COLLEGE FOOTBALL / DAILY REPORT : UCLA : Donahue Enjoys Rivalry With USC

There’s only one thing UCLA Coach Terry Donahue would rather have than for the Rose Bowl to be on the line when the Bruins play USC on Saturday at the Coliseum.

“My first preference would be to have the conference championship wrapped up and going to the Rose Bowl before we play the game,” he said Monday. “I’ve never done that.

“My second would be to play the UCLA-SC game for the conference championship. It’s always a huge game, whether for the championship or not.

“You have to play in it, whether as a participant, or be involved in it as an assistant or head coach to really understand the magnitude of the event.”

The real magnitude came late in the season.

“I’m not sure anybody would have bet after our Cal game, or following SC’s game against Arizona, that these two schools would play for the championship on Saturday,” he said.

“I’m sure I wouldn’t.”

UCLA lost its season opener to California, 27-25, and USC lost to Arizona, 38-7.

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Donahue on playing USC, coached by John Robinson: “John and I don’t play. I can assure you that neither of us would make it through the first quarter. . . .

“John and I came into the league together, in 1976, and he left for a while. It seems a little unfair that I’ve had John Robinson, Ted Tollner, Larry Smith and John Robinson again. That’s like a tag team.

“I’m just kidding, obviously. . . . It really doesn’t affect me much if it’s John Robinson or Ted Tollner or Larry Smith. It’s SC.”

Donahue is 2-5 against Robinson.

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UCLA quarterback Wayne Cook was the only player in pads Monday, wearing a shoulder pads/rib pads combination to protect his bruised kidney. He will take a test today to determine if he is clear to play on Saturday. . . . Quarterback Rob Walker re-aggravated a left knee sprain during Saturday’s 9-3 loss to Arizona State.