Iowa Has No Fun, but UCLA Has a Ball : Interviews as Numerous as Yards for Bruin MVP

UCLA Coach Terry Donahue was one of the first to congratulate tailback Eric Ball after he was named the most valuable player in the Bruins’ 45-28 Rose Bowl win over Iowa on Wednesday.

“I’m proud of you,” Donahue said as Ball was being surrounded by the media after the game. “You don’t get a car for being the MVP, but you get a trophy.”

Ball, a freshman redshirt, replaced starter Gaston Green, who pulled a hamstring in the second quarter. Ball rushed for a career-high 227 yards in 22 carries and scored 4 touchdowns with runs of 30, 40, 6 and 32 yards. The four touchdowns tied the modern day Rose Bowl record set by USC fullback Sam Cunningham in 1973.

It was the second-best rushing performance in the bowl’s 72-year history. Charles White, who gained 247 yards in USC’s 17-16 win over Ohio State in 1980, holds the record.

Ball also tied four other Rose Bowl records held by Cunningham: most touchdowns responsible for (4), most touchdowns rushing (4), most points scored in game (24) and most points scored in a career (24).

After his on-field interviews, Ball ran a gauntlet in the tunnel leading to the locker room, exchanging high-fives with fans. He was immediately herded through the crowd to do a live TV interview. He then returned to an interview room underneath the stands to be presented with the MVP trophy by Rafer Johnson.

Later he would answer the same questions for wave after wave of reporters.

It was a pretty heady experience for a kid from Ypsilanti, Mich.

But Ball managed to keep things in perspective. Asked how he planned to celebrate, Ball said: “I’m going to go to bed. I’m tired.”

Ball was the second freshman to be named the Rose Bowl MVP. Jacque Robinson of Washington became the first freshman to win the award after he rushed for 142 yards and 2 touchdowns in the Huskies’ 28-0 win over Iowa in 1982.

Robinson bragged afterward that he would win the Heisman Trophy, but he never did.

“I would never dare say that I would win the Heisman Trophy,” Ball said. “I can’t sit back and look at this game because I’ve got a lot of things to improve on.”

Ball, who had scored four touchdowns this season in a 34-16 win over San Diego State at the Rose Bowl, came close to scoring a fifth touchdown in the fourth quarter against Iowa.

“I couldn’t tell Eric Ball from the rest of them,” Iowa Coach Hayden Fry said. “They all ran right past us. The running of the UCLA backs was fantastic. I bet we missed 20 to 30 tackles.”

It appeared as if Ball had scored on a second and goal at the Iowa two-yard line when he went around the right side. But Iowa linebacker Larry Station drove him out of bounds just before he crossed the goal line.

And you can bet that most of the 103,292 fans at the Rose Bowl knew that Ball was going to get the ball on the next play. But quarterback Matt Stevens scored instead.

“I thought I had scored,” Ball said. “I purposely hit the cones to get it. The ref told me that I was across the line, but the ball wasn’t. That’s why I was upset.

“I didn’t know how many yards I had, but I knew about the record.”

Ball wasn’t even in the game on UCLA’s last series, when the Bruins had the ball at the Iowa five. Quarterback David Norrie came in for the last play, losing two yards.

Ball was supposed to split time with Green, but he got his chance to play when Green suffered a pulled hamstring in the second quarter.

“I didn’t know myself how much I was going to play,” Ball said. “The plan was for us to rotate.

“When I saw that he (Green) was hurt I told him the first two (touchdowns) were for him because he was feeling real bad,” Ball said. “You could tell it from his eyes.”

Ball’s performance also made up for his fourth-quarter fumble on a goal-line dive in UCLA’s 17-13 loss to USC.

“I couldn’t even think straight, after that game,” Ball said. “It was just a jump play and I just coughed up the ball. I looked at the films and from the end zone angle I could see that the linebacker came up tough and the ball just popped up.

“I felt responsible for it (the loss). I felt down. I knew I had to redeem myself. That was one of the themes of the (Rose Bowl) game, to make up for the SC game.”

Said UCLA Coach Terry Donahue: “The great thing for us was that Eric Ball was the guy who was most distraught after our last game. It hurt, but he never let it bother him. What a spectacular game he had.”

