Roses Bloom in Desert After UCLA Defeat : Bruins Just Can’t Pass Muster, Fall to Stanford, 28-23

What in the name of the Rose befell UCLA?

Why, it was none other than the Stanford Cardinal, who showed up at the Rose Bowl Saturday to post a 28-23 victory that helped make certain the Bruins wouldn’t be in the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day.

A few hours later, Arizona State ended whatever uncertainty was left by defeating California, 49-0, at Tempe, Ariz., to clinch the Pacific 10 title with a 5-0-1 conference record and one Pac-10 game left.

The Bruins, who are 4-2 in the Pac-10, mainly missed their chance to go back to the Rose Bowl because they missed tackling Brad Muster too many times. It’s not that they didn’t have their chances, either.

Muster, a 226-pound tailback, carried the ball a school-record 38 times. He finished with 183 yards and 2 touchdowns. The Bruins finished with a deep respect for Muster, as well they should, since they instantly turned him into the second coming of John Riggins.

“Once he broke off that 74-yarder (in the first quarter), we knew we were in trouble,” UCLA defensive back Darryl Henley said.

For most of the game, and especially the first half, that’s exactly where the Bruins were. Stanford led, 21-16, at halftime, by which time Muster had 24 carries and 159 yards.

In that first half, how to tackle Muster was a mystery, and the Bruins didn’t seem to have a clue.

Actually, it turned out to be something like a board game: UCLA’s Rose Bowl chances were bludgeoned to death by a blunt instrument. Who did it? It was Col. Muster in the Rose Bowl with a football.

“I’m not worried about numbers,” Muster said. “I came into the locker room at halftime, and somebody said, ‘Twenty-four carries.’ I said, ‘Geez, no wonder I’m hurting.’ ”

Once Muster came out for the second half, the Bruins did a better job of tackling him, but by then it was too late to rescue the Rose Bowl.

“We only gave up one touchdown (in the second half),” UCLA linebacker Ken Norton said. “But it was one touchdown too many.”

Unfortunately for the UCLA defense, they chose a bad time to play without relish against Muster. The Stanford tailback was all over the field, and the Bruins were forced to play catch-up.

Even so, they did a pretty good job of it. Stanford had moved out to a 28-16 lead by the end of the third quarter after Muster’s four-yard touchdown run, made possible after the Cardinal’s Toi Cook picked off a poorly thrown pass by Matt Stevens and returned it 21 yards to the UCLA 19.

“I just overthrew it,” Stevens explained. “That’s all I can say.”

But even in the fourth quarter, there was still a chance for the Bruins to complete their mission of another Rose Bowl. They used 12 plays and nearly five minutes to cover 57 yards and score on their first possession of the quarter.

Gaston Green’s two-yard sweep, with the help of a clearing block by Marcus Greenwood, brought the Bruins within 28-23.

There were still more than seven minutes remaining, but the Bruins got the ball only one more time, with 4:52 left.

UCLA, knowing that a trip to the Rose Bowl could depend on this drive, began on its 32-yard line. Green, who would wind up with 142 yards, his fourth straight game over 100 yards, kept the drive alive with a two-yard plunge on fourth and one at the 41.

On the next play, Green took off for 29 yards, running over the left side, for a first down at the Stanford 28. James Primus got five yards, and Green managed two to set up a third and three at the Cardinal 21.

The play sent in by assistant coach Homer Smith was another sweep by Green, the same play on which Green had scored two other touchdowns in the first half. This time, however, Green never got the ball.

Stevens changed the play at the line of scrimmage. He said he checked it off because the Cardinal defense was stacked against the sweep.

So instead, Greenwood carried up the middle and was stopped after two yards.

“Maybe I should have kept that play on,” Stevens said.

Maybe he should have.

“I don’t know what was in his mind,” Coach Terry Donahue said. “But like all audibles, if it doesn’t work, you get criticized for it. Our quarterback is given some real latitude in those situations.”

That brought up two things--fourth down, and the Stanford defense. This time, the defense was ready for Green’s sweep, and on fourth and one from the 19, strong safety Brad Humphreys tackled Green for a two-yard loss with 1:58 to play.

And that was as far as Rose Bowl hopes went for the Bruins this year.

