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 Saturday, October 27, 2001
Stanford overpowered the Bruins
By Tim Brant
Special to ABC Sports Online
STANFORD, Calif. -- Stanford's offensive line overpowered UCLA early on and the Bruins didn't expect that. The Cardinal have one of the most experienced offensive lines and they average 303 pounds and they were laying the lumber to the UCLA defense.
Plus, they were getting everyone involved -- the tight end, the wide receivers, both running backs. By using all their weapons, they kept UCLA on its heels all day. The Bruins couldn't figure them out in the first half. By that time the half was over, it was 28-7.
UCLA came back and pulled within three and still had plenty of time to win it, but I question Bob Toledo's call to go for it on fourth down with 2:30 to go. Had they punted, they might have had a shot to get it back. Instead, they didn't get the first and Stanford scored another touchdown to win it.
|  | | Chris Lewis completed 20-of-29 for 253 yards and 3 touchdowns. |
Stanford QB Chris Lewis was amazing. He wasn't real impressive in the win over Oregon, but he did what he had to do. Against UCLA, he was phenomenal. He was 20-of-29 and used all his weapons. He was in complete control of the game, very poised and calm. His offensive line protected him throughout. It was a spectacular effort by Lewis. My hat's off to him.
Meanwhile, Stanford's front seven was great. They have been tough against the run all year. They came in allowing 100.6 yards per game and held the Bruins to 57 yards on 25 carries. UCLA knew it was going to be tough on DeShaun Foster all day (held to 77 yards, half his nation-leading 155-yard average), and it was. The linebackers were real good and the defensive front four was spectacular. They jammed the box and caused all sorts of problems. That was the game plan and they were effective doing it.
The Bruins offense was out of sync. When Cory Paus wasn't able to come out in the second half, Scott McEwan ignited the offense. He was hitting the passes, very confident, throwing in rhythm. That opened up the running game and Foster had some success in the second half as the Bruins pulled with in three. But when McEwan got hurt, Ryan McCann (0-for-4) had to come in and it was too little too late.
This puts Stanford in the mix for the Pac-10 title with just one loss. It's difficult to go through the conference unbeaten. There are now a lot of teams in the conference with one loss, including UCLA and Stanford. It is wide open right now.
UCLA's national championship hopes were severely damaged, but there is still a lot of football to be played. If Oklahoma comes back and beats Nebraska in the Big 12 Championship game and if Syracuse, Washington or Virginia Tech beat Miami, both of them would have one loss and if Washington State loses, there won't be any unbeatens left. The door is not completely shut on UCLA.
The Bruins will be helped by their strength-of-schedule. They have to play Washington State next week and have Oregon the following week. It's a tough stretch, but it will help them if they win those.
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 Kerry Carter finds the hole and dashes 27-yards for an insurance touchdown (Courtesy: ABC Sports).
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Scott McEwan lofts the ball to Bryan Fletcher who makes the over-the-shoulder TD catch (Courtesy: ABC Sports).
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Scott McEwan finds an open Mike Seidman for a 23-yard score (Courtesy: ABC Sports).
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Kerry Carter catches the short pass underneath and sprints for the corner of the end zone (Courtesy: ABC Sports).
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Stanford recovers the DeShaun Foster fumble, then Brian Allen makes UCLA pay on the very next play (Courtesy: ABC Sports).
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Teyo Johnson makes an oustanding one-handed grab and gets one foot in bounds for the TD (Courtesy: ABC Sports).
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Luke Powell hauls in the 20-yard TD, capping off a 13-play, 91-yard Cardinal drive (Courtesy: ABC Sports).
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Ryan Nece picks up the loose ball and runs it back 44 yards for the touchdown (Courtesy: ABC Sports).
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