Pasadena Is Hicksville

Skip Hicks is to public speaking as Sinbad is to Shakespeare, but Hicks had them in the aisles Friday night.

And he had Washington sprawled all over the Rose Bowl field Saturday afternoon.

Hicks saved his best effort against the Huskies for last, running for 147 yards and three touchdowns and catching three passes for 106 yards and another score in UCLA’s 52-28 victory that accomplished the first of three things the Bruins needed to happen to make New Year’s in Pasadena a reality.

UCLA needs a win over USC next week and for the Huskies to beat Washington State to gain the Pacific 10’s Rose Bowl berth.

“The one thing that’s in our control is the SC game,” said Bruin quarterback Cade McNown, who completed 16 of 23 passes for 320 yards and three touchdowns, and also had his best running game of the season: seven carries for 44 yards and a spectacular 11-yard touchdown.

“The USC-UCLA game is at a different level. We’re always thinking about them in the back of our minds.”

And now it’s in the front of their minds after Hicks and McNown and the Bruin defense combined to overwhelm 13th-ranked Washington (7-3, 5-2 in the Pacific 10) before 85,697.

Getting Hicks to speak before a group is a lot like catching him from behind, but Washington has been something of a nemesis for him, so he decided to talk the talk.

He had carried 15 times for 24 yards in three games against Washington since 1993, but he stood up before teammates to vow that Saturday was going to be different.

“Basically, I just stood up to speak and erase any doubts from anybody’s mind about how I was going to do today,” Hicks said. “Everybody was excited when I stood up because I don’t do it that often. You could see the excitement when I did.”

Defensive end Trevor Turner was so fired up that he threw up.

And then Hicks walked the walk, or, more accurately, ran it. He scored on a two-yard run to open the second quarter and tie the score, 7-7; on a 67-yard pass play to give UCLA a 21-20 lead; on a 37-yard run to lengthen that lead to 38-20; and on a nine-yard run to make it 52-20 and give him the Pac-10 record for most touchdowns in a season: 24.

O.J. Simpson and Marcus Allen scored 23 for USC, and Washington’s Corey Dillon tied the record last season, getting five of the touchdowns against the Bruins.

This was, Hicks said, “the best game of my life.”

It was the most important game of the season for ninth-ranked UCLA, giving the Bruins (8-2, 6-1) their first eight-game winning streak since 1987 and raising the bowl stakes for next week’s game against USC.

With that in mind, Coach Bob Toledo said, “we didn’t leave anything in the cupboard.”

Not true. There is plenty of trickery remaining on the shelves, but the Bruins did trot out a shovel pass from McNown to Hicks that became a 16-yard gain; a tailback pass from Durell Price toward Jim McElroy that had last been used in the season opener, at Washington State, to the same effect--an incomplete pass; and a two-quarterback formation that became an option play to Hicks for his first touchdown.

An extra week of preparation might have been a factor, said Washington Coach Jim Lambright, whose team lost a second game in a row for the first time in his five years.

“But players beat players, and coaches only help,” he said. “They beat us and beat us good. They’re every bit as good as any team we’ve faced.”

The Huskies faced Nebraska earlier in the season, losing to the Cornhuskers, 27-14.

Washington came out as though it was playing a fifth quarter on last year’s game, in which it ran over the Bruins, 41-21.

The Huskies turned loose running back Maurice Shaw, who was subbing for injured Rashaan Shehee, and let him work with some unfamiliar folks. All week, the Bruins had been watching videotape of a tight end wearing No. 85, Cameron Cleeland; and a fullback wearing No. 47, Pat Conniff.

And here was Washington, lining up with No. 70, Ben Kadletz, replacing an injured Cleeland at tight end; and No. 51, Brad Hutt, playing fullback.

“It was confusing, because we knew they would try to run over us again, but nobody could figure out who those people were,” UCLA linebacker Brian Willmer said.

After Willmer was buried on a block by Benji Olson, and after Hutt led Shaw on a 47-yard run to give Washington a 7-0 lead, the Bruins huddled. “Who are those masked men?” was the prevalent question.

Hicks answered on a play in which backup quarterback Drew Bennett took the snap and handed the ball to McNown, who pitched it to Hicks, heading right for a two-yard score. But Shaw’s backup, Jason Harris, followed Hutt on a 55-yard touchdown run for a 14-7 Husky lead.

“We had given up two big plays, but not really much else,” Willmer said. “And we missed tackles on those plays.”

And the Bruins had answered both touchdowns, McNown finding McElroy on a 47-yard pass, and McElroy outrunning Jermaine Smith and Tony Parrish to the end zone to tie the score, 14-14.

When Ja’Warren Hooker outwrestled UCLA’s Javelin Guidry for a 28-yard Brock Huard pass in the end zone, Washington held a 20-14 lead, no bigger because kicker Nick Lentz missed the extra point.

The advantage lasted 21 seconds.

Hicks drifted out of the backfield to the right on the first play of the next series, and McNown rolled to his left, taking the whole Washington defense with him. McNown then stopped and lofted a pass to Hicks, who had only to sidestep Mel Miller and enjoy a block by Ryan Neufeld to finish a 67-yard play and give UCLA a 21-20 lead.

A couple of punts later, UCLA freshman Marques Anderson intercepted a Huard pass--only the fourth interception he has thrown all season--and returned it to Washington’s 21.

On third and goal from the Washington 11, McNown found everybody covered and headed upfield, faking out Lester Towns and diving the last two yards over Smith and Parrish to make the score 28-20 with 20 seconds left in the half.

“It was,” Huard said of the interception, “a big play.”

It set up McNown’s touchdown, which set up a second half of target practice, with Huard in the Bruin sights. He completed 25 of 37 passes for 271 yards, but threw two interceptions and only one touchdown pass.

He was sacked five times.

“They were really physical in that second half,” Huard said. “I think they did something on their blitzes at halftime. Nothing’s broken, but I’m pretty banged up.”

Not, UCLA hoped, too banged up to beat Washington State next week.

Said Willmer: “Now, we’re the biggest Washington fans in the world.”

*

* RUN FOR ROSES

Washington State stays in the driver’s seat, but Arizona State remains in the mix. C8

*

INSIDE

* COMMENTARY

Forget this stuff about being the best team in the city: Could UCLA be the best team in the country? Maybe. C10

* PUSH ‘EM BACK

After some early mistakes led to some big plays, the Bruins’ defense knocked the stuffing out of Washington. C11

* NOTES

The Bruins are thinking Rose Bowl, but representatives from the Cotton, Sun, Holiday and Fiesta were on hand. C10

STATISTICS C10