UCLA Plucks One Out of Air : Bruins Stop Cardinal as Tackle Steals the Show

On the verge of failing to live up to its end of the bargain and reducing next Saturday’s showdown against USC to nothing more than a grudge match, UCLA produced the big plays Saturday to overcome Stanford, 27-17, before a homecoming crowd of 70,552 at the Rose Bowl.

None was bigger than touchdown No. 1 in the life of Bruin defensive tackle Mike Lodish, a 6-foot 3-inch, 253-pound junior from Birmingham, Mich., who stole the ball from Cardinal quarterback Brian Johnson and lumbered 17 yards for a score to put UCLA ahead to stay late in the third quarter.

UCLA Coach Terry Donahue called it “as big a play, probably, as we’ve had all year. It really swung the game dramatically in our favor.”

It also enabled the sixth-ranked Bruins to stay alive in the race for the Pacific 10 championship and a Rose Bowl berth.

They are 9-1 and will meet second-ranked USC (9-0) in a nationally televised game for the conference championship Saturday at the Rose Bowl.

“I think all of our players are relieved,” said Donahue, who seemed to be breathing a little easier himself. “We’ve had a lot of pressure on us to win each game and get into the championship game.

“It’s a burden off our shoulders to get to this position.”

The Bruins almost fell short.

They scored on each of their first two possessions to open a 10-0 first-quarter lead and were close to making it 17-0, facing third-and-goal at the Stanford 2 with 5 1/2 minutes left in the first half.

At that point, though, the Bruins started to falter.

Quarterback Troy Aikman overthrew tight end Charles Arbuckle, who tipped the ball with his outstretched left hand into the arms of Brad Cook. The Stanford cornerback took off in the opposite direction.

“I just put it up too high,” said Aikman, who was sacked 7 times and endured another subpar day, completing 13 of 24 passes for 135 yards and no touchdowns. “A better throw and he would have scored.”

Cook was caught from behind by Danny Thompson after making a 66-yard return, but Stanford needed only 3 minutes to score from the UCLA 34 on a 1-yard dive by Johnson.

Instead of trailing by 17, the Cardinal was within a field goal, 10-7.

Then, after UCLA’s next possession produced minus 5 yards in 3 plays, including 1 of 19 tackles and the first of 4 1/2 sacks by Stanford linebacker Rob Hinckley, the Cardinal got the ball back with 1:49 left.

Five plays later, Stanford was in the end zone again, Johnson hitting wide receiver Jim Price with a 5-yard pass for a touchdown.

Stanford had scored 2 touchdowns in 1 minute 42 seconds to open an unexpected 14-10 lead, but what really rankled the crowd was Donahue’s decision to run out the remaining 55 seconds of the first half after Price’s score.

UCLA, ranked No. 1 only 2 weeks ago before squandering a 21-point lead in a 34-30 loss to Washington State, left the field to a shower of boos.

“I think at halftime my biggest concern was the mental state of our staff and myself and the players,” Donahue said. “We were really frustrated because we’d had so many opportunities and didn’t capitalize on them.”

The second half also started ominously for the Bruins.

Two runs by tailback Brian Brown, who rushed for 106 yards and 2 touchdowns in 25 carries as a replacement for injured starter Eric Ball, produced a first down, but Aikman then overthrew Reggie Moore, underthrew Arbuckle and threw another incomplete pass on third down.

“It was a long day for our throwing game,” Aikman said. “There were times when I was hanging back on my back foot and not really getting into the throws. The ball was dying at times.”

It seemed the Bruins might die, too, when Harold Barkate had his punt blocked by free safety Mike Newton.

Albert Richardson recovered for the Cardinal at the UCLA 20.

But the Bruin defense, which sacked Stanford quarterbacks 7 times and limited the Cardinal to minus-1 yard rushing in 26 attempts, tightened, forcing Stanford to settle for John Hopkins’ 38-yard field goal.

“The blocked punt could have been a tremendous negative factor in the game, but I think the fact that we didn’t give up a touchdown at that juncture was very important to the morale of the players,” Donahue said.

Nose guard Jim Wahler said: “Anytime you stop an offense from scoring 7 points, especially in a sudden change like that, it’s a big lift for the defense. To hold them to 3 instead of 7--that was a big charge for us.”

Stanford reached UCLA’s side of the 50-yard line only once the rest of the way, producing only 3 first downs in the last 27 minutes.

Still, it was 17-10 in favor of Stanford at that point, and UCLA administrators probably were wondering what to pack for Dallas in January. The Bruins are expected to play Arkansas in the Cotton Bowl Jan. 2 if they don’t reach the Rose Bowl.

“I didn’t feel the game slipping away,” Donahue said, “but I felt the (outcome) was in jeopardy.”

Not for long.

Aided by a roughing-the-kicker penalty against Stanford’s Mark Hanson, who ran head-on into Barkate’s extended right leg, UCLA drove 58 yards to the Cardinal 22. Along the way, Aikman passed 27 yards to Moore for the quarterback’s only completion of the day longer than 13 yards.

The Bruins reached the Stanford 11, but a holding penalty and another sack by Hinckley pushed them back to the 22.

Alfredo Velasco’s 38-yard field goal made it 17-13.

Lodish sacked Johnson for a 9-yard loss on Stanford’s ensuing first down, and then on third down he made the play of the game.

Johnson stepped up in the pocket to avoid the charging lineman, but Lodish reached out and batted the ball out of the quarterback’s hand, plucking it out of the air before it hit the turf and making his way into the end zone.

“It just kind of dropped right into my hands,” Lodish said.

And so, too, did the victory drop into UCLA’s lap.

“It ignited the stadium,” Donahue said of Lodish’s play.

Not to mention the Bruins, whose fifth interception of the day--this one by linebacker Stacy Argo--ended Stanford’s next possession.

UCLA increased its lead to 10 points midway through the fourth quarter on a determined 2-yard touchdown run by Brown, who broke free from four defenders after fullback Mark Estwick set up the play with a 37-yard run.

The running of Brown and Estwick, who gained a season-high 65 yards in 7 carries, helped the Bruins generate their most productive rushing game since they rolled up 362 yards against Cal State Long Beach 2 months ago.

UCLA rushed for 236 yards in 57 carries.

The most important 17 yards, though, were covered by Lodish.

Bruin Notes

Mike Farr’s 7 receptions raised his season total to 53, breaking the UCLA record of 48 that was shared by Mike Sherrard and Willie Anderson. But Farr still has not scored a touchdown this season. . . . Reserve defensive tackle Steve Mehr tore ligaments in his left knee and will be lost for the rest of the season. . . . In 13 seasons under Coach Terry Donahue, UCLA has won at least 9 games 7 times.

In UCLA’s last 2 games, Troy Aikman has completed 25 of 47 passes for 249 yards and 1 touchdown. Before last week’s 16-6 victory over Oregon, in which he passed for a career-low 114 yards, Aikman averaged 250 yards a game. He has thrown only 2 touchdown passes in the last 3 games, after throwing 19 in the first 7.

Donahue said UCLA did not try to score at the end of the game out of respect for the Stanford players and coaching staff. “I’m for kids, not point spreads,” Donahue said. “I didn’t care if we won by 10 points or 17.” UCLA drove to the Stanford 1-yard line, but after a delay-of-game penalty against the Bruins, Aikman dropped to one knee as time ran out.

Former UCLA quarterback Gary Beban, winner of the Heisman Trophy in 1967, was honored before the game. Beban will be inducted next month into the National Football Foundation Hall of Fame in Larchmont, N.Y.