6 Ucla

Fast Facts
1997 record: 10-2 (7-1, tied for 1st in Pac-10)
Final ranking: No. 5 AP, No. 5 coaches' poll
1997 Averages	Scoring	Rushing Yards	Passing Yards	Total Yards
OFFENSE	40.7	166.7	266.3	433.0
DEFENSE	20.4	108.3	253.0	361.3

The mood of a football program is often found on the backs of T-shirts. This off-season in Westwood, T's boasting of the Bruins' Cotton Bowl victory last New Year's Day were scarce, as were any that touted their 10-game winning streak to end the season. No, the most popular shirt among Bruins players this summer carried a simple message: UNFINISHED BUSINESS.

In the 1997 opener against Washington State, UCLA was stopped just short of the goal line with less than three minutes to play and lost 37-34. (When the Bruins wound up tying the Cougars for the Pac-10 championship, that failure was the tiebreaker that kept UCLA from the Rose Bowl and any shot at the national title.) A week later UCLA came up short again, losing 30-24 to Peyton Manning and Tennessee despite a furious second-half rally.

"Not a day goes by where I don't think about Washington State and Tennessee," says Brendon Ayanbadejo, a senior linebacker. When asked about those two games, senior guard Andy Meyers twists his face into a scowl and says caustically, "They were a fluke and a travesty, in that order, and we're still bitter."

The Bruins will need such motivation as they try to replicate the success of 1997—which ended in a No. 5 final ranking, the school's highest since '82—because questions lurk on both sides of the ball.

The potent offense that was third in the nation in scoring has lost 35 touchdowns from last year in tailback Skip Hicks and deep receiver Jim McElroy. Quarterback and Heisman hopeful Cade McNown, whose mastery of the West Coast offense helped him lead the country in passing efficiency, returns for his senior year, but the rest of the attack is in the hands of largely unproven skill-position players. Among the deep receivers, 6'4", 210-pound junior Danny Farmer—who when not spiking the football after touchdowns is spiking volley-balls as a key player on UCLA's perennial national powerhouse—is the go-to guy by default. At 6'5" and 205 pounds, sophomore Brian Poli-Dixon has the size of former Bruins All-America J.J. Stokes and has shown flashes of Stokes's game-breaking ability. Reliable tight end Mike Grieb will also get more looks.

During spring practice the most pitched battle was at tailback, where shifty sophomore Jermaine (Squat Diesel) Lewis, at 5'7", 177 pounds, had the edge on bigger (6-foot, 214) but slower Keith Brown. If much-hyped incoming freshman DeShaun Foster has the goods, the Bruins could go with a tailback by committee.

"I don't know if we're going to be capable of blowing teams away like we did last year, but with Cade in charge of the offense, I'm not so worried about scoring points," says Bob Toledo, who in his two seasons as head coach (he was UCLA's offensive coordinator for two years before moving up to the top job) has earned the nicknames Tricky and Gadget because of his love for crafty schoolyard plays. "What I'm worried about is the defense."

UCLA lost seven starters from the attacking, opportunistic defense that helped the Bruins to a plus-1.82 turnover margin, second best in the nation. Defensive coordinator Rocky Long also left, to become head coach at New Mexico. His replacement is Nick Aliotti, who worked as a defensive assistant with the St. Louis Rams for three years and before that was architect of the D for Oregon's '94 Rose Bowl team. Aliotti has dropped the 3-3-5 formation in favor of a 3-4-4 in hopes of becoming stronger against the run while creating more opportunities to blitz.

In Ayanbadejo and senior strong safety Larry Atkins, Aliotti has a couple of budding stars to build around. The 6'2", 234-pound Ayanbadejo is a sideline-to-sideline terror who should thrive with the increased freedom he gets in the new defense; the ball-hawking Atkins (6'4", 228) snared five interceptions, recovered three fumbles and had four sacks last year and is a candidate for the Jim Thorpe Award. With the infusion of one of the country's best recruiting classes, UCLA has fresh talent at every defensive position.

How quickly the key players adapt to larger roles in a new system may determine this team's fate, because the Bruins will be tested early. Their first game is against Texas, which has been stewing for nearly a year about last season's 66-3 annihilation in Austin. As far back as the spring the Bruins coaches were studying game tapes of North Carolina and LSU, where much of the Longhorns' new coaching staff came from. There is also a game at Miami in the third week. Still, it's doubtful that the early season will be as trying as last year's. That UCLA didn't crack after its horrible start is testament to the preternaturally upbeat Toledo. "For too long the expectations in this program have not been high enough," he says. "It's time we raised them. No one around here should be afraid of talking about national championships."