Green said he encountered several problems on his last carry, and all of them were wearing Stanford helmets.

“There were a lot of men on the field, and we didn’t get all of them blocked,” Green said.

Donahue said there was no hesitation about giving the ball to Green with the game and a possible Rose Bowl appearance on the line.

“We gave it to the best we’ve got,” the coach said. “But sometimes you can’t do it on your own. You’ve got to have about 10 other guys blocking for you. Stanford must have made a terrific play.”

The Cardinal spent most of Saturday making terrific plays and needed all of them, especially since quarterback John Paye’s right shoulder was bothering him.

Paye, who threw for only 147 yards on a 17-for-22 afternoon, didn’t complete a pass of longer than 16 yards. But in one span of the first half, he completed 11 consecutive passes.

The best thing Paye did, however, was to hand the ball to Muster.

And the worst thing the Bruins did, at least the worst thing they did first, helped Stanford take a 7-0 lead in the opening quarter.

UCLA forced the Cardinal to punt on its first possession, but the Bruins were penalized for holding, which kept the drive alive and gave Stanford a first down at the UCLA 47.

Muster gained 15 yards on first down, and five plays later Stanford was in the end zone. Paye threw a 15-yard pass to Jeff James, who badly beat cornerback Chuckie Miller.

The next time Stanford got the ball, it jumped to a 14-0 lead. Muster’s 74-yard run on second down moved the football to the UCLA 15, where linebacker Eric Smith finally wrestled him out of bounds. Both Miller and Craig Rutledge missed tackles on Muster.

“Every play they wanted to run, they were running right through us,” Rutledge said. “On that big play, I had him, Chuckie had him, and he was gone.”

Muster got two yards to the eight on first down, then Paye threw to tight end Eric Snelson for a touchdown and a 14-0 lead.

The Bruins came back quickly and, in the second quarter, narrowed the Stanford lead to 14-7 on one of the rare series when Stevens threw downfield. The UCLA quarterback hit Bob Garabaldi for 18 yards on a third and seven, then found Flipper Anderson for 26 yards on then next play, down to the Stanford 13.

Three plays later, on first and goal from the two, Green scored his first touchdown.

Once again, though, Muster wrecked the Bruin defense, just as soon as he could start running. Stanford drove 75 yards in 11 plays, five of them running plays by Muster, and he increased Stanford’s lead to 21-7 on a one-yard touchdown run.

“We just couldn’t stop their running game, which is what we’ve just about always been able to do all season,” Rutledge said.

Stanford concluded the first half with 196 yards rushing, and although the Cardinal got only 15 more in the second half, the Bruins had already paid for their mistakes.

But the UCLA offense wasn’t through, at least not in the first half. The Bruins made it close by scoring again in the second quarter on Green’s one-yard sweep, a touchdown Green also helped set up with a 32-yard gain on a pitchout. Also helping was Greenwood, who got 25 yards on a screen pass from Stevens.

David Franey’s extra-point kick was blocked, but Franey later made a 33-yard field goal with no time left in the half, closing the gap for the Bruins to 21-16.

That is as close as the Bruins would get to the Cardinal. That is also as close as they would come to the Rose Bowl game.

Stevens, who is a senior, seemed to have difficult accepting the defeat.

“It’s a different and difficult feeling for me,” he said. “I’ve never had it before. We’re used to playing for the Rose Bowl. Now, we’re just playing for pride, I guess.”

Donahue gave his Rose Bowl concession speech afterwards, in a small room beneath the stands.

“We had hoped to stay in the conference race all the way to the last weekend,” he said. “Obviously, those hopes are out. When you lose a game like this, obviously bowl interest in us is greatly reduced.

“We won’t be a real hot item this week,” he said. “I don’t think my phone will be ringing off the wall.”

Bruin Notes

A crowd of 68,857 turned out for UCLA’s homecoming game. . . . With the win, Stanford kept alive its hopes for a bowl bid somewhere. The Cardinal is 7-2 overall and 4-2 in the Pacific 10. UCLA fell to 6-3 and 4-2. . . . After the game, and before Arizona State’s title-clinching win over Cal, at least one Stanford player thought the Cardinal still had a shot at the Rose Bowl. “Stranger things have happened,” offensive tackle Kurt Josephson said.