLA Flashes Some Pac-10 Muscle

The UCLA Bruins are not supposed to win football games like this.

No way. Not on the road in front of a hostile Tennessee crowd of 102,239 in a game that featured a fourth-quarter goal-line stand by the Bruins and a couple of key late officiating calls that did not go in their favor.

This just does not happen for a Pac-10 football program in SEC land. But it did.

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In what could be a turning-point victory for UCLA's football program under second-year coach Rick Neuheisel, the Bruins capitalized on three Tennessee interceptions and used four field goals by Kai Forbath to defeat the Volunteers, 19-15, Saturday at Neyland Stadium.

For the Bruins, who improved to 2-0 this season, the win not only gave them two victories in two years over Tennessee but it also helped raise the Pac-10 conference's status against overhyped teams from the SEC.

"We're young and we're too naive to know how hard it is," Neuheisel told ESPN after the game. "But they are resilient and they're tough. And we can build something from this and hopefully, we'll go back and fix all of the little things that we can do better. But when you have a little heart and you have a little toughness, you can be a good football team."

UCLA's defense, which held Tennessee to 208 total yards, proved to be the difference, forcing four turnovers, including two interceptions made by safety Rahim Moore (top photo), who has five in two games this season.


While Tennessee, which dropped to 1-1, had trouble holding on to the football, avoiding costly turnovers was a key for the Bruins as redshirt freshman quarterback Kevin Prince did not throw an interception and finished 11 of 23 for 101 yards with a touchdown.

The deciding point of the game came in the final two minutes of the fourth quarter with UCLA leading, 19-13. Tennessee, which finally had momentum on its side and the crowd fired up after trailing throughout the contest, drove 53 yards to the Bruins' 2-yard line but on fourth-and-goal, running back Montario Hardesty was stopped short of a touchdown.

"Our goal was keep coming after them and get them tired," Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin told reporters after the game.

Unfortunately for the Volunteers, the Bruins' defense caught a second wind and with the game on the line, a Pac-10 team stuffed an SEC ground attack in the trenches when it counted.

But even after UCLA's defensive stand, Tennessee still had a chance to win.

That's because three plays after Hardesty failed to score, Prince was tackled by the Volunteers' Dennis Rogan in the end zone for a safety to cut the Bruins' lead to 19-15 with 1:41 remaining.

Tennessee, however, could not get it done down the stretch with quarterback Jonathan Crompton, who completed 13 of 26 passes for only 93 yards with three picks. Crompton missed badly on three attempts and was sacked on second down. The Volunteers even got an extra chance due to an offside UCLA penalty, but Crompton again fell short on a pass attempt to Gerald Jones.

For Neuheisel, the victory is only a step in the right direction for the Bruins.

"I spoke to the team in the early portion of the season about getting UCLA on the mantle where we can go to black tie affairs," Neuheisel said. "This is a start and we're not ready for there yet. But gosh all mighty we aim to get there."