Bruins attacked Achilles' heel of Illinois defense
By: Loren Tate
Tuesday, January 03, 1984
PASADENA, Calif. —Among the 103, 217 who attended Monday's Rose Bowl, perhaps no one viewed it with more understanding than Charles Armstead.
The slender Californian, here to revel in the accomplishments of his former teammates, recalls those frightening experiences of being left with only a sideline to help him against speedsters like Anthony Carter and Gary Williams.
That position — cornerback on the wide side of the field — has come to be known as the Achilles' heel in an otherwise formidable Illini defense. Armstead was out on that island for two seasons, then JC transfer John Ayres got the nod in early 1983 until he was injured at Wisconsin, when New Jersey rookie Keith Taylor became the choice.
With three splendid veterans at the other secondary spots — Mike Heaven, Dave Edwards and Craig Swoope — UCLA's precision passer Rick Neuheisel threw the brunt of the Bruin serial attack directly at the slender Taylor.
Alternating flankers Mike Young and Karl Dorrell, the unsung members of a receiving corps that featured tight end Paul Bergmann and record-breaking Mike Sherrard, worked on that sector and shared 10 catches for 190 yards.
They caught short ones when the cushion was there, and the led the trailing Taylor deep for three TDs and a 44-yard bomb. What had been "The Year of the Defense" in October became a 45-9 disaster on January 2.
"Maybe the other 10 guys weren't doing what they were supposed to be doing," said coach Mike White in defending his lone rookie starter. But the facts and figures were there. UCLA hammered at the position, and the Illini knew all too well what was happening to them.
"I told Keith to just relax," said Edwards, the two-interception star of Illinois' win over Ohio State.
"These things happen to all defensive backs, and I just told the other guys to lay off and give him a chance. We didn't play well, and I know all of us will do everything possible to get back here next year to make up for this.
"Neuheisel showed a lot of poise," said Edwards. "It's hard to say if he's the best we've faced because quarterbacks blow hot and cold. But he was a lot better than I was on film in some of their early games. He really had control in this game.
Sophomore Swoope spoke along similar lines, defending his freshman teammate.
"We've got to stick together, and I didn't want Keith to get down on himself. I was hoping they'd come at me, but Neuheisel kept looking my way and throwing in another direction.
"As the safety, I tried to help Keith all I could, but we were in a lot of man-to-man coverage and they were able to pick up our blitzes and isolate on him.
"Later on we tried to change what we were doing."
Swoope, who fumbled on an attempt to return a deflected UCLA field goal in the early minutes, explained:
"The coach tells me to stand on the goal line and if the ball is in front of me to grab it and run. Somebody stripped me and the ball got away."
That fumble gave UCLA the ball on the Illini 14 and set up the Bruins' first TD. Then, after some probing and sparring, Neuheisel completed his last 10 passes of the first half as UCLA scored three times to build a 28-3 intermission lead.
Other Illini player comments:
Tight end Tim Brewster: "UCLA was inspired today and played a flawless football game. Now that we have lost, you could question everything we'vd done during the last two weeks, but I really feel we prepared as best we could.
"It just seemed like UCLA was able to let it all hang out and have fun. We came out tight and seemed to feel the pressure. Coach White reminded us that this would be a memorable experience and to play our best, but on this day we couldn't seem to get it together."
Tackle Don Thorp: "I don't think they outmuscled us but they sure did outfinesse us. Mark (Butkus) and I held our own but Neuheisel threw fast and we weren't able to get much pressure on him.
" I don't see how we could have changed our philosophy. It worked all year. But, yes, I'm stunned by what happened today. Maybe I should get a mask to wear around campus when I get back. This was the biggest game of our lives and we're not only sad and upset, we're embarrassed. I never expected it to be lopsided.
"Their receivers were relzxed and made some great catches. We were tense. As for Taylor, he's like any other freshman. He learned a lot out there today. He'll be one of Illinois' standout players in the future."
Receiver Dave Williams:"It seemed like we had stage fright with those early drops. They doubled me a lot and they fooled Jack (Trudeau) with some of their reads. We made some big mistakes.
(Don) Rogers played that first interception just right. But if the ball had been thrown a little deeper, I was open. That got us off on the wrong foot."
Quarterback Jack Trudeau: "We never got in synch. We made mistakes and they didn't.
"I didn't see Rogers on the first interception. We were trying for the big play early, but we didn't get it. As the game went along, we kept getting into bad situations on second and third downs. One reason for our success this season was staying away from the 'bastard downs.' They did a good job of coverage and they did a good job of pressuring me."