Helpless against these passes

Trojans 28, UCLA 7 -- not exactly the overpowering USC win many guessed it would be.

This was sort of like watching a high-powered sports car try to speed down a freeway full of potholes and sharp nails. Responsible for the obstacles was a Bruins defense that -- talent-challenged and playing with little rest because the offense could barely function -- kept this game from getting out of hand.

Kudos to the Bruins’ D for playing smartly, cohesively and with pants-on-fire hustle.

This brings me straight to the plight of that unit’s architect: DeWayne Walker, UCLA’s defensive coordinator.

Walker, it is widely known, wants to be a college head coach. He has done everything right. He has served as an NFL assistant under masters such as Bill Belichick and Joe Gibbs. Since 2006, he has overseen the only consistently bright spot on the Westwood gridiron.

It was his defense that snuffed out USC two years ago in that miracle upset, his defense that kept the last two cross-town rivalry games at least somewhat close. His defense that has kept the otherwise hapless Bruins competitive and been largely responsible for every big win UCLA has had for three years running.

Next step: head coach. So far: no luck.

“It’s real disappointing, yeah, I’ll admit that,” Walker said Saturday, downcast after another tough loss.

It’s also just one more example of an issue that brings great shame to major-college football.

Walker, 48, doesn’t want to go there, but I will. Non-white football coaches continue to get a raw deal by our major universities. As I wrote a few days back, this year an already terrible situation has gotten worse. All 119 Division I colleges are more than happy to count on young black men to score touchdowns and rake in millions. But out of all 119 schools, only three have football teams that are led by blacks. (Don’t even get me started on Latinos and Asians.)

What an irony we witnessed Saturday, Walker matching wits with USC offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian. A fine coach, Sarkisian, 34, has just been hired as head coach at the University of Washington. Terrific.

But imagine how a guy like DeWayne Walker feels. In the mid-1990s, when Walker was a young assistant at Brigham Young, he recruited Sarkisian to play quarterback. In 2001, when Walker was at USC and working as Pete Carroll’s associate head coach, Sarkisian was getting his toes wet as quarterbacks coach for the Trojans. On that USC staff was another lower-level assistant, Lane Kiffin.

Talk about being passed over. In the span of weeks, Kiffin, 33, recently deposed as coach of the Oakland Raiders, got the vaunted top job at the University of Tennessee. What the . . . ? Recall that Walker’s defense led the 27-24 upset of the Volunteers in UCLA’s first game this season.

I asked Walker on Saturday: Did Tennessee call when its job opened up?

Nope.

What about Washington? Your defense shut out the Huskies this year. These last few seasons, your defense has been harder on Sarkisian’s talent-dripping offense than any opponent. Washington called for an interview, right?

Nope.

What, then, about UCLA? When the top job opened last year, his own school at least gave him an interview. But it was impossible for them to turn down Rick Neuheisel (who, it must be noted, got his first head coaching job in his mid-30s, only to leave Colorado under a cloud of NCAA violations).

Neuheisel is an excellent coach. UCLA is rightly glad to have him. But something tells me it didn’t hurt his case to be buddies with a group of prominent Bruins boosters.

OK, so maybe right now he’s not the “hot” candidate because the offensively challenged Bruins have dropped far from the top 20. How about the lower-tier major-college schools? You’d think Walker would get a shot there. After all, three of the four minority head coaches lead teams at this level.

Well, it’s become apparent Walker won’t be hired at Utah State. He took his name out of the running when reality hit -- they’ve got another guy.

The Toledo job just got filled by Oklahoma State’s defensive coordinator. His team ranked 85th in total defense this year. UCLA entered Saturday 50 positions higher. And Oklahoma State has an offense.

Walker’s name is often floated for jobs -- Washington State last year being a prime example -- but he rarely gets so much as a phone call. Sometimes it’s a smoke screen to make the schools look good.

“Jeez, all I want is an interview,” Walker said. “It’s just disappointing that in so many cases you can’t have at least a conversation.”

There’s still hope he’ll get a real shot this time. Maybe at San Diego State. Maybe they get smart, keep the country club boosters at bay and offer Walker the job.

That happens, the number of non-white coaches swells to four out of 119. Yeah, four.

Sadly, something gives me the feeling I’ll be writing about this issue for a long, long time.

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kurt.streeter@latimes.com