SAUL LOEB/Arizona Daily Wildcat Arizona quarterback Kris Heavner lies in angst as UCLA's Rodney Leisle (77) returns an interception 55 yards for a touchdown during the fourth quarter of the Bruins' 24-21 victory over the Wildcats at Arizona Stadium.

Based on Arizona's rushing performances over the last year, the team's rushing total against UCLA looked like the stat-keeper accidentally reversed the totals for the two teams.

Even without a win, it was a good day for the Wildcat running game.

On Saturday, Arizona put itself in a position to win with its breakout ground performance, gaining 276 yards ÷ its highest total since running for 258 against Oregon in October 2001.

Senior tailback Clarence Farmer had 132 yards on 25 carries, becoming the first UA player since the season opener against lowly UTEP to go over 100 yards ÷ and he reached the century mark with more than half of the third quarter left to play. Other than sophomore Mike Bell's 119 against the Miners, the last time a UA back went over 100 yards was when Farmer had 131 at Wisconsin on Sept. 21, 2002.

Early last week, Tucson's local ESPN radio affiliate ÷ KFFN 1490 "The Fan" ÷ was giving away T-shirts printed with the slogan, "Free Clarence." After his performance on Saturday, it appears that opposing defenses may have to do all they can to stop Clarence.

"I just thank God for letting me play again, getting back out here," said Farmer, who appeared to be back in his 2001 form, when he was the Pacific 10 Conference rushing champ. "Second, I'd like to thank my offensive line, because without them, regardless of how much I want to get back out I here, I couldn't."

Bell had a dazzling 94 yards on 8 carries, while sophomore quarterback Nic Costa also managed his way into the mix, picking up 43 yards on a fourth-quarter run to the UCLA five-yard line ÷ a play that put the Wildcats in position to win the game.

In addition to his rushing total, Farmer also had a spectacular run on a broken screen pass, where he reversed upfield past a cluster of UCLA defenders to gain 31 yards while creating his own SportsCenter highlight. Farmer also hauled in a one-yard touchdown catch from Costa.

"It felt good getting back out there, sort of getting into rhythm, but there's a lot more. I'm not complacent with the performance I had tonight," Farmer said. "There's a lot more that could have been done and a lot more that should have been done."

Farmer set the tone with a 29-yard gain on Arizona's first play from scrimmage. But the speedy Bell had the longest carry, taking one for 41 yards, followed immediately by another for 29.

Last year, Arizona was dead last in Division I-A in rushing.

The Wildcats' outstanding rushing performance came against one of the Pac-10's top defenses.

"Arizona did a nice job running the football on us," said UCLA head coach Karl Dorrell. "They ran as well as anyone has all year against us."

The Wildcat tailbacks got off and running quickly. Farmer had three carries for 35 yards on Arizona's first possession, running for 91 before halftime. Combined with Bell's performance, Arizona had 167 net yards in the first half ÷ already approaching its season-high of 217 against UTEP.

"We - both Mike Bell and myself ÷ wanted to get out there and do the best that we can," Farmer said. "We wanted to take it to them early, and this game, we just got off to a good start, a really good start."

Interim head coach Mike Hankwitz said the team worked a lot on the running game in practice.

"The running backs did a great job," he said.

Led by the running game, Arizona's passing game also came to life. Arizona out-gained the Bruins in the air, 243-230. The Wildcats scored on a passing play on their first drive of the game ÷ the first time they scored in the first half since the win over UTEP. Arizona had been outscored 112-56 in the first half prior to Saturday.

The offensive line, which lost two starters early in the season, put together its best all-around game of the season, not allowing a sack for the second game in a row and opening holes for its running backs that weren't there last year and earlier this season.

Costa was impressed with Arizona's two tailbacks.

"The running game did great today," Costa said. "You have a couple great backs in Mike and Clarence, making spectacular plays out there. It's fun just handing the ball off and being able to say, ÎWow.'"

Farmer's game put him into sixth on the UA's all-time rushing list with 2,519 yards, putting him just behind David Adams, who had 2,571. Current Washington Redskins halfback Trung Canidate is first with 3,824 yards.

After butting heads many times with former head coach John Mackovic, Saturday's game was Farmer's first start of the year. Hankwitz said that Farmer had a clean slate and believed he had to give him the ball.

"I just look at it as, playing sometimes, you have to go through the bad to get some good," Farmer said.

After his near-touchdown on a dive over the pile, Farmer caught a 1-yard TD pass from Costa, prompting the crowd to chant his name.

With the offense finally showing tangible improvement, Farmer said the team is building toward a better result.

"Say what you want to say, but we're going to come out on top one of these days," he said.