A Little Pass Takes Farr a Long Way for UCLA : The One He Kept Dropping in Practice Becomes a Key Touchdown Against Cal

A pass that worked much better than anybody had hoped and another that was an absolute dream turned a close football game into a rout Saturday night at the Rose Bowl.

UCLA became the router, Cal the routee.

With less than four minutes left in the first half and the Bruins trying mightily to keep a drive alive on third and two at the Cal 45, quarterback David Norrie swung a little toss to fullback Mel Farr Jr., a little toss designed to pick up the first down.

Farr, hoping for a clean completion and the first down, provided considerably more. He gave the Bruins a touchdown.

Gathering in Norrie’s pass near the sideline, he got one early block, then cut back and went the last 40 yards on his own, convoyed by nothing more than the Pasadena smog, shrugging off a tackler on his way.

That gave UCLA a 10-7 lead.

A minute later, Cal, trying mightily to stay in a game that just a quarter earlier had been a piece of cake for scrambling quarterback Brian Bedford, had third and 18 at its own 10.

Bedford, sacked on the previous play and scrambling now for his very life, drilled a sideline throw to Wendell Peoples. Unfortunately for him, Bruin Marcus Turner, the fifth defensive back , saw it first.

Saw it and grabbed it and ran 21 yards for as easy a touchdown as he is ever likely to score.

That gave UCLA a 17-7 lead. The game came with it.

The Bruins scored three more points before the half and eventually won, 34-7, but the second-half proceedings were altogether superfluous. All that needed to be determined in this game had already been determined.

UCLA was in such control that even the officials knew it. Side judge Dan Spriesterbach was so taken by it all that he signaled a touchdown early in the second half as Bruin flanker Karl Dorrell crossed the five-yard line with a pass from Norrie. That was slightly premature, since Dorrell was tackled at the three. But only slightly premature, since Norrie scored on the next play.

By then, though, Farr and Turner had established themselves as the heroes of the evening, to the surprise and delight of both.

“It’s a play we’ve had in our offense for a long time but we really haven’t run it a lot and we’ve been working hard on it all week. I dropped that pass, I don’t know how many times this week,” said Farr.

Coach Terry Donahue confirmed that, saying that he had not been totally convinced that the play was the appropriate call. “I was kind of casting about because Mel had dropped that ball in practice so many times this week. Now it’s going to be in the highlight film of his life.”

Probably so, for Farr had no lofty expectations on the play.

“The main thing was just to catch the ball and get the first down, ‘cause I knew if I dropped it everybody in the stadium would have been booing me and I would have felt like two inches high,” he said.

“Once I caught it and turned around and saw that there was nobody there for like 20 or 30 yards, I don’t know, I think somebody else got in me and was just guiding me. It’s just a short-yardage play and that’s all. I got some speed there that I didn’t know I had.

“I remember cutting back and somebody touched me and after that I saw the goal line and I was just going to try to get there.”

So, it was a little swing pass to the fullback that got the Bruins started.

And then it was Bedford’s throw on the run that settled things.

“He was open,” Bedford said of Peoples, the receiver he was throwing to. He was open and I threw it to him. The cornerback or strong safety, I don’t even know which he was, just made a great play. I still don’t know where he came from. I didn’t see him till he intercepted.”

Turner, the interceptor, was a little surprised at that development, too.

“It just happened,” he said. “I just happened to turn around and the ball was there. The quarterback had tried to fit it in.

“It was like a dream come true because last night I dreamed I had an interception and a touchdown. It was the same play exactly. When I was in the end zone it was like deja vu .”

It was also a lot like the end of the game.