"That man," said Margaret Dalis, "walks on water."

By guiding UCLA's 35-24 rolling of the No. 3 Crimson Tide, Foster sent a jolt through the Pac-10, if not the entire country, and the Bruins will likely find themselves in the national rankings come Monday.

DeShaun Foster spent most of last season on the bench with an ankle injury.(AP)

"West coast, baaaaa-beeeee!" yelled UCLA cornerback Ricky Manning, Jr., as he zipped off the Rose Bowl field after the game. Southern California had already made some heads turn toward the Left Coast by upending Penn State in the Trojans' season opener.

O.K., so Toledo -- the school, not Bruins coach Bob -- made the Nittany Lions look like a Mid-American Conference middle-of-the-road program Saturday. The Bruins served notice that the Pac-10 might have its woes turned around.

An invigorated offensive line, led by senior guards Oscar Cabrera and Brian Polak, cleared many paths for Foster, who sliced and diced his way to a career-best 187 yards on 42 carries, matching a school record.

"He ran real hard and fought for every extra yard," said Alabama junior middle linebacker Victor Ellis. "That's just how it happens sometimes."

Foster spent Saturday afternoon zipping by occupied Alabama linemen, bouncing off linebackers, spinning away from others and mowing down defensive backs to make the third-ranked Tide roll over in the Bruins' convincing victory.

The 6-foot-1, 215-pound junior from Tustin, Calif., spent last season in first or second gear, dogged by an ankle injury and totaling only 424 yards on the ground. He nearly hit half that figure in his 2000 season opener.

"It seems like it's been a couple years since he's had a chance to get going," said UCLA offensive coordinator Alan Borges. "The line was just outstanding, and he came off the blocks very well. No, I don't mind giving him the ball 40 times a game. Did it look like it today?"

Foster did enough to break the backs, and national-championship dreams, of Alabama's coaches, players and rabid fans, more than 20,000 of whom ventured west to watch their team's first game in the Rose Bowl since Jan. 1, 1946.

The entire north end of the stadium was packed with Crimson-clad fans, who exploded when Freddie Milons returned a punt 71 yards for a touchdown into that end zone just 75 seconds into the game.

Milons, considered one of the finest receivers in college football, gained 118 yards after that, but it was split between five receptions, a pair of kickoff returns and two more punt returns, and one rush.

UCLA's defense, a maligned unit last season, kept Milons, and quarterbacks Andrew Zow and Tyler Watts, in check. In fact, Alabama's offense scored only one touchdown, a 65-yard drive that Ahmaad Galloway capped with a one-yard plunge to cut the Tide's deficit to 21-14.

That pleased Dalis, a former senior equipment manager for coach Red Sanders in the mid-1950s who is starting his 18th year as UCLA's athletic director. He has watched more than six decades of UCLA football and can recall minute details of many games.

And he counted Saturday's stunner among his personal Top 10. It was the fourth time in the modern era of the game that an unranked Bruins squad defeated a top-five non-conference foe at home.

"It's up there, because of the low expectations of our team and the high expectations placed on Alabama," Dalis said. "And then our starting quarterback gets hurt. DeShaun was great and our 'O-line' played very well, but I was especially proud of our disciplined defense."

The defense that has a tough time tangling with Foster when UCLA's No. 1 offense knocks heads with the No. 1 defense in practice.

After 'Bama jumped on the scoreboard so soon after the opening kickoff and Bruins starting quarterback Cory Paus was sent to an early shower with a separated right (throwing) shoulder, the Tide defense found out about Foster's tenacity.

Toledo, the coach, kept the ball on the ground to ease new quarterback Ryan McCann into the atmosphere. UCLA then trudged 64 yards in 19 plays, taking more than nine minutes to tie the score 7-7.

Foster carried 10 times, and Toledo went for it on three short fourth downs. McCann sneaked over for the first one and Foster shouldered the load for the last two, blasting in for a 1-yard touchdown on the last one.

"That drive took a lot out of them. We went in knowing it would be physical, and that's how we wanted to play. And that drive took a lot out of them," Cabrera said. "Our defenders came over to us and said their defenders were huffin' and puffin'."

Toledo said he isn't much of a riverboat gambler, which is like saying a certain colonel has never seen a chicken. Toledo is actually full of trickery, but he knew that a trio of successful fourth-down plays would inspire his team and the majority of a crowd of 76,640.

"I have confidence in our kids," Toledo said. "A lot of people didn't give us much credit, but we played hard and we believed in ourselves."

Foster added another 1-yard touchdown run to give UCLA a 21-7 advantage in the second quarter, and he didn't slow down after Alabama rebounded to take a 24-21 lead halfway through the third quarter.

It took three defenders to yank him down after gaining four yards on one run, and he bounced wide right on a slick second-effort move before running over Alabama safety Marcus Spencer to gain 10 yards.

McCann struck next with a 45-yard touchdown pass to Freddie Mitchell. UCLA's defense stopped the Tide's next two series, and Foster put the game out of reach.

He squirted through the left side of his line, executed a 360-degree spin to leave a linebacker grasping at air and he met linebacker Saleem Rasheed, face-to-face, two yards deep in the end zone for a 35-24 lead at the end of the third quarter.

Right in front thousands of quiet and dispirited fans wearing crimson and red.

"We just wanted to show the rest of the country that the Bruins are back," Foster said. "Hopefully, we'll keep it rolling."

Walking on water, after all, is challenging.