On Most Crucial Play, UCLA Saw What Was Coming : Defense: Goodwin, who made game-saving interception, says Bruins anticipated third-down pass by Trojans’ Johnson.

No surprise. It ran according to script: Run on first down, run on second, throw on third and goal.

“We knew it was coming,” Marvin Goodwin said. “We had it all the way.”

With 50 seconds to play Saturday and USC two yards from the Rose Bowl, Goodwin, a UCLA safety, stepped in front of Tyler Cashman, intercepted Rob Johnson’s pass and had a flashback before going down in the end zone.

“I was thinking of the BYU game,” he said, laughing. “I was ready to take it back the other way.”

Goodwin returned an interception 99 yards against Brigham Young on Oct. 9 before being hauled down from behind on the Cougar one.

“I wanted to make up for getting caught on that one,” Goodwin said.

Instead, he got the television cameras’ attention with a flamenco imitation, dancing with a rose on the Bruin bench while UCLA quarterback Wayne Cook knelt three times to finish a 27-21 victory and extend the celebration of a Pacific 10 Conference co-championship and a Rose Bowl berth teamwide.

Goodwin’s sixth interception was a fitting climax to a season that began with defensive problems against California and ended with a defensive stand against USC. In between, the Bruins have given up yards and points, but the defense has had a major role in eight victories and was not all that culpable in three losses.

Its turnover ratio--turnovers generated by the defense to offensive miscues--is the best in the nation, and it has performed with the panache of a pirate, intercepting 18 passes, recovering 21 fumbles and generally wreaking havoc with blitzes and sacks.

“It came down to the defense having to hold up,” Goodwin said, “and you can’t ask for anything better than that--to make a play in that kind of situation, in crunch time.”

The Bruins got into that situation because Johnson hit passes of 33 yards to Johnnie Morton and 43 yards to Ken Grace in a drive to the UCLA three, with 1:16 to play.

USC called time out, and UCLA’s defense held a refresher course.

“The coaches told us that when USC gets into a first-and-goal situation, they like to run on first and second down and then throw,” Goodwin said. “We obviously had excellent scouting.”

Shawn Walters’ tailback dive was stopped by George Kase for no gain, and UCLA called time out to remind the defense of the script. Walters again dived, with Jamir Miller stopping the play at the two.

Another timeout. You know what’s coming.

“I saw the quarterback roll out and thought the tight end would be his only receiver available,” Goodwin said.

He then went into hiding.

“I stayed inside two to three yards, so it wouldn’t look like he was covered,” Goodwin said. “I didn’t want him to just throw the ball away. All day long, he’d been taking sacks and scrambling when his receivers weren’t open. I wanted him to throw it.”

Three Bruins were near Cashman, Goodwin closest of all.

“It was basically a one-man route and I threw it to him,” said Johnson, sore and tired after a day in which he was battered by the Bruin pass rush, which had seven sacks for 40 yards.

UCLA threw an assortment of linebackers and defensive backs at Johnson, seeming to come from all directions at once, and never from the same direction twice in a row.

“That was definitely the key,” said Donovan Gallatin, called a safety but actually a linebacker in the Bruins’ “41” pass defense, which was used about 60% of the time Saturday. “If Johnson didn’t know we were coming, then he couldn’t audible to have us picked up. . . . It threw them off guard, and we had them on the run in the first half.”

Gallatin had three sacks for losses totaling 20 yards and celebrated each with a dance and appeal to the crowd for approval.

Miller had two sacks and Kase and Matt Werner one each for the Bruins.

“I don’t think that’s happened to Johnson all season,” Gallatin said.

It hadn’t. Johnson’s toughest day until Saturday had been on Oct. 2, when he was sacked six times by Arizona.

“The blitzes were open, even in practice, and we looked at film,” said Gallatin, whose first sack came on a necktie tackle designed, he said, “to send a message.”

“I think all the blitzes rattled him,” Gallatin said. “There was a time when Matt went in and (Johnson) was off balance and he just went down.”