Nick Aliotti

Nick Aliotti has done a nice job coordinating Oregon's defense if you consider he has to plot each week against two offenses — the opponent's and his. This week, Aliotti is prepping Oregon for Monday's 98th Rose Bowl game against Wisconsin. The Badgers average 44.6 points per game and appear to be playing downhill, against you, on a slanted field. Wisconsin has a running back, Montee Ball, who has scored 38 touchdowns and a quarterback, Russell Wilson, who can run, pass and probably belt out the national anthem.

Nick Aliotti has done a nice job coordinating Oregon's defense if you consider he has to plot each week against two offenses — the opponent's and his. This week, Aliotti is prepping Oregon for Monday's 98th Rose Bowl game against Wisconsin. The Badgers average 44.6 points per game and appear to be playing downhill, against you, on a slanted field. Wisconsin has a running back, Montee Ball, who has scored 38 touchdowns and a quarterback, Russell Wilson, who can run, pass and probably belt out the national anthem.

Nick Aliotti, under fire as UCLA's defensive coordinator much of last season, will announce today he is leaving after one year to return to the University of Oregon. Aliotti, who spent seven seasons with the Ducks from 1988-94, had been invited by Coach Bob Toledo to remain at UCLA in his current position. But that also came with the stipulation that there be changes in the way he managed the unit that struggled at times last season.

Chip Kelly said "We'll be back," in response to: A: Losing last season's national championship game to Auburn. B: Oregon being put on major NCAA probation in connection with Willie Lyles. The answer is "A" because "B" hasn't happened, and might never happen. That said, it drizzled overcast news all winter, spring and summer in Eugene. It was a constant, persistent patter, the kind of soak that seeps into artificial turf seams. Last season's last-second loss to Auburn was supposed to be the start of something big, and might still be, yet there is no getting over the uncertainty of it all. Getting investigated is all part of becoming part of the big-time program.

Nick Aliotti acknowledged Friday that a lack of support from Coach Bob Toledo prompted him to leave as UCLA's defensive coordinator and accept a similar position at Oregon. "It obviously had an effect. I'd be lying if I said it didn't," Aliotti said in making his return to Oregon official. "You need to go to work every day and feel good about yourself and the people you're around. That situation was not there. I just didn't feel I had the support."

Nick Aliotti sounds concerned about the attention, slightly vindicated because the UCLA defense still can't tackle, and less than slightly bothered about the way he was treated by his former boss. But mostly, he sounds like someone doing a bad job of downplaying the personal significance of a game. "I just think it's another big conference game and quite an opportunity for our team to prove they can bounce back from a tough loss," the Oregon defensive coordinator says.

In the wake of the devastation inflicted on the UCLA defense by Hurricane Edgerrin and the Miami offense, does the UCLA football program qualify to receive federal disaster assistance from FEMA to help rebuild the defense? WILBUR BABB JR. Los Angeles UCLA's game against Miami Sept. 26 was canceled because of a natural disaster, Hurricane Georges. UCLA's game against Miami Dec. 5 was lost because of a coaching disaster, Nick Aliotti. WESLEY WELLMAN Santa Monica How appropriate that Nick Aliotti's Swiss-cheese defense results in a UCLA rematch against Wisconsin.

Friday's Rose Bowl shapes up as a clash of styles, with Oregon's free-wheeling offense, which averaged nearly 38 points a game, taking on Ohio State's stingy defense, which gave up an average of only 12 points. But there's an even bigger contrast between the teams' practice fields, which are just a few hundred yards apart at the Home Depot Center in Carson. While Buckeyes Coach Jim Tressel runs a tight ship, allowing few visitors to watch his team drill, Ducks Coach Chip Kelly invited nearly four dozen children from a local Boys & Girls Club to Oregon's workout on Monday.

Chip Kelly said "We'll be back," in response to: A: Losing last season's national championship game to Auburn. B: Oregon being put on major NCAA probation in connection with Willie Lyles. The answer is "A" because "B" hasn't happened, and might never happen. That said, it drizzled overcast news all winter, spring and summer in Eugene. It was a constant, persistent patter, the kind of soak that seeps into artificial turf seams. Last season's last-second loss to Auburn was supposed to be the start of something big, and might still be, yet there is no getting over the uncertainty of it all. Getting investigated is all part of becoming part of the big-time program.

