Unpleasant Questions Looming for UCLA

Views from Westwood Monday after a 24-6 thumping by Tennessee:

--The freshman was fine.

--The offense was ordinary.

--The defense was a disaster.

--Tennessee, picked to finish in the middle of the pack in the Southeastern Conference, was better than advertised.

At least, UCLA hopes so.

“They were clearly such a dominant team over us that it’s frightening,” UCLA Coach Terry Donahue said. “Either they have been grossly misevaluated or this might be as poor a football team as I’ve ever had.”

The answer probably lies somewhere in between.

Certainly, Tennessee is better than it had showed a week earlier, when it defeated lightly regarded Colorado State, 17-14.

But is UCLA that bad?

“At this time, it’s still very difficult to make a clear diagnosis,” Donahue said. “But I don’t like the preliminary reports. It doesn’t look very nice and it doesn’t look very encouraging.”

The Bruins, he said, were disturbingly meek and mild.

Tennessee stampeded over the UCLA defense, running for 247 yards, including 134 yards and two touchdowns by freshman Chuck Webb. And the Volunteers’ first two touchdown drives were limited almost exclusively to running plays.

The Volunteers, expected to be quicker than UCLA, also overpowered the Bruins.

“Up until Saturday night, I didn’t feel our defense was unphysical,” Donahue said. “But I’d certainly say that Saturday night we were unphysical.”

And unaware at times, too.

Five Bruin defenders made their starting debuts against Tennessee--nose tackle Jon Pryor, linebackers Rocen Keeton and Pat McPherson, and cornerbacks Dion Lambert and Michael Williams. Donahue said that on several occasions one or more of them lined up out of position.

Tennessee took advantage of several missed tackles.

UCLA’s freshman quarterback, Bret Johnson, showed flashes of brilliance in his debut, completing 26 of 42 passes for 253 yards and the Bruins’ only touchdown, but he made many mistakes, Donahue said.

Johnson threw an interception into the end zone and, until Tennessee opened a 24-0 lead in the third quarter, didn’t move the offense.

“He did a credible job,” Donahue said. “He played with real spirit and competitiveness. He’ll be a terrific player.”

Johnson was expected to be brought along slowly as the Bruins relied heavily on tailbacks Brian Brown, Shawn Wills and Kevin Williams, but UCLA managed only 3.3 yards a carry against Tennessee.

The running game was “not as effective, nor as powerful and strong as it needs to be,” Donahue said. “We need to place a greater emphasis and more of an urgency on that area to try to help our quarterback.”

Overall, Donahue couldn’t find much to encourage him.

“I’m not sure I can remember an opening game where we played any poorer,” he said, perhaps forgetting that his 1986 team was crunched in its opener by Brian Bosworth and Oklahoma, 38-3.

When the underdog Volunteers drove 90 yards to open a 7-0 lead in the second quarter, Donahue said, the Bruins unraveled.

“Once they scored, we did not compete or perform at the same level as we had been,” Donahue said. “As the game wore on, Tennessee’s intensity level eventually became about 10 times higher than ours.

“Ours began to really wane after the first score and continued to do so until the end of the game.”

Donahue’s hope is that the Volunteers are better than anybody thought.

“I know this: They’re a lot better than we are,” Donahue said. “I’m hoping they’re the No. 1 team in the country.”

Donahue took exception to a 15-yard penalty against the Bruins that gave Tennessee a first down on its first-half touchdown drive. The Volunteers had punted, but umpire James Mosteller ruled that a Bruin defender had slapped the Tennessee snapper, which is a personal foul.

Donahue said that James Malone and Kaleaph Carter lined up opposite the center, with Carter slanting into the gap between guard and center.

“He made some contact with the center but (it was) absolutely not a personal foul,” Donahue said.

“I really don’t know what this official called after looking at the film. I’m beside myself.

“If that was a personal foul--if anybody could rationalize what he saw on the game film as a personal foul--there were at least 20 incidents far more flagrant during the game than that particular incident.”

Donahue said that he would complain to the Southeastern Conference office. Mosteller is an SEC official.

Bruin Notes

UCLA will play San Diego State, 0-1, Saturday night at San Diego. . . . The last time USC and UCLA both lost their opening games was 1971, when USC lost to Alabama, 17-10, to start a 6-4-1 season and UCLA was beaten by Pittsburgh, 29-25, to kick off a 2-7-1 season. USC and UCLA tied that year, 7-7.

Bret Johnson suffered a hip pointer in the third quarter against Tennessee, but said that he would be able to play against San Diego State, which is 0-11-1 against UCLA and lost to the Bruins last season, 59-6. . . . Johnson on the Tennessee game: “I thought we were more prepared for the game. Not to say we weren’t prepared, but we just seemed a little lethargic at times.”

Only four times had a UCLA quarterback completed as many as 26 passes, as Johnson did against Tennessee. Troy Aikman completed a school-record 32 against USC last season; Tom Ramsey completed 29 against Arizona in 1982; Aikman completed 27 against Washington State last season and Steve Bono completed 26 against Oregon in 1984. UCLA lost or tied all of those games. . . . Walk-on cornerback Michael Williams was given a scholarship.

Who played well against Tennessee? Coach Terry Donahue praised punter Kirk Maggio and his snapper, John Winnek. Donahue said of Winnek: “If everybody would have played with his intensity, we would have fared much better.” . . . Donahue expects that as many as six true freshmen will play for the Bruins this season, but none played against Tennessee.