Stevens, Primus Pace UCLA to 41-23 Win Over Long Beach

The UCLA Bruins may not have gotten exactly what they wanted Saturday night, but at least they got what they needed.

After rolling up and down the field on the precision passing of quarterback Matt Stevens, the Bruins built a 34-point lead early in the fourth quarter, then sort of hung on for a 41-23 victory over Cal State Long Beach.

“I’m just glad we’re 2-1,” Coach Terry Donahue said. “Actually, I’m delighted. We’ve got a big challenge ahead of us.”

Before a Rose Bowl crowd of 48,140, the Bruins opened their home season and closed out their nonconference schedule by finally subduing the stubborn 49ers, who fought against a blowout.

At least, the Bruins scored a victory they all thought they badly needed before starting the Pacific 10 schedule next weekend. And for that relief, they can thank Stevens, who said the Bruins wanted to show something to their critics.

“We haven’t been getting the greatest press in the world, so we wanted to prove ourselves,” he said.

In any event, Air Matt was flying. Stevens completed 18 of 26 passes for 211 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

And when the Bruins concentrated on the ground, James Primus was an unexpected leader in a suddenly thin tailback derby.

Primus rushed 23 times for 160 yards and played extensively after Gaston Green was held out because of a toe injury and Eric Ball left in the first quarter because of a muscle pull.

“All I want is playing time,” Primus said. “Here’s my situation: I’m the second-string fullback and the third-string tailback. I have to do the best I can when I’m in the game because I’m always under the gun.”

The events that catapulted Primus into service were completely unexpected. That Green wouldn’t play was a surprise to everyone, including Coach Terry Donahue, who was certain that Green was ready to go after stubbing his left big toe the previous week at San Diego State.

Not until the pregame warmups did Donahue decide to keep Green out.

The injury to Ball, meanwhile, seems much more serious. Bothered first by a sore knee early in the season, Ball hurt his hamstring two weeks ago in practice, then reinjured it at San Diego State. He hurt it a third time against Long Beach.

Donahue said Ball will be out indefinitely.

“This is worse than last week,” Ball said. “I heard something pop this time.”

The 49ers, meanwhile, tried very hard to pop the Bruin balloon. They played UCLA a lot closer than expected, which prevented the Bruins from getting the runaway they were seeking. That was because of 49er quarterback Jeff Graham, whose arm is probably going to be a little sore this morning.

Graham attempted 50 passes and completed 27 of them for 269 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Fullback Mark Templeton caught 15 passes for 110 yards and made the Bruins run all over the field to catch him.

The Bruins didn’t have to run many plays or go very far when they seemed to put the game away in a 20-point third quarter. They also didn’t take much time doing it.

A 19-yard drive ended with David Franey’s second field goal of the game, a 41-yarder that gave the Bruins a small bit of breathing room at 20-7.

The next two times the Bruins got the ball they scored. One touchdown took 44 seconds, the other 51 seconds.

Although they didn’t need much help, the Bruins got some anyway from Long Beach kick returner Ricco Wilson, who put the 49ers in a deep hole.

Wilson fumbled a kickoff out of bounds at the two-yard line, and when the 49ers were forced to punt, the Bruins took over at the Long Beach 42. Stevens threw to Derek Tennell for 27 yards on first down, and two plays later, Stevens threw 11 yards to Paco Craig for a touchdown and a 27-7 UCLA lead.

After another punt, the Bruins got the ball at the Long Beach 47. And three plays later, Primus was in the end zone on a 16-yard touchdown run that put the Bruins safely ahead, 34-7.

Stevens once again got the drive, however short it happened to be, off to a good start by throwing a 20-yarder on the run to Craig.

The touchdown by Primus was the last in the third quarter, but it wasn’t the end of the scoring.

Stevens sat down briefly and gave way to backup Brendan McCracken, who got off to a quick start.

On the first play McCracken was in the game, he connected on a 67-yard scoring pass play to tight end Joe Pickert. The play took 12 seconds and was the longest touchdown pass play by the Bruins in four years, since Dokie Williams caught a 75-yarder from Rick Neuheisel.

But the Bruins’ 41-7 fourth-quarter lead dwindled quickly. The 49ers scored twice, first on a three-yard pass from Graham to Tyrone McCullouch and then on an 11-yard pass from Graham to Templeton, the latter touchdown coming after Danny Thompson fumbled on the 11.

Two two-point conversions made it 41-23 with 8:10 to go.

Donahue, who had pulled his starters, quickly brought them back.

“Obviously, we lost our concentration in the fourth quarter and we let Long Beach get back in the game,” he said. “I was very disappointed with the play of our special teams, and our reserve players didn’t do a very good job.”

For most of the first half, it was as though Donahue’s worst dream had suddenly and unexpectedly come to life. The heavily favored Bruins led, all right, but only by 17-7.

A little earlier, the 49ers were dead even with the Bruins when Kwante Hampton ran a punt back 85 yards for a touchdown that tied the game at 7-7 in the first quarter.

Hampton shocked the Bruins’ not-so-special team by taking Harold Barkate’s punt at his 15 and running straight upfield. The nearest Bruin could only slap at Hampton’s helmet as he sped by.

Barkate had the misfortune of trying to reach Hampton cutting back toward the sideline, but Barkate was quickly knocked flat on his back by a 49er blocker.

It had all seemed so easy for UCLA up to that point. During the two drives on which Ball was healthy, he ran 6 times for 31 yards and scored the game’s first touchdown on a three-yard sprint to the flag at the right corner of the goal line.

As soon as Ball crossed the goal, he clutched his right hamstring and limped back to the bench. Ball was done for the night, but the Bruins were not.

After the punt return by Hampton, Stevens immediately took the Bruins on a 71-yard drive that ended when he threw a 5-yard scoring pass to Tennell to put UCLA back in front, 14-7, in the first minute of the second quarter.

Stevens had a near-perfect first half. He completed 11 of 13 passes for 115 yards. At one point, Stevens completed nine consecutive passes.

Graham was less successful in the first half, although it certainly wasn’t through lack of trying. He tried 23 passes and completed 12, but Dennis Price tipped a pass to James Washington, who intercepted it, which helped set up a 22-yard field goal by Franey that increased UCLA’s lead to 17-7.

The Bruins apparently had seen enough of the 49rs and decided to play conservatively on their next possession. Even though there were fewer than two minutes left in the half, Donahue still chose to punt on a fourth-and-one at the Long Beach 42.

The Bruins got a similar chance in the fourth quarter when they had a fourth-and-one at the Long Beach 23 and Donahue decided to go for it. But Primus was stopped.

Yet, no matter which way the Bruins turned, they still weren’t going to lose this game.

“It was a very difficult game for us to play,” Donahue said. “Our players are anxious to get the conference season going. They know that the other teams are under way, and it was hard psychologically for us to be in the game all the time.”

Stevens said he felt the same way. He is well aware of what was happening in the conference, even Saturday’s events at the Coliseum, where the Trojans defeated previously unbeaten Washington.

“I can’t believe USC won,” Stevens said.

Playing it fast and loose later the same day, the Bruins ought to be wondering how they won, too, for they certainly made an easy game look awfully difficult.