UCLA Wears Out Arizona State : Velasco Kicks 4 Field Goals, Bruins Pull Away, 33-14

And then there were two.

UCLA fought off a determined effort by Arizona State Saturday night to beat the Sun Devils, 33-14, and join USC as the only Pacific 10 teams still unbeaten in the race to the Rose Bowl five weeks into the season.

“That’s a nice place to be,” said UCLA Coach Terry Donahue, who moved ahead of Washington’s Don James and into first place on the all-time list with the 72nd conference victory of his 14-year career.

In Arizona State’s conference opener, the Bruins improved to 3-2 overall and 2-0 in the Pac-10 as four field goals by Alfredo Velasco and a 48-yard interception return for a touchdown by linebacker Stacy Argo provided the difference before a crowd of 53,188 at the Rose Bowl.

Freshman quarterback Bret Johnson passed for a pair of touchdowns in the second quarter, and UCLA, which will take to the road for three of its next four games, never trailed while dropping ASU to 3-2 overall.

Johnson, who completed 16 of 30 passes for 165 yards, has thrown nine touchdown passes since winning a tight preseason competiton with Jim Bonds to replace Troy Aikman as the Bruins’ starting quarterback.

Sophomore tailback Shawn Wills, making his first start, gained 79 yards in 23 carries as the UCLA running attack produced almost four yards a carry, a yard more than the average it attained in the team’s first four games.

“It seems we weren’t third and long as much as we had been in the first four games,” said Johnson, whose well-timed scrambles provided 23 yards in six carries.

UCLA ended the game with 182 yards rushing against a defense that had given up an average of only 80.3 a game to rank eighth in the nation.

Arizona State actually wound up with an advantage in total yards, 359 to 347, but quarterback Paul Justin, who completed 27 of 48 passes for 272 yards, had two passes intercepted, and the Sun Devils also lost a fumble.

None of ASU’s running plays gained more than eight yards.

“When we got good field position, we were able to take advantage of it, for the most part,” Johnson said.

The Sun Devils were not able to do so.

Arizona State dominated the first quarter, accumulating 108 total yards while limiting the Bruins to 20, but all that got the Sun Devils was a scoreless tie because kicker Alan Zendejas, continuing a slump that started last season, missed two field-goal attempts.

“How did it affect us?” Arizona State Coach Larry Marmie asked. “We certainly didn’t have a good feeling on the sideline.”

Zendejas, a senior from Chino who has made only nine of 20 attempts since hitting 15 of 19 as a sophomore, missed from 37 yards after ASU took the opening kickoff and drove to UCLA’s 20-yard line.

The drive stalled after Justin underthrew flanker Lynn James inside the five-yard line and then had a pass intended for wide-open Jeff Simoneau deflected by linebacker Meech Shaw.

After cornerback Eddie Stokes intercepted a pass from Johnson on UCLA’s first play and ASU was able to move only seven yards in three plays from UCLA’s 14-yard line, Zendejas missed a 25-yard attempt.

At the end of the quarter, UCLA started a 91-yard touchdown drive in which Johnson completed five of six passes for 45 yards, including an eight-yard touchdown play to Scott Miller, and scrambled twice for 19 yards.

Johnson’s first run, on third-and-five from the ASU 14, produced seven yards after he ducked under a tackle and kept the drive alive.

On the touchdown pass, Miller found a hole in Arizona State’s zone and, with neither strong safety Floyd Fields nor free safety Nathan LaDuke within five yards of him, made a diving catch at the goal line.

Arizona State’s next possession ended after only three plays when Justin’s third-down pass was tipped into the air by James and intercepted by strong safety Mark McGill, a senior making his first start for the Bruins.

McGill, who started in place of injured sophomore Matt Darby, made a 21-yard return and might have scored if he hadn’t been tripped up by Justin at the Arizona State eight-yard line.

