Physical Domination Very Satisfying

They beat Arizona. They beat perception.

The victory within the victory for the Bruins on Saturday night in Tucson was rushing for 297 yards, 188 more than the Wildcats had been allowing, and in holding the hosts to a paltry 90 yards on the ground. UCLA controlled the line of scrimmage, then got to control the conversation.

“Every year, everybody talks about how Arizona is the most physical team in the conference,” Bruin guard Any Meyers said. “And I’ll tell you what. We out-physicaled them this year and we out-physicaled them last year. Part of the game, they talked trash, they talked how we’re not tough enough and talked how they were going to beat us. We took that personally.”

Said center Shawn Stuart:”There was a lot of talk about our physical toughness. Obviously that’s something that comes up every year. It comes from that stuff about gutty little Bruins--I heard [ESPN commentator] Lee Corso say it [Saturday] morning. So we really wanted to come out and establish our toughness.”

Mission accomplished.

“They just whipped us physically in the fourth quarter on our home field,” Arizona Coach Dick Tomey said. “That really hurts.”