UCLA Escapes Tucson With a Win : Green’s Three Touchdowns Prove Enough for Bruins, 24-19

What with the last-minute theatrics that followed David Norrie’s interception and the way the homecoming crowd finally got involved in the ballgame, UCLA had all kinds of trouble getting out of here Saturday night with a 24-19 victory over Arizona.

Then, UCLA Coach Terry Donahue took on an even tougher task.

“Now I’m going to have to do everything I can to keep the team from talking about the Rose Bowl,” he said. “We’re delighted to be in a position to control our own destiny, but the team has to realize that the Rose Bowl is a long way off.”

UCLA’s well-deserved victory over Arizona left the Bruins and Arizona State as the only teams in the Pac-10 with just one defeat. If that is still the case after the last games are played, UCLA would be back in the Rose Bowl because of its victory over the Sun Devils in the fifth game of the season.

Going into Saturday’s games, five teams were tied with just one defeat. But Arizona State beat Washington, and Cal beat USC.

“I did mention the Washington loss and the USC loss prior to our game because those were games of importance and games of interest to us,” Donahue said. “I said coming in that this game would not decide who plays in the Rose Bowl, but that the winner would take a giant step forward.

“Well, we just took a giant step forward.”

Like so many other coaches who have faced the Bruins this season, Arizona Coach Larry Smith proclaimed UCLA “by far the best team and the soundest team we have played.”

UCLA dominated the first half, holding the Wildcats to 26 yards of total offense. UCLA took a 17-0 lead on two touchdown runs by tailback Gaston Green and a 39-yard field goal by John Lee.

Arizona’s punt coverage unit should be credited with the Wildcats’ touchdown in the third period--for giving their offense the ball on the seven after Chuck Cecil blocked a punt. Tailback James DeBow took the ball in from the UCLA two to get Arizona on the scoreboard.

UCLA came right back to make it 24-7 on Green’s third touchdown of the night with a drive that included one of the zaniest plays of the season.

It was third-and-nine from the UCLA 44, and Norrie was scrambling around in the backfield, looking for a receiver. He had just eluded a tackler when he saw flanker Karl Dorrell open over the middle.

Norrie found Dorrell at the 20, but when Dorrell was hit, he fumbled the ball toward the goal line. Four Arizona players were descending upon the ball when Green came out of nowhere to fall on it at the Arizona four.

Two plays later, Green went over the top to score, and Lee kicked the extra point to gave the Bruins a 24-7 lead.

“We practiced that long play quite a bit,” Donahue said. “I thought that Dorrell was as good at it tonight as he’s ever been. . . . I can be glib about it now, because we won.”

Donahue backed up to a wall and crumpled against it, sliding down it as he said, “If they had scored at the end, you’d find me about this low.”

Arizona might have scored at the end, too. UCLA let the Wildcats have the ball back twice in the last three minutes when a well-handled drive should have been running out the clock.

Arizona closed within 24-13 in the final period on an offensive drive that included another outrageous play--an interception by Bruin cornerback Dennis Price at the UCLA 10 that Price returned 14 yards only to fumble. DeBow recovered the ball on the UCLA 24, giving Arizona a new possession and a new first down. It was DeBow who eventually scored for Arizona.

UCLA recovered Max Zendejas’ onside kick at the 50 with 7:04 to play. After two first downs, the Bruins had used up almost four minutes of game time. But then came Norrie’s ill-advised decision to put the ball in the air.

Norrie found himself in trouble on a play that had started with a first down at the Arizona 29 with 3:18 left. As he was tackled, he tossed the ball toward the sideline. It was picked off by defensive tackle Dana Wells and returned 61 yards for a touchdown to cut UCLA’s lead to 24-19.

“It was just a bad decision by me to throw the ball,” Norrie said. “I did see a receiver--my fullback. But I shouldn’t have thrown it.”

Norrie said that he was going with the called play, and that he was not questioning the call.

“No, I can’t tell you what was going through my mind when that happened,” Donahue said. “You couldn’t print it anyway. . . . I’ll just say that the next time we’re in that situation, I hope I do a better job and I hope David does a better job. I’ll either run the ball or make sure that if we do call a pass, David understands that we can’t have an interception at that point.”

Giving the ball to Arizona, again, after that interception simply put the game in the hands of the Bruin defense. And the Bruin defense was prepared to handle it.

As Price put it, “We had our nickel team in there, and we knew we had to keep them out of the end zone. . . .There was a lot of pressure on us then, but that’s what makes it a good ballgame.”

Until those final minutes, it wasn’t much of a ballgame. It was UCLA all the way.

In the final tally, UCLA outgained Arizona, 295 yards to 179 yards.

“Our defense was magnificent,” Donahue said. “With the crowd and all the pressure at the end, our defense could have been broken. They could have blown the whole shebang. But they didn’t.”

The UCLA defensive unit will have to play Oregon State next week without strong safety Craig Rutledge, who was scheduled to undergo exploratory surgery on his right knee this afternoon.

Rutledge was having trouble handling his crutches Saturday night because of the cast on his broken left thumb.

Nose guard Terry Tumey sprained his left ankle and missed the entire second half, but it was too early to say how long he might be out.

And fullback Mel Farr was scheduled for X-rays today on his right shoulder. Team doctors suspected a cracked clavicle.