Flat Bruins Land Safely in Victory : UCLA: Donahue can walk away to a bowl game after beating Oregon, 16-7. Williams runs for 210 yards.

UCLA Coach Terry Donahue said his team played poorly at times against Oregon at the Rose Bowl on Saturday.

However, the bottom line is that the Bruins won, 16-7, and are headed for the John Hancock Bowl Dec. 31 in El Paso to play Illinois without their record being further tainted.

“It’s like landing an airplane,” Donahue said. “You are just happy to walk away from it.”

Even though UCLA looked flat against an injury-plagued team, it prevailed, mainly because of the play of tailback Kevin Williams and cornerback Carlton Gray.

Williams, starting for the first time this season, gained a career-high 210 yards in 30 carries, a seven-yard average.

He scored a touchdown on a 17-yard run and saw another one, a 79-yard play, nullified by a clipping penalty in the fourth quarter.

Asked if he believes that he is finally the starting tailback, Williams smiled and said: “I would think so.”

Gray intercepted two passes when the Ducks were threatening and improved his season total to nine, tying a school record set by Bob Stiles in 1965.

So UCLA is bowl bound with an overall record of 7-3, 5-2 in the Pacific 10 Conference. Oregon dropped to 1-6 and 3-7.

UCLA had a 6-0 lead at halftime on Louis Perez’s two field goals. Donahue said his team was down at that point and he had to remind his players they were still ahead.

Even though Hancock Bowl representative Jimmy Rogers had said earlier that UCLA would get the bid regardless of whether it beat Oregon, Donahue wasn’t so sure.

“I knew that if we won, there would be no question of us going,” Donahue said. “But I’m not sure what would have happened if we lost. The bowl business is a funny business.”

Rogers reiterated Saturday that the Bruins would have received the bid even if they had lost to Oregon.

He added that he had “great faith” that the Bruins would win. But that faith was tested before 40,823.

“We haven’t been sharp for two weeks,” said Donahue, referring to UCLA’s 27-10 loss to Stanford on Nov. 9.

He added that the Bruins would have to play much better next Saturday to beat USC at the Coliseum in the final regular-season game for both teams.

If Oregon, a 19 1/2-point underdog, had a more accurate passer, it might have upset UCLA.

Brett Salisbury, brother of former USC quarterback Sean Salisbury, completed only 21 of 46 for 285 yards with two interceptions.

Oregon has had five starting quarterbacks this season, mainly because of injuries.

Tommy Maddox didn’t have an outstanding day, either. He completed 16 of 29 passes for 166 yards, no touchdowns, while throwing two interceptions.

Maddox, who suffered a concussion against Stanford and didn’t practice earlier in the week, said that he had recovered from his injury.

“I felt fine. There was no dizziness,” Maddox said. “Their game plan was to rush the passer and they had a lot of stunts in the defensive line, but that opened up the running game.”

In the first quarter, Oregon had a fourth and goal at the UCLA two-yard line, where kicker Gregg McCallum missed a 20-yard field goal.

“That was a killer for us,” Oregon Coach Rich Brooks said.

It appeared that the Bruins would score late in the second quarter with a first down at the Oregon 16-yard line. However, two holding penalties pushed them back and Maddox was intercepted on second down from the Oregon 46.

UCLA drove 66 yards to a touchdown early in the third quarter, with Williams going the final 17 yards.

However, the Ducks closed to 13-7 on a one-yard touchdown run on fourth down by tailback Donovan Moore. On second and seven from the UCLA 39, Moore went into the line, turned and flipped a lateral to Salisbury, who threw a 37-yard pass to split end Brian Brown.

Perez got his third field goal, a 43-yarder, at the outset of the fourth quarter to make UCLA’s lead 16-7.

But the Ducks soon got a break when Bruin punter Darren Schager got a low snap from center, fumbled and tried to kick. It was partially blocked, with Oregon getting possession at the UCLA 37.

The Ducks drove to the UCLA eight, but, after Salisbury was sacked and Oregon got a delay-of-game penalty, his pass was intercepted by Gray at the 16 to end the scoring threat.

Then, Williams burst up the middle, ran past two defensive backs, and was looking back as he crossed the goal line for an apparent 79-yard touchdown.

However, a clipping penalty erased the touchdown and Williams was only credited with a 49-yard run.

“You don’t need a clipping call when you have the fastest guy on the team running with the ball,” Donahue said.

There have been times when Gray, a junior, has been beaten this season, but he said that will happen to a cornerback.

“It’s a lonely position, and sometimes you’re going to get beat,” Gray said.

“There are only two cornerbacks on the field, and they have to pick on someone.”

* STARTING POINT: Tailback Kevin Williams makes a lasting impression after starting for the first time this season. C7