Two years later, Nick Aliotti finally delivered. The man coached, coordinated and coaxed the kind of wrap-up-tackle defensive performance that can win a national title for a school. It came suddenly, it came Saturday, it came much too late for the 1998 UCLA Bruins but not a day too soon for the Oregon Ducks. Call it irony, justice, or a gift from the great Defensive Coordinator in the Sky, but sometimes life throws you a payback you can't begin to understand or explain.

A new year poses an old question: Who is going to stop Auburn quarterback Cam Newton? Kentucky couldn't do it. He rushed for 198 yards. South Carolina, in two losses against Newton, "held" him to 493 passing yards and 249 rushing. Louisiana State, which has a pretty decent defense, watched Newton cut loose for 217 rushing yards in October. A scandal didn't stop Newton, and neither did the Southeastern Conference, nor the NCAA. More than 100 Heisman Trophy voters left Newton off their ballots, yet he still received 82.2% of the first-place love in a runaway election.

Oregon defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti is happy to be back in a Rose Bowl his team is happy to be in. That wasn't entirely the case after the 1998 season, the conclusion to Aliotti's one-year stint with UCLA, when the Bruins became the first team in history to arrive in Pasadena kicking and screaming. "It was more like a consolation game," Aliotti recalled this week. You can thank the Bowl Championship Series for that. UCLA was knocked into the Rose Bowl after a gut-wrenching, 49-45 defeat at Miami cost Bob Toledo's team a trip to the Fiesta Bowl to play in the first BCS title game.

Friday's Rose Bowl shapes up as a clash of styles, with Oregon's free-wheeling offense, which averaged nearly 38 points a game, taking on Ohio State's stingy defense, which gave up an average of only 12 points. But there's an even bigger contrast between the teams' practice fields, which are just a few hundred yards apart at the Home Depot Center in Carson. While Buckeyes Coach Jim Tressel runs a tight ship, allowing few visitors to watch his team drill, Ducks Coach Chip Kelly invited nearly four dozen children from a local Boys & Girls Club to Oregon's workout on Monday.

Two years later, Nick Aliotti finally delivered. The man coached, coordinated and coaxed the kind of wrap-up-tackle defensive performance that can win a national title for a school. It came suddenly, it came Saturday, it came much too late for the 1998 UCLA Bruins but not a day too soon for the Oregon Ducks. Call it irony, justice, or a gift from the great Defensive Coordinator in the Sky, but sometimes life throws you a payback you can't begin to understand or explain.

Nick Aliotti sounds concerned about the attention, slightly vindicated because the UCLA defense still can't tackle, and less than slightly bothered about the way he was treated by his former boss. But mostly, he sounds like someone doing a bad job of downplaying the personal significance of a game. "I just think it's another big conference game and quite an opportunity for our team to prove they can bounce back from a tough loss," the Oregon defensive coordinator says.

Nick Aliotti acknowledged Friday that a lack of support from Coach Bob Toledo prompted him to leave as UCLA's defensive coordinator and accept a similar position at Oregon. "It obviously had an effect. I'd be lying if I said it didn't," Aliotti said in making his return to Oregon official. "You need to go to work every day and feel good about yourself and the people you're around. That situation was not there. I just didn't feel I had the support."

Nick Aliotti stood in a locker room hallway late Saturday afternoon, cheeks red, eyes sunken, exhausted. "I've never had anybody do that to me in 23 years," he said. "I was mad, angry, embarrassed." He wasn't talking about the Washington Huskies, whom Aliotti's defense had just helped defeat in UCLA's 36-24 victory. He was talking about his head coach. Five days earlier, in the most startling trick play of the season, Bob Toledo had publicly censured his defensive coordinator.

A new year poses an old question: Who is going to stop Auburn quarterback Cam Newton? Kentucky couldn't do it. He rushed for 198 yards. South Carolina, in two losses against Newton, "held" him to 493 passing yards and 249 rushing. Louisiana State, which has a pretty decent defense, watched Newton cut loose for 217 rushing yards in October. A scandal didn't stop Newton, and neither did the Southeastern Conference, nor the NCAA. More than 100 Heisman Trophy voters left Newton off their ballots, yet he still received 82.2% of the first-place love in a runaway election.

Nick Aliotti, under fire as UCLA's defensive coordinator much of last season, will announce today he is leaving after one year to return to the University of Oregon. Aliotti, who spent seven seasons with the Ducks from 1988-94, had been invited by Coach Bob Toledo to remain at UCLA in his current position. But that also came with the stipulation that there be changes in the way he managed the unit that struggled at times last season.