Donahue Says This Is Year UCLA Believes

What do you say to a football team going into Lincoln, Neb., to play in a sold-out-for-the-150th-straight-time stadium, against the nation’s No. 2-ranked team that has beaten you the last couple of times by more than five touchdowns?

UCLA Coach Terry Donahue is stuck for an answer.

“I would like to have the Gutty Little Bruin speech to fall back on,” Donahue said. “But I’ve already said we’re no longer gutty little Bruins. I thought about trying it, anyway, but every time I do, I get this mental image of David Richards (the 6-5, 305-pound offensive tackle who transferred from SMU) and I just can’t do it.

“We’ve grown too much in terms of our national prestige to go in with that underdog attitude. We can’t go in as a gutty little Bruin would go.

“We’ll go in believing that we can do well. We’ll go in believing that we can compete with Nebraska. We’ll go in believing that we just have to prove those things.

“I believe we can. . . . We’ve got to hope to do everything right.”

UCLA is, after all, ranked No. 3.

So does No. 2 vs. No. 3 guarantee a classic confrontation for those 73,650 fans in the stands, not to mention a national television audience watching on ESPN?

Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne put all that in perspective: “I think early in the year those rankings don’t mean a whole lot. They do mean something. They mean you’ve got a couple of pretty good teams on the field. So it should be close.”

It hasn’t been close in the past, but this UCLA team is closer to Nebraska in size and strength than it has been in the past, and UCLA opened a lot stronger this season than it did the last two times it met Nebraska early in the season.

However, it’s hard to tell much about either team from the openers, both were so one-sided. UCLA defeated San Diego State, 47-14, using second- and third-team players most of the second half. And Nebraska beat Utah State, 56-12, backing off a little after leading, 49-6, at the end of three quarters.

UCLA gained 514 yards in its opener, Nebraska 603.

Both quarterbacks were sharp last Saturday.

UCLA junior Troy Aikman, who red-shirted last year after transferring from Oklahoma, passed for 166 yards, completing 8 of 10 passes--including his last 7 straight.

Nebraska’s Steve Taylor, coming off an outstanding sophomore season for the Cornhuskers, rushed for 157 yards, a single-game record for a quarterback at a school that has had plenty of good option quarterbacks.

Donahue calls Taylor “a phenomenal athlete, extremely versatile.”

Rushing is by far the Cornhuskers’ strength, as they showed in the opener with 515 yards (while passing for just 88).

Nebraska I-back Keith Jones rushed for 118 yards and scored 3 touchdowns.

In obvious jeopardy is the Bruins’ streak of three games in which the defense has held the opponent to less than 75 yards rushing.

The Bruins’ defensive strengths are quickness and experience. But Nebraska’s big, strong offense could wear UCLA down by the end of the game.

Osborne said, “We should have a pretty good pass rush. Also we should be pretty good against the run. But UCLA is running the option now. In the past, their commitment to the option has been pretty minimal, so that presents some problems. They also throw the ball well. And they have a good power game. They can hurt you in a lot of ways. They’re a multidimensional team.”

Donahue is just hoping to make Nebraska play “honest defense.” To do that, UCLA just might show a few more dimensions than were needed against San Diego State.

Bruin Notes UCLA’s game at Nebraska today at 2 p.m. will be televised live by ESPN. Prime Ticket also will originate a telecast that will be shown Sunday afternoon. The game will be broadcast live on KMPC radio (710 AM) . . . UCLA scored a major victory over Nebraska in 1972, ending Nebraska’s 32-game unbeaten streak with a 20-17 victory that was led by quarterback Mark Harmon. But Nebraska won, 40-13, in 1973, 42-10 in 1983 and 42-3 in 1984. . . . UCLA finished last season with a record of 8-3-1 and beat BYU, 31-10, in the Freedom Bowl. Nebraska was 10-2 last season and beat LSU, 30-15, in the Sugar Bowl.

UCLA tailback Gaston Green will be trying for his ninth straight game of rushing for 100 yards or more. Green, who returned one kickoff for 24 yards against San Diego State, his first kickoff return since 1985, will continue to return kickoffs. . . . Osborne on UCLA tailback Eric Ball: “We felt three years ago (when Ball, Gaston Green and several other top running backs were coming out of high school) that Ball was the No. 1 running back prospect in the nation. We might have been wrong, but we had him No. 1 in our recruiting system. He did visit here, but then he went to UCLA.”

Bruin kicker Alfredo Velasco, taking over for David Franey, who graduated, scored 11 points in the opener, making both of his field-goal attempts (of 31 and 42 yards, and also making a 32-yarder that was taken off the board after a penalty). He also made all five extra-point kicks.