CORVALLIS, Ore. -- UCLA needed a statement, something it could show the non-believers that powder blue was not the color of touch football.

All the early talk about the Bruins' defense had been nice reading but it needed something for the highlight reel, something for the Great East Coast Bias. Something to show the non-Pacific Time Zoners that it meant business.

Ken Simonton is held to a career-low 26 yards on 13 carries by a rejuvenated UCLA defense. (AP)

Strong safety Jason Stephens wasn't thinking about any of that when he laid his right shoulder into Oregon State receiver George Gillett in the third quarter of his team's 38-7 victory on Saturday.

No. 12 UCLA had already lit up the scoreboard. Stephens used instinct to turn out the lights.

Stephens' crushing sacrifice-his-body hit wasn't so much a tackle as a knockout attempt. After the open-field hit a woozy Gillett fumbled, then went to the sidelines to have the trainer ask his mother's maiden name. The Bruins, meanwhile, went on to enter the national championship race in earnest.

"Did it register with us?" free safety Marques Anderson said. "I was on the blitz and I turned around and I saw Gillett catch the ball. The next thing I know I just saw somebody's head fly. I saw the ball squirt out. I was in amazement."

Whether Stephens tried to separate Gillett's sternum or made a conventional tackle mattered little on the scoreboard at the time. The Bruins were cruisin', up 24-0. It was the symbolism of the whole thing.

It showed this just might be the best UCLA defense, dare we say, ever?

"There is no word I can use for them right now," said running back DeShaun Foster, whose 147-yard, three-touchdown performance was shoved to the background by his defensive teammates. "They're dominating."

So dominating that it's suddenly OK to use the word "physical" in the same sentence with "UCLA defense". In the past two seasons UCLA has given up the most points (30.7 per game in 2000) and yards (4,891 in 1999) in school history. Washington and the Oregon schools had snatched away the Southern California schools' pride and best players.

Through a 4-0 start, UCLA has given up only 47 points (11.7 per game). If that figure holds up, it would be the lowest average for the Bruins since 1969. It already is the best through four games since 1980. The No. 1 defense hasn't given up a point in the past 10 quarters, dating back to the second quarter against Kansas on Sept. 8.

"We've been aware of our reputation for years," Stephens said of the defense. "This year we decided that's going to change."

More accurately, coach Bob Toledo decided to change. After a second straight shoddy defensive performance last season, Toledo hired veteran defensive coordinator Phil Snow. Actually, the 45-year old Snow was more than available after his old boss, Bruce Snyder, was fired at Arizona State.

Under Snow, the Sun Devils were an unimpressive 82nd in the nation, giving up more than 400 yards per game. Compared to Toledo's past defenses, those figures were downright heartening.

Snow walked into a program that was returning six senior starters. Considering UCLA's history, those could have been just bad defensive players aged a year older. In truth, they were a year more mature and ready for greatness. Snow brought 14 years of Pac-10 experience to the mix and, voila!

"Guys, I've been doing this a long time," Snow said to reporters. "They may know who I am today and cuss me in a week. But based on what I heard, yeah I can understand why the defense is the story."

Snow inherited All-Pac-10 linebacker Robert Thomas and All-America candidate Kenyon Coleman at defensive end. The two have been getting most of the attention this season. But on Saturday it was guys like Stephens who showed the depth of the unit.

On the fifth snap of the game Stephens, a senior, intercepted Jonathan Smith to set up UCLA's first touchdown. His bone-rattling hit on Griffith produced a fumble that led to Cory Paus' second touchdown pass to Brian Poli-Dixon.

"I thought we were going to have a real good defensive football team," Toledo said. "There's experience now. It's like you've got a brand new bike and you want to ride it real fast. Then all the sudden someone sticks a bat in the spokes. I want to keep playing. I want to go out right now and play a little more."

Toledo patted himself on the back a bit too much for "suspending" Anderson on Saturday. Anderson was late for a Wednesday meeting and missed two-thirds of practice because he couldn't find his car keys. That's a huge deal in L.A., not a huge transgression in Toledo's eyes.

Anderson apologized to the team, was stripped of his captaincy for Saturday and sat out the first series.

"He should have left his keys somewhere else and got a cab," Toledo said with almost mock anger.

Hey, the defenders are his guys, his meal ticket to the BCS. They are trying to wipe out the reputation of an entire conference. Power Blue Crew doesn't sound so trite right about now.

Only a garbage touchdown by the Beavers in the fourth quarter kept it from being UCLA's first Pac-10 shutout since 1987.

"That should have been a shutout today," Thomas said. "In our minds we shut them out. We disrupted their offense. They couldn't do anything."

The UCLA offense? Paus makes too many bad decisions. Foster fumbled four times last week against Ohio State. The Bruins overall have fumbled 10 times, one of the highest totals in the country.

The Bruins defense made it through a sloppy victory at Alabama, dispatched Kansas and smothered Ohio State. The first real test was here where UCLA was beaten 55-7 two years ago. They lost 44-38 last year at the Rose Bowl.

Ninety-nine points and much embarrassment was all the motivation Toledo needed.

"I challenged them last night and I challenged them when we got on the bus," Toledo said. "We had a highlight film of what happened last year and what happened two years ago when it was 42-7 and they threw a touchdown pass.

"I was tempted to run it up but that's not me. I'm not here to embarrass anybody."

The final score was embarrassment enough for the Beavers (1-2). The loss for Oregon State harkened back to an era when they were loveable losers. The 31-point margin was the worst since the last game of the Jerry Pettibone era in 1996. Oregon State lost to Oregon 49-13 at the end of that season and decided it had had enough of Pettibone.

That ushered in and era when Mike Riley began to turn around the program and Dennis Erickson sealed the deal. But after a Heisman candidacy -- Ken Simonton was held to a career-low 26 yards -- and perhaps a season melted away Erickson had to admit regression has set in.

"The only excuse I've got is, they kicked our rear ends and that's just how it is," Erickson said

Stephens learned his rear-end kicking at the foot of a master. He is a big Ronnie Lott fan, which makes sense. Teammate Ryan Nece, a linebacker, is Lott's son.

"He tells you about his hits, his interceptions," Stephens said of Lott. "Most of the time you have to take the extra step. Usually when people go for interceptions and hits they don't take the extra step."

Feel free to roll out the metaphors. UCLA has taken the extra step or is darn close to it. Just check Gillett's sternum.