Two plays later, Johnson completed a three-yard touchdown pass to tight end Randy Austin, also making his first start. Austin, filling in for Corwin Anthony, made a diving catch in the right side of the end zone.

UCLA led, 14-0, with 6 minutes 26 seconds left in the half after scoring twice in less than three minutes.

Justin drove ASU right back the other way, moving the Sun Devils 85 yards in 12 plays while completing seven of seven passes for 75 yards, including a three-yard touchdown pass to tight end Scott Veach.

On third-and-goal from the three-yard line, Justin found Veach in the middle of the end zone between cornerback Dion Lambert and free safety Eric Turner, and the Sun Devils trailed, 14-7, with 1:08 left after freshman Mike Richey was brought on to kick the extra point.

Brown returned the ensuing kickoff 23 yards, Kevin Williams ran 11 yards on a first-down draw play, and UCLA was on the move again.

Johnson’s nine-yard pass to tight end Charles Arbuckle moved the Bruins into Arizona State territory, and a 23-yard pass to Arbuckle, who flattened LaDuke after making the catch, brought UCLA to the ASU 13 with 18 seconds left.

Johnson twice threw incomplete, and the Bruins had to settle for a 31-yard field goal by Alfredo Velasco for a 17-7 halftime lead.

A similar fate awaited the Bruins after they took the second-half kickoff and drove 64 yards in 12 plays to Arizona State’s four-yard line before tailback Shawn Wills was stopped after a one-yard gain on third-and-two.

To the obvious displeasure of the crowd, which wanted the Bruins to make an attempt for a first down on fourth-and-one, Velasco came on to kick a 21-yard field goal, increasing UCLA’s lead to 20-7.

Arizona State’s first possession of the second half went three plays and out, but after the Sun Devils forced the Bruins to punt, freshman Kevin Miniefield partially blocked Kirk Maggio’s kick, which rolled dead at UCLA’s 42-yard line.

An 11-yard pass from Justin to tailback David Winsley would have left the Sun Devils with third-and-eight at the UCLA 27, but Lambert was called for a personal foul away from the play, giving the Sun Devils a first down at the 13.

Three plays later, Simoneau scored on a two-yard run, cutting Arizona State’s deficit to 20-14 with 2:32 left in the third quarter.

“It felt like there was a little momentum change,” Marmie said. “But offensively, we made too many mistakes.”

On the last play of the quarter, Justin completed a short pass to tight end Ryan McReynolds on third-and-five at the UCLA 40, but as McReynolds struggled to make a first down, Turner spun him around, and the ball popped loose.

UCLA tackle Mike Lodish grabbed it out of the air, ending another Arizona State threat with what was officially called an intercepted fumble.

It was on to the fourth quarter with UCLA holding a six-point lead.

About five minutes into the quarter, Johnson completed a 26-yard pass to Austin, and UCLA drove to the Arizona State 16, but the drive stalled, and with 8:19 left, Velasco kicked a 33-yard field goal to make it 23-14.

Velasco added a 42-yard field goal with 1:14 remaining.

With only 26 seconds left, Argo picked off a deflected pass by Justin and carried it 48 yards down the right sideline for a touchdown.

Bruin Notes

UCLA will play three of its next four games on the road--at Arizona next Saturday, at Oregon State Oct. 21 and at Stanford Nov. 4. The Bruins will play Washington in their homecoming game Oct. 28 at the Rose Bowl. . . . The starting time for Saturday’s game at Tucson will be announced today. . . . Tight end Corwin Anthony, who twisted a knee in practice last week, was replaced in the starting lineup by Randy Austin. . . . Janice Parks, a former UCLA softball player who last May led the Bruins to their second consecutive National Collegiate Athletic Assn. championship, was honored before the game as winner of a Honda Award. The awards are presented annually to the top athlete in 10 women’s sports. . . . UCLA’s annual basketball fan appreciation day is scheduled for Oct. 22 at Pauley Pavilion.