Bruins Face Cardinal in Final ‘Preliminary’

A crowd of more than 70,000 is expected for homecoming today at the Rose Bowl as UCLA plays Stanford in the last of the Bruins’ preliminary games.

The only problem for the sixth-ranked Bruins is, if they lose to Stanford--and the home team has lost the last five games of this series--and second-ranked USC beats Arizona State at Tempe, Ariz., today’s game will not just be the end of the preliminaries.

It will be the end, period.

But if the Bruins win--or lose, as long as USC loses, too--it will set up the long-awaited Bruin-Trojan showdown next week for the Rose Bowl.

But first things first.

As UCLA Coach Terry Donahue will tell anyone willing to listen, a victory over Stanford is hardly a given, despite the Bruins’ superior 8-1 record and their 49-0 rout of the Cardinal last season.

Stanford may be tied for eighth place in the Pacific 10 Conference, but its 3-5-1 record is deceiving.

“I don’t think their skill level or their competitiveness is reflected in their record,” Donahue said.

The Cardinal was squashed by Notre Dame, 42-14, but its other losses were by 4, 4, 3 and 3 points.

All of Stanford’s losses, at least, were to teams that have been ranked in the top 20.

“We’re not in the top 10 but our schedule is,” Stanford Coach Jack Elway said.

In its 6 conference games, Stanford hasn’t been able to find a way to win against anybody other than Arizona State, which fell, 24-3:

--On Sept. 10, Stanford lost to USC, 24-20, when quarterback Rodney Peete drove the Trojans 80 yards to the game-winning touchdown in the last 3 1/2 minutes.

--On Sept. 24, Stanford lost, 7-3, when Oregon’s Scott Kozak intercepted a pass by Stanford quarterback Brian Johnson and the Ducks drove 41 yards to the only touchdown of the game with 9 minutes left.

--On Oct. 22, Stanford was tied by Oregon State, 20-20, when Troy Bussanich kicked a 26-yard field goal with 9 seconds left.

--On Oct. 29, Stanford scored twice in the last 6 minutes 42 seconds but still came up short in a 28-25 loss to Washington.

--Last week, Stanford lost to Washington State, 24-21, after having driven 69 yards to the Cougars’ 2-yard line, only to have a pass by freshman quarterback Jason Palumbis intercepted in the end zone with 1:17 remaining.

“It seems like it was a different scenario every week,” Elway said.

Only the results were the same.

The Cardinal will be facing a UCLA team that, offensively, has become increasingly 1-dimensional in recent weeks.

Not including a 68-yard fourth-quarter touchdown run against Oregon last week by tailback Brian Brown, who will fill in today for injured starter Eric Ball, the Bruins have averaged fewer than 3 yards a rush in their last 3 games.

UCLA has run for 208.6 yards a game, but the Bruins haven’t rushed for more than 184 yards in any of their last 5 games. And almost half of their yardage was accumulated in their first 3 games, when they piled up 303.3 yards a game against San Diego State, Nebraska and Cal State Long Beach.

In UCLA’s last 2 games, including a 34-30 loss to Washington State when the Bruin running backs accounted for 117 yards in 31 carries, quarterback Troy Aikman has accounted for almost one-fourth of the Bruins’ rushing yardage, carrying 27 times for 77 yards.

“One of the things that’s wrong with our running game is that we haven’t emphasized it probably as much as we should have,” Donahue said. “We’ve relied so heavily on Troy because he’s such a talented player.

“You almost get to the point where you say, ‘Why should we run the ball for 3 yards, or 4 yards, when we can have him drop back and throw it for 10?’

“Our frequency of throws probably has been higher than it normally would be because we have that kind of a talent at quarterback. And consequently, when you increase your frequency of throws, you obviously decrease your opportunities to run the ball.”

Bruin Notes

Stanford is 2-1 against UCLA at the Rose Bowl, the only team in the Pacific 10 Conference with a winning record against the Bruins in the Arroyo Seco, and has won the last 2 meetings between the teams in Pasadena. . . . UCLA is encouraging fans to use a shuttle bus that will provide free transportation to the Rose Bowl from a parking lot just west of Fair Oaks Avenue between Holly and Walnut streets. . . . UCLA is listed as a 20-point favorite.

Troy Aikman ran and passed for 13 of UCLA’s 17 first downs last week in a 16-6 victory over Oregon, running for 7. . . . Freshman Jason Palumbis, who replaced junior Brian Johnson as Stanford’s starting quarterback in the fifth game of the season, has completed 55.5% of his passes for 1,317 yards and 8 touchdowns.

Fullback Jon Volpe needs just 126 yards in Stanford’s last 2 games to break the school one-season rushing record set by Darrin Nelson, who ran for 1,069 yards in 1977. Volpe ranks second in the Pac-10 with an average of 104.9 yards a game and ran for a school one-game record 220 yards in 29 carries against Washington. . . . UCLA intercepted 6 passes last season in its 49-0 win over Stanford. In 9 games this season, the Bruins have intercepted 8 passes.

Another Pac-10 victory would be the 70th of Coach Terry Donahue’s 13-year career, equaling a record shared by Washington Coach Don James and former USC Coach John McKay. . . . UCLA’s Alfredo Velasco, whose 53-yard field goal last week was the longest of his career, has made 11 of 12 attempts.