A Bad Day Is a New Day for Houston at Safety

CORVALLIS, Ore. — Befitting his UCLA career, Lovell Houston took the long way to his first college start, a moment that came Saturday as both his big chance and their latest try for a solution in the secondary.

Houston redshirted last season as a freshman, missed spring practice because of the same two shoulder operations, then was sidelined for 12 more days during training camp in the fall. That knocked him out of the rotation among defensive backs. Not merely young, he barely even had any experience in team workouts, let alone games.

Then came Sept. 25 at Stanford. Coach Bob Toledo, looking for a spark when his team trailed, 28-3, surprisingly sent Houston in as one of the deep men on a kickoff return early in the third quarter. Houston responded with a 95-yard touchdown that provided a brief spark, a move that was as opportunistic as the assignment was unexpected.

By Saturday, four games later, Houston had forced himself into the Bruin picture so much that he was in the starting lineup at strong safety. The chance came largely because coaches were disappointed with the play of his predecessor Eric Whitfield, but it came nonetheless.

“It was just one thing of getting confidence,” Houston said of the kickoff return that started his emergence. “I think a large percentage of this college game is confidence. When you have confidence in yourself, there’s a lot of things you can do. I think that gave me the chance to get on the field, coach said, ‘Let’s see what you can do,’ and I took the football 95 yards for a touchdown. That made me feel real good. I said, ‘If I can do that the first time I’m called upon, then coach knows I’m a player and that I can come out and make plays.’ I was just glad that he did see me.”

It was not a glorious beginning, although Saturday was bad for the entire defense. The Bruins allowed 334 passing yards, even more than Oregon State’s season-long average that leads the Pacific 10 Conference, but coaches are hoping Houston will improve for the long term.

“He’s very inexperienced,” Toledo said. “He’s going to make some mistakes. But that’s how you learn. You throw him into the fire and let him make the mistakes. You just hope it’s the kind that don’t get you beat.”

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Danny Farmer tried to play, but aggravated the groin injury he suffered last week against California.

Farmer, who sat out every day of practice in hopes the rest would allow him to go 100%, did not have a catch against Oregon State. Only four Bruins did, and two of those were out of the backfield, Jermaine Lewis and Keith Brown. Otherwise, flanker Freddie Mitchell had five receptions, but only for 11.6 yards per catch, and tight end Gabe Crecion had two.

Meanwhile, Durell Price was the No. 1 fullback as usual, but also had a reduced role because of his injury from the California game, a strained abdominal.

Because third-stringer Adam Geitner was sick during the week, it got so bad for the Bruins at fullback during practices that they tried reserve tailback Mike Vanis, very undersized at 180 pounds, there.

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Hoping someone would take the initiative and step forward in a leadership role during the week of practice, Toledo, in a rare move, waited until Friday night to name the game captains who would join regulars Pete Holland and Farmer. He picked Lewis Lewis and linebacker Billy Pieper.

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Lowest of the Low

Ten worst UCLA defeats since losing to USC, 76-0, in 1929:

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Year Score Opponent 1929 57-0 Stanford 1930 52-0 USC 1999 55-7 at Oregon State 1940 41-0 Washington 1970 61-20 at Washington 1943 47-7 at March Field 1964 39-0 at Syracuse 1984 42-3 Nebraska 1971 38-0 at Michigan 1992 48-12 at California

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