At the End, UCLA Still Is Looking Up the Hill : College football: Mistakes thwart Bruin attempts to come back in 30-16 loss at Tennessee. Maddox struggles.

UCLA Coach Terry Donahue said he would have a better gauge as to what type of team he had this year after playing Tennessee.

The Bruins lost, 30-16, Saturday in the stifling heat and humidity at Neyland Stadium, but Donahue’s report card wasn’t necessarily negative.

“There was no quit in us and we played hard,” he said, “but we couldn’t quite get over the hill.”

On a day when the temperature on the field was 112 degrees, the Bruins were continually on a treadmill, trying to catch up.

After trailing at halftime, 14-3, when quarterback Tommy Maddox was ineffective because of a strong rush, his receivers’ inability to get open and his own lapses, the Bruins drove 65 yards to a touchdown at the outset of the third quarter.

It seemed that UCLA was in a contending position with most of the final half to be played.

Even when Tennessee extended its lead to 17-9 late in the third quarter, UCLA was not out of the game.

Then, Donahue’s hill seemingly became too steep to climb.

Early in the fourth quarter, Maddox threw a pass intended for split end Sean LaChapelle. Cornerback Tracy Smith, a converted tailback, stepped in front of LaChapelle, intercepted Maddox’s pass and cut across the field for a 38-yard touchdown.

Maddox said he had a miscommunication on the pass LaChapelle said he saw Smith coming out of the corner of his eye and held up his hand to signal Maddox to loft the ball, but the quarterback had already released the pass on a line.

Even trailing, 23-9, the Bruins were still trying to climb that hill. Kevin Williams took a short screen pass from Maddox, moved to the middle of the field and, with his sprinter’s speed, scored on a 74-yard play.

There was a glimmer of hope for the Bruins, trailing only 23-16. Those hopes were dashed, though, when Tennessee drove 75 yards to a touchdown, benefiting from penalties called against cornerback Carlton Gray and Donahue.

Gray was charged with a personal foul for head-tackling wingback Craig Faulkner, who had stepped out of bounds earlier but continued running.

Gray, in the din of a crowd of 97,117, said he didn’t hear an official’s whistle, indicating that Faulkner was out of bounds at the UCLA 23-yard line.

The penalty was half the distance to the goal line, and then Donahue drew another flag in protesting the call. When the officials got through walking, Tennessee had a first down at the UCLA seven-yard line, from which it scored to put to rest UCLA’s chances.

Tennessee is 2-0, UCLA 1-1.

It wasn’t a vintage performance for Maddox, who completed 17 of 34 passes for 196 yards and one touchdown. He had more problems in the first half, though, when he completed only five of 14 passes for 34 yards.

It was also a frustrating afternoon for the Bruins, who limited Tennessee to 87 yards rushing. But they had enough errors to lose to a team that is strong on defense, with 10 returning starters, and efficient enough on offense behind quarterback Andy Kelly.

“I was extremely proud of our defense, and I think they controlled the game,” Tennessee Coach Johnny Majors said. “The pass rush was excellent and we had a good four-man rush without a blitz.”

Maddox said the Bruins didn’t play the game they wanted to play, or could have played.

Asked to assess his own performance, Maddox said: “I feel it was very mediocre. I played as hard as I could. I had some opportunities to complete some passes, and I just didn’t get it done. But they’re a good defensive team. They put a lot of pressure on us. They have great team speed, and it was hard to get used to.”

Maddox isn’t discouraged, saying that UCLA is a better team than it was at this stage of the season last year.

Donahue cited four factors that worked against the Bruins:

--A 34-yard touchdown pass from Kelly to Carl Pickens in the first quarter. Cornerback Carl Greenwood, a redshirt freshman filling in for injured Dion Lambert, was beaten on the play. Pickens’ touchdown provided the Volunteers with a 7-0 lead.

--Courtney Keyler’s punt was blocked in the second quarter, setting up Tennessee for an easy, short-yardage touchdown. Donahue said the center and left guard and tackle broke down on the play.

--Smith’s interception.

--UCLA’s inability to get a touchdown from inside the Volunteers’ 20-yard line.

Although the Bruins were effective in stopping Tennessee’s running game, they couldn’t contain Kelly and his receivers. Kelly completed 25 of 35 passes for 275 yards and one touchdown, along with three interceptions.

Pickens, regarded as one of the nation’s premier wide receivers, had six catches for 104 yards and a touchdown.

Pickens and free safety Dale Carter are among the Volunteers’ most highly regarded players. Carter was ejected just before halftime after fielding a punt and being swarmed on by several Bruins. He got up limping, but before he did he took a swing at UCLA tight end Rick Daly.

“He hit me on the helmet. I was in on the tackle, but I didn’t know what it was all about,” said Daly, referring to Carter’s reaction.

UCLA Notes

Tennessee Coach Johnny Majors said his team’s intention was to wear down UCLA, adding: “But they were very physical and stayed competitive.” . . . UCLA linebacker James Malone, who had 10 tackles, said: “We played our guts out. Too bad we don’t have anything to show for it.” . . . Vol punter Tommy Hutton, a freshman, averaged 53.6 yards on five punts. . . . Tennessee had 362 yards in offense to UCLA’s 285. . . . The crowd of 97,117 was the third largest at Neyland Stadium.