<p>If UCLA?s 13-9 shocking upset over No. 2 USC at the Rose Bowl on Saturday is to be thought of as arguably one of the biggest wins in the history of the program, a backup senior linebacker and a punter will be added to the pantheon of Bruin lore.
<br/>Eric McNeal (the linebacker) and Aaron Perez (the punter) were two of the unlikeliest heroes in the fourth quarter of the Bruins? (7-5, 5-4 Pac-10) win over the Trojans (10-2, 7-2).
<br/>While the Bruins? defense was dominant and the offense opportunistic, it was unorthodox and unforeseen flashes of greatness by Perez and McNeal that stopped the Trojans from making a third straight BCS championship appearance.
<br/>It was McNeal whose acrobatic play halted the Trojans? final drive with less than two minutes left in the game. It was Perez who recovered from a pair of wobbly first-half punts and launched three booming punts to win the field-position battle for the Bruins.
<br/>McNeal and Perez are testaments to the old adage that for a team to pull off an improbable upset it must get contributions from players up and down the roster, even the supporting cast.
<br/>?Coach (Dorrell) always asks us who?s going to make a play at the end of a game,? McNeal said on the field following the game. ?It?s always a challenge put to us to be the guy who wants to make the big play.?
<br/>McNeal?s big play couldn?t have come at a more opportune moment.
<br/>McNeal, a senior who was still seeking his first win against USC, secured the win by tipping a John David Booty pass up in the air and making a diving interception to end what had the look of a game-winning touchdown drive. Although UCLA had a handful of key defensive stands ? USC was only six-of-17 on third down conversions ? it was McNeal, who had been an unheralded backup for his entire college career, who single-handedly changed two programs? fortunes in one sweeping moment.
<br/>?What a great way for him to go out,? UCLA coach Karl Dorrell said. ?(McNeal) is going to tell his kids one day how (the streak) ended and he helped to do it.?
<br/>There was only 1:10 left in the game, and UCLA would be able to bleed the game clock with three conservative running plays up the middle. But McNeal conceded that even when he rolled over on the ground with the ball in his arms, he wasn?t quite ready to celebrate.
<br/>?I could only think about what happened in Notre Dame, and I wanted to see all zeroes on that clock,? McNeal said.
<br/>But all the melodrama of Notre Dame?s miraculous 20-17 win over UCLA was not to be repeated, because Perez wouldn?t let it. His 62-yard punt with 15 seconds left drained the clock down to just four seconds and put the ball on the 12-yard line. It was the finishing touch on the biggest game of Perez?s UCLA career. In fact, he had a pair of 62-yard punts, the first coming after UCLA?s first possession of the third quarter, with USC leading 9-7. Perez pinned the Trojans back to the 7-yard line, and it gave the Bruins favorable field position on their next drive, which resulted in a field goal to take the lead.
<br/>In a low-scoring game, Perez?s second-half punting became an unexpected weapon. Playing a position that rarely gets much non-negative attention, Perez was yet another key contributor in a win that required a little bit of help from every player on the Bruin roster.
<br/>?I was able to just do my job and be a part of this win,? Perez said. ?That?s what makes this special ? everyone did something to help us win.?</p><br><br><a href='http://www.dailybruin.com/news/articles.asp?id=39227&#039; target='_blank'>http://www.dailybruin.com/news/articles.asp?id=39227&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br>