Those surround a bright yellow banner that highlights the only national championship the Bruins claimed 46 years ago.

UCLA's Jason Stephens (4) is hugged by Joe Hunter after Stephens intercepted a pass to seal the win against Michigan.(AP)

UCLA made history Saturday afternoon by thumping one of the top three teams in the country for the second time in three weeks, so maybe the basketball school is poised to make some more football history and give the lonely yellow banner a twin.

"I think we proved we're the No. 1 team in the nation," UCLA starting quarterback Ryan McCann said. "I don't know who else we have to beat, and I don't know what else we can do."

Two weeks ago, the Bruins crushed the national-title dreams of the then-No. 3 Alabama Crimson Tide here, and Michigan fell into the UCLA web on Saturday in a 23-20 defeat to the 14th-ranked Bruins.

The third-ranked Wolverines left 42-degree weather in Ann Arbor, Mich., then got fried on a Rose Bowl field that hit 110 degrees. Referee Gordon Riese told Bruins coach Bob Toledo it was the worst steam bath in which he's ever worked.

UCLA (3-0) sent Michigan (2-1) back to the Midwest to ponder how such a promising season went up in flames.

"This is real tough," Wolverines right tackle Maurice Williams said. "This hurts our national championship hopes, but we're not out of it."

UCLA can boast of national-championship aspirations more than anyone in the nation. It played a pair of top-three teams in six other seasons, failing to win both of those games all six times. That's why the victories over Alabama and Michigan were so epic.

The last college football team to defeat two top-three teams in the same season was Notre Dame, which toppled No. 1 Florida State and No. 3 Michigan in 1993.

"For people who don't think UCLA is a physical team, watch the video of the Alabama and Michigan games," Toledo said. "I think they will tell you that the guys in the baby-blue jerseys are physical. This was about the UCLA program showing it belongs among the elite teams."

It also showed that McCann, a 6-foot-4 lefty who threw the game-deciding 2-yard touchdown pass to fullback Ed Ieremia-Stansbury early in the fourth quarter, belongs in the pocket.

He replaced the injured Cory Paus last season and directed the Bruins to an impressive victory over the Washington Huskies in the Rose Bowl, and he again took over after Paus suffered a separated shoulder on the first play against Alabama.

Against the Wolverines, McCann got dropped on his tender right hip about as often as his receivers dropped critical passes. The Bruins failed to convert all eight of their third-down plays, all on incomplete passes, in the first half.

UCLA awoke in the second half, as McCann fed off the solid running of DeShaun Foster and Jermaine Lewis, and those two fed off McCann's accuracy.

McCann engineered six first downs out of his nine third-down situations in the second half.

He completed nine of 14 attempts, for 126 yards, during the Bruins' three drives that ended in touchdowns. He finished 21-for-40 for 236 yards. Most important, none of McCann's attempts were intercepted.

It was exactly what Toledo had asked for, even though it wasn't a masterpiece. UCLA started the third quarter by marching 80 yards in 14 plays, cutting its deficit to 13-10 on a 5-yard sweep by Foster.

Somehow, McCann completed a 16-yard pass to receiver Freddie Mitchell on a second-and-10 from the Michigan 40-yard line that still had Toledo laughing and scratching his head long afterward.

Mitchell cut left 15 yards downfield, but just before sprinting upfield he noticed that McCann had launched a wobbly duck toward him. Cornerback Todd Howard cut back to intercept it, but he ran too far. That left an alert Mitchell with just enough room to grab it.

"Looked like a helicopter," Toledo said. "Oh my gosh, that one to Freddie?"

Toward the end of the third quarter, UCLA again lunged to within three points of Michigan with another 80-yard drive. A 22-yard pass to Mitchell slipped the Bruins into Wolverines territory, but sophomore tight end Mike Seidman made the big haul.

On third-and-5 at the Michigan 31, Seidman bobbled McCann's pass over the middle before securing it and falling forward for an 11-yard gain. McCann converted an easy 20-yard TD pass to Brian Poli-Dixon on the next play when second-string cornerback Brandon Williams slipped to the grass.

Finally, the Bruins gave the Wolverines an uppercut on consecutive plays in the fourth quarter when Mitchell caught a 23-yard pass from McCann and Foster rambled for 29 yards.

Then McCann found Stansbury for the game winner. A fourth-year junior from El Paso, Texas, he was transformed from a quarterback into a linebacker soon after arriving at UCLA. In the offseason, Toledo turned Stansbury into a fullback.

Just 4½ minutes earlier Stansbury had fumbled the ball away to the Wolverines at the Michigan 31. This time, he had a gut feeling that offensive coordinator Al Borges and Toledo might turn to the fullback-in-the-flat pass at the 2.

After catching the pass from McCann, Stansbury carried Michigan linebacker Larry Foote into the end zone on his back.

"Redemption," Stansbury said. "I just took a deep breath right before I got into my stance. Ryan, DeShaun and many others kept my spirits up after that fumble, and this is what we play for. This is a happy program right now."

Even though Stansbury will undergo the knife after the season to repair a damaged left shoulder, Toledo showed incredible faith in a player who is essentially a one-armed blocking fullback.

And Stansbury showed his faith in Terry Nichols, a close friend of his who played linebacker at Texas A&M and was killed in a May auto accident in El Paso. Stansbury has dedicated his season to the memory of Nichols.

Which brings us to UCLA defensive coordinator Bob Field, who figured Michigan had forgotten about his zone blitzes. The Bruins showed that set often last week against Fresno State, but Field didn't unveil it until the Wolverines' final possession.

Field figured Michigan quarterback John Nevarre never saw safety Jason Stephens. Five Bruins blitzed, while Stephens lay back in the weeds in zone coverage. Nevarre's desperation pass to Marquise Walker was easily picked off by Stephens at the UCLA 10 with 1:28 left.

"Instinct," Field said. "The change-up was good."

"Disbelief," Stephens said. "I couldn't believe the ball was coming straight to me. The zone blitz was a great call."

So was giving the game ball to Rosco Zamano, a former Bruin who nearly lost his right leg below the knee in a horrifying accident on a kickoff return at Michigan on Sept. 28, 1996. That was the last game of Zamano's career, but he is walking normally and will graduate in December.

"It was very special to see him get that ball," Field said. "If you knew Rosco ..."

And if you knew the UCLA Bruins, you'd be wise not to take those baby blue uniforms lightly. They slapped around one of the finest teams in the Southeastern Conference two weeks ago, and they out-muscled one of the Big Ten's finest Saturday.

Like Toledo said, it's all right there on the videotape.