Coach Jim Mora getting a sense of longtime UCLA-California rivalry

UCLA Coach Jim Mora said he was still learning about the UCLA-California rivalry.

It is the Bruins’ longest continuous running series, as they have played California every year since 1933 (and twice a year in the mid-1940s). UCLA held a 50-32-1 lead in their 83 games before Saturday. Stanford is the only team UCLA has played more, as the Bruins will face the Cardinals for the 85th time next week.

As rivalries go, this ranks second to USC for the Bruins. Mora got a dose of it a year ago, when a poor California team routed the Bruins, 43-17.

“I still don’t know if I understand it,” Mora said. “I don’t think I have got the full taste of the Cal-UCLA rivalry, as much as I have the UCLA-USC rivalry. I think I’ll learn about it as we go along.”

As a primer, former UCLA coach Terry Donahue said, “It’s like a big brother who always kind of hovers over his little brother. Cal has historically always tried to keep UCLA down. If you were raised in this culture, as I was, you were raised to really dislike Cal. It was a natural thing.”

The Bruins denied California a trip to the Rose Bowl in 1975 with a 28-14 victory in Berkeley. The Bears haven’t been to a Rose Bowl since the 1958 season. UCLA kept the Bears out of the Rose Bowl in 1951. California did the same to the Bruins in 1949.

Donahue honored

Donahue was at the game for a ceremony dedicating the Terry Donahue Pavilion at the Rose Bowl.

“As you can imagine, this is like a magical night for me and my family,” Donahue said before the game. “It would never happened without the number of great football players I had when I was here and without the quality of assistant coaches that we were blessed with.”

Donahue is UCLA’s all-time winningest coach, with a 151-74-8 record from 1976-95. He took teams to four Rose Bowls as head coach, winning three.

The only coaches who have won more are Howard Jones (USC) and John McKay (USC) with five and John Robinson (USC), Pete Carroll (USC), Woody Hayes (Ohio State) and Don James with four.

Barr rises

Linebacker Anthony Barr‘s first-quarter quarterback sack gave him 17.5 in his career, moving him into 12th place on the UCLA all-time list.

Everyone on the list played at least three seasons for UCLA. Barr has played 19 games at linebacker.

Dave Ball holds the all-time UCLA record with 30.5, accumulated over a four-year career.

Quick hits

Running back Damien Thigpen gained 10 yards on a lateral in the second quarter. It was the first time he touched the ball since suffering a knee injury against USC last November. … Defensive end Ellis McCarthy did not suit up. He had missed practice this week after suffering a head injury against Utah last week. … Recruits at the game included defensive back Ron Robinson (Corona Santiago), defensive back Jojo McIntosh (West Hills Chaminade), wide receiver Barry Ware (Corona Centennial). All have orally committed to UCLA. Also there was running back Tre Watson (Corona Centennial), who has committed to California.

chris.foster@latimes.com

Twitter: @cfosterlatimes