SMU Makes UCLA Hang On, 17-10 : College football: Bruins need late goal-line stand to preserve victory after Shah’s touchdown breaks 10-10 tie.

If it were a trout, you’d have to throw it back.

But it was a 17-10 victory over Southern Methodist, and UCLA had worked too hard to catch it Saturday at the Rose Bowl.

The No. 13-ranked Bruins had to put together two goal-line stands, the last in the game’s final two minutes, so they could go against No. 1 Nebraska next Saturday at Lincoln with a 2-0 record.

It shouldn’t have been this tough against a team that has won 11 games in six seasons.

“We weren’t looking ahead to playing Nebraska, but we did come out flat,” said UCLA quarterback Wayne Cook, who hit 20 of 29 passes for 204 yards, including a 10-yard touchdown completion to Kevin Jordan, but who fumbled a center snap and threw two interceptions.

“I didn’t think it would be any cakewalk,” Coach Terry Donahue said, “but I obviously had a hard time convincing our team of that. We really didn’t have as much enthusiasm or as much bounce in our step as we did a week ago, no question about that.”

A week ago, highly touted Tennessee was the opponent, but this was SMU, still scratching and clawing after two seasons on the NCAA’s Death Row. But the Mustangs had a 3-0 lead, then a 10-10 tie before UCLA could pull the game out on Sharmon Shah’s nine-yard touchdown runwith 12:17 to play.

It was too early. On the Mustangs’ final three series, they were stopped on fourth down at the UCLA 49, gave up an interception by Abdul McCullough, then moved to the UCLA three with 1:47 remaining.

“We had two stands, but obviously the last one was the more dramatic, because it was near the end of the game,” said UCLA defensive coordinator Bob Field, who spent plenty of crunch time with his pupils.

That was because the Bruins were calling time out to protect the clock, the better to give their offense some extra seconds if SMU scored. During those timeouts, the defensive players got so excited, they began to mix up the alphabet and forget about the calendar.

“We started talking about who would make the big play,” McCullouch said. “We asked who would be the next Marvin Goodwin.”

Goodwin, now with the Philadelphia Eagles, made the interception that put UCLA in the Rose Bowl last season, but that was against USC, not SMU.

Donnie Edwards made the first play, a tackle of Mustang quarterback Ramon Flanigan for a yard loss with 1:22 left.

Time out.

Jacques Smith was sent into the line for a yard loss, with Phillip Ward and Rod Smalley stepping up.

Time out.

More Flanigan, who tormented the Bruins all day, but not on third and goal from the five with 58 seconds to play. He scrambled but was hemmed in by Edwards, who had 4 1/2 sacks, and Smalley.

“We made a mistake,” SMU Coach Tom Rossley said. “We missed a block in front, and Ramon should have thrown the ball out of the end zone. It should have been fourth and goal from the five.”

Instead, it was fourth and game from the 16, then the 21 after a delay-of-game penalty.

Flanigan’s final pass, his 34th of the game, was across the field toward Donte Womack, who was covered by McCullough. The ball fell short, and so did the Mustangs.

“When you play that hard and don’t win, it feels like dying,” Rossley said. “We expected to win. Every time we got the ball, we moved it. The players hurt real bad right now. Eventually, the players have to get rewarded for their efforts.”

Those efforts generated a 44-yard field goal by Ben Crosland for a 3-0 second-quarter lead that could have been 6-0 had he not missed a 39-yard try on SMU’s next series. That drive to a missed opportunity included a 62-yard shovel pass from Flanigan to Smith to the UCLA four, with McCullough catching Smith from behind.

There followed UCLA’s first goal-line stand, which included a sack by Ward, an incomplete pass and a sack by George Kase to make it fourth and goal from the 22.

Flanigan completed 22 of 34 passes for 301 yards and ran 20 times, netting a minus three yards because he was sacked eight times for losses of 60 yards.

Still, the Mustangs also were playing inspired defense and UCLA was struggling without injured All-American wide receiver J.J. Stokes, who was scratched Saturday morning.

“Not having him out on the field changes the way I play the game a little bit,” Cook said. “When I come up to the line of scrimmage, I look and see where he will be first. (Not having him) makes me more of a fundamental quarterback. I have to go through the reads.”

Cook finally read Jordan on a 10-yard touchdown pass with 4:08 left in the half for a 7-3 advantage, then read him again three times in a row for gains of 16, 15 and 18 yards on a 62-yard drive to a 41-yard field goal by Bjorn Merten as the half ended.

Flanigan found Mick Rossley, the coach’s son, on an 18-yard touchdown pass with 1:09 left in the third quarter for a 10-10 tie, which was broken less than four minutes later by Shah’s touchdown.

Shah rushed for 158 yards in 24 carries and caught six passes for 52 yards.

“When you don’t turn it over, you’re hard to beat,” said Donahue, who bridled at implications that the Bruins should have walked away with an easy victory. “They only turned it over once, and we gave it right back.

“And our football team isn’t any great, accomplished UCLA football squad. We’re struggling. . . . “

Still, the Bruins are 2-0, but with diminished forces. Cornerback Carl Greenwood, UCLA’s best pass defender, broke his right ankle, and right tackle Paul Kennedy suffered what might be knee ligament damage.

“I don’t know how many teams are 2-0 around the country,” Donahue answered critics. “I guess a lot of them. I must be missing something. But if we’re 2-0 and haven’t had a solid game, that must be good. I’m more concerned with the players we lost. We’re not a deep football team.

“I think our football team had a real difficult time this week after beating Tennessee, which was obviously an emotional win. After that, it was real difficult to get the kids and the coaches to concentrate and focus the way you need to, because we keep hearing and reading about the fact that this is going to be an easy game.

“The thing that’s ironic about it is you all are the ones writing about it, and here you are asking me how come it was such a hard game. I find that ironic.”

All in all, it was tough for Donahue to enjoy being undefeated, even if Nebraska, after looking at the film, gets overconfident.

* TROUBLE AHEAD: If his team produces a similarly uninspiring effort, UCLA Coach Terry Donahue fears the worst in next Saturday’s game at Nebraska. C8