UCLA Bracing for Its Last Three Games : College football: This season the Bruins haven’t won even two in a row. Next they face Oregon, Washington and USC.

For UCLA, a football season is compacted into the final three games.

The Bruins are 4-4 overall and would have to win two of their last three, against Oregon Saturday at Eugene, Ore., Washington at Seattle and USC at the Rose Bowl, to have a winning record.

That’s a tough gantlet to run, considering that all of UCLA’s remaining opponents have winning records and will probably be favored over the Bruins.

If UCLA falters, it will have its second consecutive losing season, which hasn’t happened since the mid-1960s.

“I believe it’s the toughest part of our schedule, even tougher than our first three games,” said quarterback Tommy Maddox, referring to games against Oklahoma, Stanford and Michigan.

“We’ll just have to play a lot better,” Maddox added. “Sometimes teams play up to their competition, and sometimes they play just good enough to win.”

UCLA was in the latter category last Saturday at the Rose Bowl, where the Bruins defeated Oregon State, a team that has lost seven of eight games, 26-17.

“We were a little flat,” Maddox said. “But we did what we had to do to win. The team didn’t play as well as we wanted to, or as well as we needed to. But we did win and that’s the bottom line. Last year that same team beat us.”

Coach Terry Donahue has said that his team, which hasn’t won two consecutive games this season, must play at a higher level.

Donahue wouldn’t look ahead, though, saying: “We need to focus on Oregon. We’ll have to have the right attitude and temperament. We must be real good Saturday.”

He wouldn’t even speculate about a possible bowl bid, considering his team’s record.

A 6-5 record could possibly get UCLA to the Freedom Bowl in Anaheim, or even, say, the Aloha Bowl in Honolulu.

USC went to the Aloha Bowl in 1985 with a 6-5 record, losing to Alabama, 24-3.

Said Maddox: “If we win our next three games, we’ll get to a bowl game. Coming off the season we had last year (3-7-1), our reputation is not as high as it used to be. We have to beat some teams people don’t expect us to beat to catch somebody’s eye.”

First things first.

Oregon is 6-2 overall and 2-2 in the Pacific 10 Conference. The Ducks are assured of a winning record and possibly a second straight bowl appearance.

They beat Tulsa last year in the Independence Bowl, 27-24, and finished with an 8-4 record, the school’s best in 25 years.

“Oregon is really a good team,” Donahue said. “They have a veteran, quality quarterback (Bill Musgrave) and team speed on offense and defense. They have a solid defense and good kicking. They deserve the success they’re getting.”

Donahue also noted that Oregon has benefited from a schedule that includes seven homes games.

Donahue was reminded that he has a 5-0 record against Oregon at Eugene. “Yes, and we also had never lost at Berkeley,” Donahue responded dryly.

The Bears ended an 18-game losing streak against UCLA by beating the Bruins at Berkeley Oct. 20.

Maddox, a traditional, drop-back quarterback, was an Oklahoma option-type quarterback on several plays against Oregon State.

“When I’m out there I just play what they call, but, hopefully, I won’t end up running the ball that much,” Maddox said.

“It’s a case where teams haven’t been practicing against it very much and it’s been working. So you keep going to it.”

Maddox said that he had some option experience in high school in Texas.

“But I wasn’t used to running 15 times a game,” he said. “You have to get used to that, and I don’t expect myself to get used to it because I didn’t come to college to run the ball. But if it’s working, that’s what you have to go to.”

Maddox completed eight of 17 passes for 98 yards and a touchdown against Oregon State. He hasn’t thrown an interception in the last three games after having thrown eight in the first five.

“In concentrating on not throwing interceptions, I might have missed a couple of balls I might have hit,” Maddox said. “It’s one of those things that you have to keep working on until you find yourself in a comfortable groove. That’s something I have to get better at.”

Maddox is a redshirt freshman, but he won’t cite his lack of experience as an alibi for his performance.

“Going into the last three games of the season, I can’t worry about being a freshman anymore, and I don’t think people look at me like that now,” he said.