COLLEGE FOOTBALL DAILY REPORT : UCLA : Cook Lands Spot in Blue-Gray Game

With no bowl game this season, UCLA Coach Terry Donahue spent time calling around the country to various postseason all-star games and landed quarterback Wayne Cook a spot in the Blue-Gray game on Christmas Day in Montgomery, Ala.

Cook will be joined by Bruin linebacker Shane Jasper.

Donahue searched for a word to describe Cook’s season, finally coming up with “unfortunate.”

“I think if you compare it to last year, he’s had a disappointing season,” Donahue said. “If you look at what he’s done when he has had all his people in there, he has had a better year.

“We’ve had a lot of quarterbacks here, but not many of them have thrown for 380 yards in a game after throwing for 296 yards; who has thrown for four touchdowns in a game. He’s been unlucky, and it’s unfortunate.”

Cook passed for a career-best 296 yards against Stanford, then surpassed that with 380 against Arizona State. He has passed for four touchdowns in a game three times, something no other Bruin quarterback has done.

And Donahue had a message for critics: “The last two games have shown what Wayne could do and explains why I was reluctant to make a change when we were down.”

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Some postscripts on the Bruins’ 59-23 victory over Arizona State: Kevin Jordan and J.J. Stokes became the first UCLA receivers with more than 150 yards each in one game. Stokes had seven catches for 175 yards, Jordan six for 164. . . . Donnie Edwards had one sack, giving him 12 1/2 for the season, half a sack from the school record set by Jamir Miller last season.