Advertisement

Bruins, Pushed Involuntarily, Hold On : College football: After leading by 18-0, UCLA survives for a 25-23 victory over Tennessee.

Share
TIMES STAFF WRITER

It was like sand piling on, a little at the time, and by the fourth quarter, Daron Washington felt as though he was under a mountain.

Then he scored a 30-yard touchdown with 1:34 to play to give UCLA a 25-23 victory over Tennessee in Saturday’s season-opening game at the Rose Bowl. “Man, it was like a 100-pound sack was lifted off my shoulder,” he said.

UCLA had rolled up an 18-0 lead, only to fritter it away when the Volunteers rallied for two fourth-quarter touchdowns and two-point conversions. Tennessee had momentum and the ball in the closing minutes, but Bruin linebacker Donnie Edwards stole both, cutting off a Todd Helton pass to Aaron Hayden, intercepting at the Volunteers’ 32 with 1:55 to play.

Advertisement

Then Sharmon Shah was caught for a three-yard loss. Washington gained five yards and Tennessee called its final timeout.

The play was a simple off-tackle run, the sort that seldom produces a surprise. “I really wasn’t expecting it to get all that much,” Washington said. “Then I got blocks by my left guard (James Christensen) and big Jonathan Ogden, and there it was.”

The hole opened all the way to the goal line and a 25-16 lead. “I really hadn’t done anything to that point,” Washington said.

He had carried three times for 17 yards and watched Shah, the starting tailback, carry 21 times for 133 yards.

Washington had caught four passes for 20 yards but had dropped two in the open field. The touchdown “was a big relief,” he said.

Not only to him.

“It was third and seven or third and eight, and we were already trying to decide whether to punt or try a long field goal,” UCLA Coach Terry Donahue said. “That’s a decision we really didn’t want to make.”

Advertisement

The game’s first decision was an easier one. The Bruins drove 90 yards, scoring on a Wayne Cook-to-Kevin Jordan touchdown pass on their first possession. En route, Cook completed four passes, two of them to J.J. Stokes for 16 yards.

As the Volunteers adjusted to Stokes, Cook faked a handoff, faded back and found Jordan.

“The safety (Raymond Austin) had really bit on the play action,” Jordan said. “I just got behind him (and cornerback DeRon Jenkins) and Wayne threw a great pass.”

It was one of six passes Jordan caught, for 152 yards. Stokes also caught six, for 84 yards, but he was held out of the end zone and suffered a bruised thigh muscle early in the game. He played sparingly in the second half.

After taking a 6-0 lead--Bjorn Merten missed the extra-point attempt--the Bruins unveiled a no-huddle offense, with Cook playing back in a shotgun formation and alternately handing to Shah or throwing. Cook completed 25 of 38 passes for 295 yards, finding nine receivers.

There were field goals of 24, 45, 40 and 23 yards by Merten, a personal-best four for the game.

“We were getting frustrated about not getting the ball in the end zone,” Cook said. “They run a lot of zone defenses down on the goal line, and one time I made a bad read, throwing the ball over J.J.’s head.”

Advertisement

The play, in the second quarter, came when Stokes had beaten Ronald Davis to the outside.

The 18-0 lead seemed comfortable enough, particularly when Tennessee’s offense sputtered after losing its quarterback, Jerry Colquitt, on the game’s first possession. A series of successors, beginning with backup Todd Helton, then stretching to freshmen Peyton Manning and Branndon Stewart, was tried and found wanting.

Then Helton came back in, and the Volunteers found an offense.

“In the first three quarters, we left our defense on the field way too much and we gave up big plays,” Tennessee Coach Phillip Fulmer said. “I don’t think they punted in the first half (actually, Darren Schager punted once, out of bounds on the Tennessee five), but we did hold them to field goals. Still, we just kept shooting ourselves in the foot.”

Until the fourth quarter.

Helton completed three passes for 45 yards on a 76-yard, seven-play drive. Chief among the seven plays was one in which Nilo Silvan took the ball on a flanker reverse, headed left, then cut back across the field, going 28 yards to the UCLA one-yard line.

“I think our defense was getting tired by that point,” Edwards said. “You could see it by the way we were missing tackles.”

Helton’s pass to Billy Williams for a two-point conversion cut UCLA’s lead to 18-8 and kept some of the 55,169 on hand from heading for the parking lot.

With the idea of taking as much time as possible, the Bruins abandoned the no-huddle offense for something a little slower, and three plays later punted.

Advertisement

Eight plays later, their lead was cut to 18-16, Helton having gone to Cortney Epps on a 10-yard touchdown pass that was successful because Teddy Lawrence wasn’t. Lawrence, UCLA’s left cornerback on the play, flashed in front of the ball with an interception and 90-yard touchdown in mind. His timing was off, leaving Epps open. Helton passed to Joey Kent for another two-point conversion.

Cook went to Jordan for 15 yards on a second-and-10 play and handed to Shah for a 14-yard gain after spreading the Tennessee defense. Schager then punted out of bounds on the Tennessee one with 3:14 to play.

Helton got the Volunteers out of immediate trouble, but the pass interception by Edwards ended Tennessee’s hopes.

James Stewart’s touchdown from the one with 10 seconds to play was little salve for the Volunteers.

“We should be proud of what we accomplished,” Fulmer said. “We fought back in the fourth quarter.”

And UCLA woke up in the fourth. “We felt we had control of the game, but it was only 18-0,” Donahue said. “We kicked too many field goals. Those threes aren’t enough, we want sevens.”

Advertisement

They got one, in the nick of time.

Advertisement