Point(s) Well Taken Away on Trick Play

For second-guessers, this play was a delight: In a 21-20 Sun Bowl loss to Wisconsin Friday, UCLA truncated a promising drive on a trick play, when the Bruins’ kicker failed to run for a first down.

“It’s a gamble,” UCLA Coach Bob Toledo said. “When you make it, you’re a hero. When you don’t, you’re not.”

The Bruins led, 20-14, in the fourth quarter, and had marched from their 20-yard line to the Wisconsin 32. On fourth down and three--in field-goal range--Toledo called for holder Drew Bennett to hand off to kicker Chris Griffith. The Badgers stopped Griffith short of the first down, then drove 70 yards for the winning touchdown.

With quarterback Cory Paus injured and the Badgers effectively stopping tailback DeShaun Foster, Toledo said he wasn’t sure a 23-14 lead would hold up, particularly with the Bruins losing four defensive starters to injury.

“If we would have gotten [the first down], it would have been the play of the game,” Griffith said.

Griffith, a second-team all-conference selection, converted both of his field-goal attempts Friday and said he had no doubt he could have kicked what would have been a 49-yarder.

“Oh yeah,” Griffith said. “I was kicking 55-yarders before the game.”

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Athletic Director Peter Dalis said no one has approached him about whether the Bruins might be interested in playing in a proposed stadium in the Sepulveda Basin.

Former UCLA defensive back Bob Stiles, the most valuable player of the 1966 Rose Bowl, said in Thursday’s Times that he was working with a group hoping to build a stadium near the junction of the San Diego and Ventura freeways.

The Bruins’ agreement to play home games at the Rose Bowl extends through 2003, Dalis said, and he anticipates extending that deal. Dalis said he would entertain proposals for the Bruins to play closer to the Westwood campus, but most of all he rues that 1966 day when students voted against a plan to help pay for a campus stadium of 44,000 seats, with room to expand.

“It would have been nice to have one on campus, no question,” Dalis said.

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Freddie Mitchell finished the season with a school-record 1,494 receiving yards. His 77 catches rank second behind J.J. Stokes, who caught 82 passes in 1993. . . . Linebacker Robert Thomas said he would decide shortly whether to skip his senior season and enter the NFL draft. Thomas said he expected Toledo to retain defensive coordinator Bob Field and said that decision would have no impact upon his own. . . . Foster finished with 1,037 rushing yards, making him the Bruins’ first 1,000-yard rusher since Skip Hicks in 1997. . . . Chancellor Albert Carnesale said the university is close to completing a contract extension with Dalis, whose current contract expires Sunday. Dalis said he would work without a contract while final details are completed.

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UCLA Bowl History

Bruin record: 11-11-1 (victories in bold)

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DATE BOWL SCORE Jan. 1, 1943 Rose Georgia 9, UCLA 0 Jan. 1, 1947 Rose Illinois 45, UCLA 14 Jan. 1, 1954 Rose Michigan State 28, UCLA 20 Jan. 2, 1956 Rose Michigan State 17, UCLA 14 Jan. 1, 1962 Rose Minnesota 21, UCLA 3 Jan. 1, 1966 Rose UCLA 14, Michigan State 12 Jan. 1, 1976 Rose UCLA 23, Ohio State 10 Dec. 20, 1976 Liberty Alabama 36, UCLA 6 Dec. 25, 1978 Fiesta UCLA 10, Arkansas 10, tie Dec. 31, 1981 Bluebonnet Michigan 33, UCLA 14 Jan. 1, 1983 Rose UCLA 24, Michigan 14 Jan. 2, 1984 Rose UCLA 45, Illinois 9 Jan. 1, 1985 Fiesta UCLA 39, Miami 37 Jan. 1, 1986 Rose UCLA 45, Iowa 28 Dec. 30, 1986 Freedom UCLA 31, Brigham Young 10 Dec. 25, 1987 Aloha UCLA 20, Florida 16 Jan. 1, 1989 Cotton UCLA 17, Arkansas 3 Dec. 31, 1991 John Hancock UCLA 6, Illinois 3 Jan. 1, 1994 Rose Wisconsin 21, UCLA 16 Dec. 25, 1995 Aloha Kansas 51, UCLA 30 Jan. 1, 1998 Cotton UCLA 29, Texas A&M; 23 Jan. 1, 1999 Rose Wisconsin 38, UCLA 31 Dec. 29, 2000 Sun Wisconsin 21, UCLA 20

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