A RUN FOR THE ROSES : USC Is the Team to Beat--for UCLA : Bruins’ Streak Ends, 9-3, as Walker Has Tough Day

It was this kind of day for UCLA in a 9-3 loss to Arizona State on Saturday at the Rose Bowl:

Third quarter, second and two on the Sun Devil 31. Skip Hicks is supposed to get the ball and follow the fullback. He does. The fullback runs the wrong way, Hicks runs into quarterback Rob Walker and then runs for his life--first left, then right, then back left. Arizona State’s Shante Carver and Brian Easter drop Hicks for a 14-yard loss.

A play later, UCLA punts.

And it was this kind of day:

Third quarter, second and six on the Arizona State eight. J.J. Stokes runs an in-and-out pattern, one on which he scored against Washington four weeks ago. But that was then, this is now. Walker throws well in front of Stokes, out of the end zone. A play later, Bjorn Merten kicks a 24-yard field goal for the Bruins’ only points.

And it was this kind of day:

Fourth quarter, Walker looking for Stokes again. Walker throws, linebacker Dan Lucas flashes in front and 31 yards later has the game’s only touchdown.

But it was also this kind of day:

Even though the Bruins lost, 10th-ranked UCLA, 7-3 overall and 5-2 in the Pacific 10, can gain a Rose Bowl berth by beating USC on Saturday because California beat Arizona, the other team in a three-team tournament for the Tournament of Roses.

“That’s kind of the irony about the whole thing,” Walker said. “Fortunately, it’s still a one-round tournament where the winner takes all.”

It was, perhaps, the only fortunate thing that happened on an unfortunate day for Walker, who found himself trying to throw to Stokes against a zone defense after watching hours of film of man-to-man coverage. Walker also threw an interception when Harlan Rashada cut off Kevin Jordan to end the first series, one in which Walker was trying to sell himself to teammates, coaches and fans while trying to settle himself into the game.

Walker was teary-eyed in the locker room after a week of pressure generated by his replacing starting quarterback Wayne Cook ended in a Bruin loss after seven consecutive victories.

Cook attended the game, said he would practice early in the week and anticipated playing against USC. He said it was unfair; that the scenario was that if the Bruins won, it would be a team victory, but their loss was Walker’s loss.

Walker disagreed. “I didn’t sense that,” he said. “I had a meeting with Coach (Terry) Donahue before, and he said that the weight of this football team didn’t rest on me alone. . . . Then I went into a football game and made some bad mental mistakes and cost the team a loss.”

His errors were far from the only mistakes UCLA made. The Bruins turned the ball over four times, three on interceptions and one on a fumble by Daron Washington that ended a second-quarter drive on the Arizona State 11.

“There were two keys: the turnovers we had, obviously, and our inability to convert a lot on third down,” Donahue said. “I feel badly for Rob. I really anticipated he’d have a better outing. . . . There was a lot of pressure on him tonight. We were just unable to hit the balls we needed to hit and generate enough big plays. We needed to make the big plays.”

Instead, Arizona State did, largely on defense. One of the biggest came in the second quarter, when UCLA had moved the ball into scoring range, largely on a 43-yard run by Hicks. When the drive stalled on the Sun Devil 17, the Bruins set up for a field goal. Arizona State jumped offside, the ball moving five yards closer to the 12, but still a yard shy of a first down.

During a timeout, Donahue slapped Washington on the rump and told him to get the yard. Washington did, but he also dropped the ball when hit by Easter. Lucas recovered the fumble.

Arizona State then went the other way, from its 11 to the UCLA 11, in the final 1:51, with Jon Baker kicking a 29-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead as the half ended.

And the biggest Sun Devil play of all came on the second play of the fourth quarter when Walker, looking for Stokes from the UCLA 27, instead found Lucas.

“I made some mental mistakes,” said Walker, disgusted. “Probably the biggest one was when I tried to throw it right through a defender, like he was a ghost. He ran right under (Stokes’) route. I have to learn to just throw that ball away.”

There were other mistakes, by both teams. UCLA’s Marvin Goodwin intercepted a Jason Plummer pass in the end zone to kill off one Arizona State drive. Baker bounced a 39-yard field goal attempt off the left upright. Easter intercepted a Walker pass intended for Brian Allen.

But the mistakes that loomed largest were those of the Bruin passing game. Walker connected on 14 of 25 passes, but for only 120 yards in a game plan designed to keep targets within his range, more limited than that of Cook.

“I think we just didn’t have our passing attack tonight,” Donahue said. “We didn’t throw the ball nearly as well as we have in other weeks. We just didn’t produce in our throwing, and that kept our offensive football team from producing enough points to win.”

Hicks picked up some of the slack, rushing for 147 yards in 19 carries, the first UCLA back with more than 100 yards in a game since Derek Ayers and James Milliner did it against Brigham Young.

And the Bruin defense, playing without Jamir Miller, who was sidelined because of a recurrence of his neck injury, kept Arizona State in check, gave up 152 rushing yards to Mario Bates, but sacked Plummer twice and held him in check.

But it wasn’t enough.

“It really hurts,” Walker said. “I have to think about it a couple of days, then watch film. It’s not worth staying down the rest of the year or the rest of my life because I contributed to one loss. There’s going to be better days, brighter days, and hopefully they’ll be sooner than later. But for now it hurts.”

It was that kind of day.