UCLA Gets a Grip, Then Loses It, 28-27

If you thought it couldn’t get any worse for UCLA, think again.

Unable to protect a 21-0 first-quarter lead, the Bruins lost again Saturday at the Rose Bowl, 28-27, when Washington drove the length of the field to the winning touchdown, just as Oregon State did last week.

That’s three consecutive losses for the Bruins and five in eight games, their worst start in 10 years. And, for the first time in 18 years, they’ve lost three consecutive conference games in one season.

Three of UCLA’s last four losses have been by one point, but this was probably the most galling--and not just because, in all probability, it dropped the Bruins out of the bowl picture.

“You don’t generally come back from 21-0 against UCLA,” Washington Coach Don James said later.

That was then, Don.

This is now:

Quarterback Bret Johnson, who hadn’t led a touchdown drive in 2 1/2 games, took the Bruins 77 yards and 64 yards to touchdowns in their first two possessions. Then, on Washington’s second possession, freshman cornerback Carlton Gray returned an interception 65 yards for a touchdown, giving UCLA a 21-0 lead with 3 minutes 42 seconds still left in the first quarter.

“There was some (thought) that it was going to be 60-0,” James said. “They blocked us, they ran over us. We missed tackles. They threw the ball. There was very little they couldn’t do.”

In its first two possessions, UCLA averaged 9.4 yards a play and Johnson completed six of seven passes for 98 yards and a touchdown.

“I think they got ready to play and did a whale of a job,” James said. “I can’t make any excuses for us. Obviously, we missed some tackles, but you have to give UCLA a lot of credit. They had a good plan and good (offensive) balance. It took us almost a half to get lined up right.”

UCLA was about to go up, 24-0, early in the second quarter when Alfredo Velasco lofted a 34-yard field goal attempt and pulled it to the right.

In his first 29 games as UCLA’s regular kicker, Velasco did not miss in 30 attempts inside 40 yards. In the Bruins’ last three games, he has missed a 40-yard attempt and two others inside the 40.

Coach Terry Donahue agonized over his latest miss.

“I thought it was tragic that we didn’t go up, 24-0,” Donahue said. “I thought that was a huge swing in momentum. I thought we had a chance to possibly deliver the KO punch.”

Instead, Washington’s free safety, Eugene Burkhalter, intercepted a Johnson pass and returned it 29 yards, setting up a 30-yard touchdown drive by the Huskies. A 16-yard pass from quarterback Cary Conklin to Andre Riley made it 21-7 with 6:02 left in the half.

Then, on the Bruins’ first play after the Huskies’ ensuing kickoff, tailback Brian Brown fumbled the ball away.

Brown, inserted into the game at that point in favor of starter Kevin Williams, who sprained an ankle, spent the next few minutes being lectured by Donahue on the sideline and Washington drove 24 yards to make it 21-14.

“So costly and so deadly,” Donahue called the turnovers.

The costliest was yet to come.

Apparently in position to regain control and open a 31-14 lead, UCLA reached the Huskies’ seven-yard line midway through the third quarter, only to have cornerback Charles Mincy, a junior from Dorsey High and Pasadena College, intercept a pass by Johnson in the end zone.

“It was a poor throw,” Johnson said of the pass, which was thrown behind flanker Mike Farr into the right corner of the end zone. “I probably should have just thrown it out of the end zone.”

Mincy returned the interception 48 yards up the sideline.

The Huskies moved only as far as UCLA’s 36-yard line. But after the Bruins’ next possession went three plays and out, Conklin drove Washington 48 yards in five plays, finding Mario Bailey over the middle on a 19-yard pass for the touchdown that cut the Huskies’ deficit to 24-21 with 13:54 left.

UCLA generated only one first down in the last 21 minutes but still was able to increase its lead to 27-21 after linebacker Marvcus Patton forced a fumble by Conklin that was recovered by nose tackle Brian Kelly at the Huskies’ nine-yard line.

Three plays netted only two yards and Velasco, who kicked a 37-yard field goal in the third quarter, was brought on to kick a 24-yarder with 3:12 left.

Donahue was asked later why he hadn’t tried another play on fourth-and-goal at the seven-yard line. UCLA might have scored, of course, and even if it hadn’t, would have pinned the Huskies inside their own 10-yard line.