Ball wasn’t the only reserve who played a key role in UCLA’s upset of the Big Ten champions.

Stevens stepped in for the injured Norrie and rushed for 1 touchdown and passed for 189 yards and 1 touchdown.

“I believe No. 21 carried for 227 yards,’ Stevens said. “It takes a lot of the pressure off the quarterback.

“He’s a phenomenal athlete. . . . Everyone knew he was going to have a game like this and fortunately it was New Year’s Day.”

Ball, like most runners, credited his offensive line.

“The offensive line made great holes,” he said. “My mother could have run through them.”

But Ball (6-0, 208) is perhaps the strongest man on the team. He said he can lift 300 pounds.

Said Bruin left guard Mike Hartmeier: “Eric Ball did a fantastic job along with Gaston Green before he got hurt.

“I think he deserved it (the MVP award). He was unbelievable. We’re going to be unbelievable in a year with Gaston and Eric and Mel Farr and James Primus.”

Said offensive tackle Robert Cox: “Eric Ball is an outstanding back. He’s going to be around for a long, long time. His best days are yet to come.”

Ball said it was a particularly good win for him because it came against a team from the Big Ten.

“I grew up two miles away from Michigan and I always used to root for the Big Ten team in the Rose Bowl,” he said. “But one of the reasons I came to UCLA was because the Pac-10 was doing well against the Big Ten in the Rose Bowl and the Pac-10 is more pass oriented. I always dreamed about playing in the Rose Bowl, but I never dreamed of this. I always used to watch the New Year’s Day games and the Rose Bowl was always the biggest. This felt great.”

Ball was one of the most heavily recruited high school tailbacks in the country. He chose UCLA over Michigan, Nebraska, Notre Dame and Pittsburgh.

Ball’s father, Huey, said he was disappointed that his son didn’t sign with Michigan.

“I wanted to watch him play. I had watched him since he was seven. But it was something he had to do for himself.”

UCLA signed Green, a prep All-American tailback from Gardena High, then got Ball.

“I knew Gaston Green was coming before I signed,” Ball said. “But I liked it out here in California so much because I got tired of playing in the cold.”

Ball sat out last season after he suffered a hip-muscle injury two weeks into fall practice.

ERIC BALL’S BIG DAY

HOW UCLA FRESHMAN RAN FOR 227 YARDS, 4 TOUCHDOWNS IN ROSE BOWL

FIRST QUARTER

Carry Situation Play Gain Cuml. Result 1. 1st and 10, Iowa 30 Around left end 30 30 Touchdown

SECOND QUARTER

Carry Situation Play Gain Cuml. Result 2. 2nd and 11, Iowa 45 Around left end 6 36 3. 3rd and 5, Iowa 39 Around right end 39 75 Touchdown 4. 1st and 10, Iowa 14 Up the middle 8 83 5. 2nd and 2, Iowa 6 Around right end 6 89 Touchdown

THIRD QUARTER

Carry Situation Play Gain Cuml. Result 6. 1st and 10, UCLA 27 Up the middle 1 90 7. 2nd and 10, UCLA 41 Up the middle 4 94 8. 2nd and 7, Iowa 37 Over left tackle 3 97 9. 3rd and 4, Iowa 18 Around left end 7 104 First down 10. 1st and 10, Iowa 11 Up the middle 1 105 11. 1st and 10, UCLA 37 Around left end 20 125 First down 12. 1st and 10, Iowa 43 Around right end 2 127

FOURTH QUARTER

Carry Situation Play Gain Cuml. Result 13. 1st and 10, UCLA 46 Around left end 14 141 First down 14. 2nd and 2, Iowa 32 Off left tackle 32 173 Touchdown 15. 2nd and 6, Iowa 26 Off right tackle 4 177 16. 3rd and 2, Iowa 22 Around left end 5 182 First down 17. 1st and 10, Iowa 17 Around right end 6 188 18. 1st and goal, Iowa 4 Around left end 2 190 19. 2nd and goal, Iowa 2 Around right end 1 191 20. 1st and 10, Iowa 45 Over right tackle 11 202 First down 21. 1st and 10, Iowa 34 Up the middle 17 219 First down 22. 2nd and 7, Iowa 14 Up the middle 8 227 First down