Bruins Turn Huskies Into Mush : UCLA: Daluiso kicks a 43-yard field goal with 10 seconds to play, dampening national title hopes of second-ranked Washington.

UCLA Coach Terry Donahue called it a magnificent victory for a hungry team.

Brad Daluiso kicked a 43-yard field goal with 10 seconds remaining at Husky Stadium Saturday to give UCLA a 25-22 upset of second-ranked Washington before 71,925.

The Huskies, already bound for the Rose Bowl, had routed six previous Pacific 10 opponents.

UCLA, a 21-point underdog, was regarded as the next victim. Moreover, Washington had the incentive of moving up to No. 1 in the national rankings if Notre Dame had lost to Tennessee.

Instead, the Irish won and Washington was out-played by the Bruins on an overcast, windy day.

It has been an agonizing two seasons for Donahue and his Bruins. They were 3-7-1 last year and faced the prospect of another losing season coming into Seattle.

However, their upset victory has to rank with some of their most memorable games.

“It was a tremendous win for our football team, not for me,” Donahue said. “We have been like a team of dogs on a dog sled. But if you’re not the lead dog, the view never changes.”

The view for the Bruins is no longer obscure. They improved to 5-5 overall, 4-3 in the Pac-10, and could emerge with a winning season if they beat USC next Saturday at the Rose Bowl.

For a while, though, it seemed that the game was destined to end in a 22-22 tie.

UCLA led, 22-14, when Scott Miller muffed a punt that the Huskies recovered at the Bruin 37-yard line with 3 1/2 minutes to play.

Quarterback Mark Brunell, who completed only 10 of 34 pases with two interceptions, then brought the Huskies back with a 32-yard scoring throw to Mario Bailey.

The Bruins were cited for pass interference on the play, and were assessed a penalty on the Washington conversion try.

With only 1 1/2 yards to negotiate, Brunell got the two points on a run.

UCLA had to punt on its next possession, so the Huskies had a chance to win a game that they seemed destined to lose.

Then, on second down from the Washington 37-yard line, free safety Eric Turner intercepted a pass intended for Bailey, giving UCLA the ball at midfield.

“It was a corner route, and I knew they probably would try to run a pattern to get out of bounds,” Turner said. “It happened so fast. After the interception, I just wanted to make sure that I landed inbounds. I wanted the ball to come my way. We came up here as the spoiler.”

UCLA quarterback Tommy Maddox brought UCLA into field goal range with a 21-yard pass to split end Sean LaChapelle on first down.

After tailback Brian Brown made four yards on a pitchout, Maddox was sacked for a one-yard loss.

Then, on third down from the Husky 26-yard line, Maddox threw a low pass to LaChapelle, who was cutting over the middle. Maddox did not want to risk an interception, but the ball was uncatchable.

So now it was up to Daluiso, a senior walk-on, who was a soccer player until a few years ago.

The wind was gusting in an unpredictable fashion, and Daluiso’s kick barely cleared the left upright with plenty of distance.

“The kick felt great,” Daluiso said. “The snap and hold were perfect. The ball started to bend a little bit toward the end.”

Daluiso said it was a capricious wind with the flags in the stadium blowing in constantly changing directions.

After the kickoff, the Huskies had time for only one play. Brunell’s desperation pass was intercepted by cornerback Carlton Gray, and the ecstatic Bruins charged onto the field.

Brunell, a sophomore, struggled most of the day as a passer. Maddox, a redshirt freshman, was more precise. He completed 23 of 41 passes for 239 yards and two touchdowns and threw one interception.

Maddox operated mainly out of a shotgun formation, giving him an extra second to pass against an anticipated heavy rush from the Huskies.

“This quarterback has never acted like a freshman,” Donahue said. “I’ve never been around a player who seemingly handles the pressure like he does.”

UCLA surprised Washington on its second series of the game when Brown, on third and one from the Bruin 12-yard line, burst through a big hole and ran 88 yards for a touchdown.

The Huskies were blitzing on the play, and Brown was running free five yards past the line of scrimmage.

Washington, which didn’t make a first down in the first quarter, got on track in the second with a 95-yard scoring drive. Brunell got the final yard on a one-yard run to tie the game, 7-7.

The Bruins responded with an 80-yard drive, capped by Maddox throwing a one-yard touchdown pass to wide open tight end Corwin Anthony. The center snap on the extra point try was off to the side and Maddox didn’t have time to put the ball down. He threw hurriedly into the end zone, incomplete.

Nonetheless, UCLA led, 13-7, at halftime. After Washington went ahead, 14-13, in the third quarter, the Bruins regained the lead on spectacular 30-yard pass play from Maddox to Scott Miller early in the fourth quarter.

Cornerback Charles Mincy covered Miller closely, but the UCLA wide receiver still managed to catch Maddox’s pass while tumbling into the end zone and pulling the ball away from Mincy.

“He was all over me,” Miller said of Mincy. “I had to wrestle him for the ball.”

While at Saddleback Community College, Miller played against Mincy, who was at Pasadena City College.

UCLA Notes

The Bruins’ Scott Miller said he shouldn’t have tried to catch a punt he muffed in the fourth quarter. “The wind was just shifting all over the place,” he said. . . . Quarterback Tommy Maddox on UCLA’s underdog role going into the game: “This was a great opportunity for us. Coming off the season we’re having, everybody was saying that we were in the dumps. We had a chance to knock off a powerhouse.”

UCLA had 394 total yards to 283 for Washington. . . . Husky tailback Greg Lewis, playing with an injured left knee, had rushed for 100 or more yards in nine consecutive games this season. He was limited to 50 yards Saturday. . . . The Huskies had outscored six previous Pac-10 opponents, 72-7, in the first quarter and 232-64 overall.

* STUNNED: The second-ranked Huskies don’t know what hit them. Thomas Bonk’s story, C8.

* PAC-10: California humbles 20th-ranked Oregon to move into a tie for second place in the conference standings. C9

* BIG TEN: No. 6 Iowa, with a chance to clinch a share of the conference title, loses in the final second to Ohio State. C8