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Arroyo flush

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Wharton is a Times staff writer.

It was the season opener -- his first game back in college football -- and Rick Neuheisel’s team had fallen behind Tennessee at halftime.

The UCLA coach proceeded to give an unusual locker room speech. He mentioned a horseshoe. And the vagaries of chance.

“Don’t worry,” he told his players. “This is the Rose Bowl -- I’m lucky here.”

The Bruins came back to win in overtime that night and, despite several home losses since, Neuheisel continues to believe he is charmed in the Arroyo Seco. Like he might have enough magic in his pocket to upset fifth-ranked USC on Saturday.

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Most people figure he’ll need a boatload.

“Relentlessly optimistic,” says defensive tackle Brigham Harwell, parroting his coach’s favorite phrase. “He’s always positive, no matter what.”

When it comes to the Rose Bowl, this confidence stems from a personal connection to the stadium that dates back to his days as a player and a young assistant.

But when asked to recount his fortunate moments, those times when fate seemed to intervene on his behalf, Neuheisel offers some curious examples. His idea of luck, it seems, is a little different.

1982, USC vs. UCLA

It was a dream come true, an undersized walk-on quarterback from Tempe, Ariz., finding a place on the roster at UCLA. Sure, Neuheisel was only the holder for kicks that season, but he got in the game.

Early on, the junior backup tried to turn an extra-point attempt into a two-point play and was hit hard, separating his shoulder. The trainer taped him up on the sideline.

“No way was I coming out,” he said. “I told the center, snap it low because I can’t reach up for the ball.”

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More than two decades later, there is a memento of that day in his office, a photograph of UCLA’s Karl Morgan sacking USC quarterback Scott Tinsley on the final play to seal the Bruins’ 20-19 victory.

“I loved being part of that game,” Neuheisel said.

1983, UCLA vs. Washington

The following season, Neuheisel earned the starting job, lost it and won it back. “Getting to play,” he said. “I still can’t believe that happened.”

The Bruins and Huskies met in late October with the conference lead at stake. It was a back-and-forth game that UCLA finally clinched when safety Don Rogers intercepted a Washington pass with less than a minute remaining.

Afterward, people congratulated Neuheisel on his performance. He had no idea what they were talking about.

“Every time we took the field we were behind, so we had a job to do,” he said. “I didn’t think about the fact that I’d hit a bunch of passes.”

In fact, he had missed only two of his 27 throws, none in the second half, for a then-NCAA-record 92% completion rate.

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1984, Rose Bowl vs. Illinois

There is an oft-told story behind UCLA’s 45-9 victory over the Illini. Neuheisel and several teammates fell ill with food poisoning the night before, coach Terry Donahue sending them to the stadium in a car because he didn’t want them vomiting on the bus.

Neuheisel’s father, waiting outside the locker room, adopted a tough-love approach, saying: “It’s no time to be sick. You get yourself going.”

The senior’s determination to play was never in question. But after a “nightmarish” pregame warmup, he returned to the locker room and lay down with a towel over his head, worried that the coaches might bench him.

His fears evaporated the moment he went back out the tunnel to a packed stadium.

“The adrenaline rush that hits you when you run on the Rose Bowl floor is like a magic carpet ride,” he said. “I mean, you can’t feel your feet. I never felt sick, tired, any of that, again.”

The coaching years

By 1988, Neuheisel had returned to his alma mater as an assistant coach. UCLA lost a heartbreaker to USC in 1990, a shootout that ended 45-42, but Neuheisel is more likely to mention the 1992 game.

That year, injuries forced the Bruins to start an unknown, walk-on quarterback named John Barnes, who suffered through ups and downs. Neuheisel could relate. He talked to Barnes about remaining confident.

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The coach still smiles when he recalls the season finale against heavily favored USC, Barnes leading the team to a 38-37 shocker. “It was a special moment,” Neuheisel says.

He also mentions the 2001 Rose Bowl, when, as a second-year coach at Washington, he guided the Huskies to a 34-24 victory over Purdue. That was the first time he tried out the “lucky” speech.

2008, UCLA vs. Tennessee

At some point after UCLA fell behind, Neuheisel was standing on the sideline, crouched down, waiting for the next play, when a nearby back judge asked: “Are you having fun yet?”

Neuheisel didn’t hesitate. “This is a blast,” he said.

After the controversy that had driven him out of Washington, the NCAA investigating his involvement in a college basketball pool, it had taken him six years to work his way back to the college game.

“And to be back at your alma mater,” he said. “At this shrine of a stadium.”

So when he gave that pep talk to his players at halftime, he wasn’t lying.

“He said he was the luckiest son-of-a-gun in the world,” Harwell recalled. “We laughed at that . . . but we believed him.”

Maybe because Neuheisel had gone through so much to get there. Maybe because he was talking about something more than winning a football game.

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david.wharton@latimes.com

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BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX

He could be the mayor of Pasadena

First as a player, and later as a coach, Rick Neuheisel has enjoyed some magic moments at the Rose Bowl -- two of them already against rival USC:

*--* YEAR/GAME MOMENT Nov. 20, 1982 vs. USC Skinny walk-on quarterback is thrilled being the holder for kicks in a 20-19 victory. Oct. 29, 1983 vs. Washington At the end of a see-saw battle, he is completely unaware he has completed a record 92% of his passes. Jan. 2, 1984 vs. Illinois Adrenaline rush of a Rose Bowl game helps him overcome food poisoning and lead Bruins to a 45-9 win. Nov. 21, 1992 vs. USC Now an assistant coach, the old walk-on watches a new walk-on, John Barnes, engineer a 38-37 upset. Sept. 1, 2008 vs. Tennessee “Lucky speech” at halftime works like a charm, the Bruins rallying to give their new coach an opening win. *--*

Los Angeles Times

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