At Least, UCLA Coach Won’t Have to Worry About No. 1 Ranking

Terry Donahue can relax now. His team won’t be ranked No. 1 this year. With any luck, they will fall like boulders in the polls, and, if USC takes care of Illinois, the media spotlight will shift back across town where he prefers it. This may be an Excedrin 11 for Bruin fans, but rest assured, Terry is in clover. With the Oklahoma debacle, the last “gutty little Bruin” has resurrected the myth only he has any use for.

Terry is a complicated guy. He shows signs of imagination. Give him a proposition and he sees all the possibilities, not all of them happy. Five great recruiting years, four straight impressive bowl victories, John Robinson out of his hair, and yet . . . something is always wrong.

There’s always something dark in Terry’s closet. And so he worries. And occasionally his team plays as if they’re worried, too. Like last week. Orwell said a man needs to hit bottom before he loses his fears. Maybe Terry reads Orwell. Certainly he comes on like Hamlet.

But how useful is this sort of thing applied to football? It’s enough to make you worry.

CHARLES CHICCOA

Los Angeles