Bruins Might Not Be in Ruins : Donahue Is Encouraged Despite Loss to Michigan

UCLA, ranked sixth before its opening game, is 1-2 after its third, out of the top 25 and out of the race for the national championship before the end of September.

Why no long faces in Westwood?

A strong showing against Michigan--albeit in a 24-23 loss--has given new hope to the Bruins, who seemed on the verge of despair only a week ago.

“We were a team Saturday night,” Coach Terry Donahue said Monday. “I thought we responded, acted, looked (and) behaved like a team. Up until Saturday night, I don’t think we had gotten that accomplished.

“It was just tragic that we came up one point short.”

Tragic? Not really.

Two losses have taken UCLA out of the running for the national title--a goal that has eluded UCLA since 1954--but the Bruins showed against Michigan that they are capable of making another strong challenge for the Pacific 10 Conference championship.

Only two weeks ago, after a 24-6 thrashing by Tennessee, Donahue moaned that either Tennessee had been grossly mis-evaluated, “or this might be as poor a football team as I’ve ever had.”

His fears weren’t exactly alleviated in a 28-25 victory over lowly San Diego State in Week 2.

But the last-second loss to Michigan left him encouraged.

“Certainly we’re pleased with the progress we made from one week to another,” Donahue said. “We played with a great deal of enthusiasm and spirit. Our team came together as a group and played together as a team.

“My hope is that we will build from this point and continue the rest of the season at that level of intensity and (maintain the) interest and teamwork that we had Saturday night.

“If we do, I think we’ll become a decent-looking team and be successful as the season goes along.”

The most notable transformation was made by the Bruin defense, which limited Michigan to 256 total yards, including only 174 before the Wolverines’ last two possessions netted 82 yards, nine points and an improbable victory.

In its first two games, UCLA gave up almost 200 yards a game on the ground and five yards per rushing attempt. Michigan, playing without four offensive starters, ran for 126 yards in 42 attempts, three yards a carry.

“Our defensive team looked a little different,” Donahue said. “Why did it? Was it the changes we made? Maybe. Was it the fact we were interested in the game and wanted to play well and were a little bit nervous and scared? Probably. Was it because Michigan didn’t have its first-string quarterback? Maybe.”

Three Bruin defenders started for the first time against Michigan.

Brian Kelly, who missed most of training camp with a hamstring injury, replaced senior Jon Pryor at nose tackle; Meech Shaw replaced sophomore Stacy Argo at inside linebacker, and senior Randy Beverly, who broke a toe last month, replaced freshman Michael Williams, a walk-on, at cornerback.

Donahue was especially pleased with the play of Kelly and Shaw. Kelly deflected a pass on Michigan’s two-point conversion attempt with 1 minute 35 seconds left and Shaw, a 6-foot-2, 212-pound redshirt freshman from Ponca City, Okla., led the Bruins with 14 tackles.

“Jon Pryor has given us everything he has, but Brian Kelly’s a bigger, more physical player,” Donahue said of the 6-5 1/2, 270-pound sophomore, who is two inches taller and 20 pounds heavier than Pryor. “He shores up the middle a little bit better.”

Shaw, said Donahue, “gives us a dimension of speed and natural linebacking instincts. He’s a very natural linebacker who feels the ball and feels the flow.

“He’s young and he went the wrong way one time and got his clock cleaned a few times, but he also made a lot of plays.

“He’s a speed guy. And one of the things we were lacking was speed.”

Bruin Notes

Coach Terry Donahue might not be through tinkering with the defense. “There may be a position or two where I’m not convinced that we’re where we need to be or could be,” he said, indicating that more changes in the starting lineup may be forthcoming. . . . UCLA opens its Pac-10 schedule at the Rose Bowl Saturday against California, which has lost 17 consecutive games against UCLA since 1971 and is 4-34 against the Bruins since 1950.

What’s wrong with the UCLA running attack, which has produced only 2.9 yards a carry? “I don’t think we’re playing as well in the offensive line as we had hoped to play,” Donahue said. “I think (tailbacks) Shawn Wills and Brian Brown should be averaging more (yards) per carry and I think there should be bigger and better holes. We should be running the ball more effectively.” . . . Wills is averaging 4.2 yards a carry; Brown is averaging 3.1.

Donahue said that Michigan used an illegal technique when it blocked Alfredo Velasco’s conversion attempt after Bret Johnson’s touchdown pass to Corwin Anthony gave the Bruins a 23-15 lead with 5:42 left. “You’re not allowed to block below the waist on kicking plays and a Michigan player (dived at) our guard at the knees and took him out,” Donahue said. “And then two players jumped and blocked the kick. The umpire didn’t see it and didn’t make the call.”

Unusual statistic: In UCLA’s last two games, freshman tailback Kevin Williams has carried four times for no yards and three touchdowns. In his only non-scoring run, Williams lost three yards in a carry against San Diego State. . . . Linebacker Craig Davis, on Michigan’s fourth-quarter onside kick, which took a kangaroo hop over the Bruins’ front line of defense and was recovered by the Wolverines: “We would have had to have Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in there to stop that.”