“If I knew what you know now, I would have gone for it,” Donahue said. “But, at the time, you almost have no choice. You grab the points and make sure they have to score a touchdown to beat you and can’t kick a field goal to tie you.”

James, however, said he had no intention of tying the Bruins and called Velasco’s second field goal “insignificant.”

Said James: “This was a must-win game.”

And win it the Huskies did in the last three minutes, driving 78 yards in 10 plays through the Bruins to the deciding touchdown.

Conklin completed a 26-yard pass to Bailey on the third play of the drive, but his most important pass was a seven-yarder to Bailey on fourth-and-six at the Bruins’ 21-yard line.

“I knew I had to put it in there and give him a chance to make the catch,” Conklin said of Bailey, who clutched the throw as free safety Eric Turner climbed onto his back. “He made a great catch.”

A four-yard gain on a keeper by Conklin put the Huskies at the 10-yard line before they called time out.

“We ran through every option and eventuality,” James said of the ensuing sideline summit, which ended with James calling for a slant pass and Conklin turning to run back out on the field before James called him back.

Said James: “He started back to the huddle and (offensive coordinator) Gary Pinkel said, ‘Let’s run a draw.’ ”

Was UCLA caught off guard?

“I was pretty surprised, and I’m sure everybody else on the team was, also,” said Patton, who had three sacks and forced two fumbles. “We figured they would throw into the end zone.”

The Bruins lined up with six defensive backs on the field.

“They spread us out, and when they ran the draw, there was nothing we could do about it,” Gray said. “I was shocked. Everyone else on the field was shocked, too.”

Everybody wearing powder blue and gold, that is.

Greg Lewis, who carried 24 times for 112 yards and two touchdowns, ran 10 yards up the middle to the game-winning score, bursting through the line and veering slightly to the left behind a block by center Bern Brosteck on linebacker Stacy Argo. He made it untouched into the end zone.

What did Lewis see as he took the handoff from Conklin?

“I saw a lot of open space and there wasn’t any defensive player there--just a safety coming up,” he said. “But if I can’t run 10 yards before a safety catches me, I don’t need to be playing running back.”

For the second consecutive week, the Bruins’ defense was burned for a late game-deciding touchdown, but this time the offense shared the blame.

It couldn’t keep the defense off the field.

Johnson completed 18 of 27 passes for 217 yards, but in the last 21 minutes, including Mincy’s interception in the end zone, he was six of 12 for only 28 yards as UCLA ground to a halt.

“The offense dried up on us,” Donahue said.

Lewis scored the game-winning touchdown with 1:02 left and Paul Richardson returned the ensuing kickoff to UCLA’s 46, but Johnson couldn’t get the Bruins past midfield, and they had to give up the ball.

Johnson misfired badly on a third-down dumpoff to Brown and then, facing heavy pressure on fourth down, overthrew Farr down the field.

UCLA is 3-5 and, in all probability, out of hope.

“To be unsuccessful is a bitter pill to swallow and to tolerate, but the fact is, we just haven’t been good enough to tolerate mistakes that in past years we might have been able to tolerate,” Donahue said.

“You might overcome a missed field goal or you might overcome a turnover here or there, but this year’s team has a hard time doing it. We’re not quite good enough to do it and win.

“I think we just have to accept that.”

Bruin Notes

Washington improved to 5-3 and kept alive its bowl hopes. Washington is 3-2 in the Pacific 10 Conference; UCLA is 2-3. . . . Mike Farr’s five receptions for 74 yards left him 10 shy of Mike Sherrard’s all-time UCLA record of 128, but his first-quarter touchdown was only the second of his career and first since 1987, when he caught a pass for a touchdown against California. In between his touchdowns, Farr made more than 100 receptions.

Washington’s Greg Lewis didn’t establish a career high with his 112 yards rushing, as Pat Chaffey of Oregon State and David Eldridge of Arizona had in UCLA’s previous two games, but he was the third consecutive running back to enjoy a 100-yard day against the Bruins. No UCLA back has had a 100-yard day this season. . . . Washington hadn’t beaten UCLA in Southern California since 1979 and was 0-2 against the Bruins in the Rose Bowl. . . . UCLA is 0-4 on network television this season, including one-point losses to Michigan, Oregon State and Washington.