Aikman Takes Charge; Bruins Take Arizona

Troy Aikman is starting to feel right at home as the UCLA quarterback. It was all a little new to him in the first couple of games, not quite what he was used to before transferring from the University of Oklahoma.

And that wasn’t exactly a warm, welcome feeling he got last week when his line allowed him to be sacked all over the field.

But Saturday at the Rose Bowl, it all came together. In leading the Bruins to a rare victory in a Pacific 10 Conference opener, a 34-24 victory over Arizona, Aikman was hot.

The Bruins hadn’t won a conference opener since beating the Wildcats in 1981.

UCLA Coach Terry Donahue even loosened the reins and let Aikman call most of the plays.

Fewer drop-back passes, more play-action passes and an inspired game by the offensive line added up to an outstanding day for the junior quarterback.

Aikman completed 19 of 25 passes for 256 yards and 3 touchdowns, with no interceptions. He also ran one yard for the Bruins’ final touchdown.

Aikman pulled off some key pass plays on third downs to keep drives alive in the second half as the Bruins came back from a 17-7 deficit.

UCLA Coach Terry Donahue said: “Our football team needs to find itself, to develop its own leadership. Every team has its own personality, and I don’t think this team has developed its personality yet . . .

“Traditionally, we have let our quarterback call a lot of plays. We’ve always let the quarterback have a lot of freedom. But we didn’t do it in the first three games because we thought Troy was still getting comfortable with our offense.

“Troy has done some of his own play-calling previous to coming to UCLA, and we think it’s important for the quarterback to be the commander on the field.

“The fact that we’re giving him that freedom is a sign of him getting more confidence with our offense, more understanding of our game plan.”

He seems to have caught on.

But Aikman wanted to give credit to the offensive line, much maligned after last week’s game against Fresno State, when UCLA quarterbacks were sacked 10 times.

Aikman said: “Our offensive line took it to heart after the sacks last week. I thought they played real well today. They gave me all day to throw the ball.”

They gave him enough time to find not only his primary receiver (often split end Flipper Anderson, who made 4 catches for 101 yards and a touchdown) but also his secondary receiver (often tight end Charles Arbuckle, who made 6 catches for 56 yards and a touchdown.)

Arizona Coach Dick Tomey also was giving credit to the Bruin offensive line, which he said dominated the Wildcats (1-2) when momentum turned in the second half.

“They beat us up a little at the end,” Tomey said. “They were stronger and UCLA went away from the drop-back pass, which is what hurt them last week when they got sacked so much. They went with the quick passes or play-action passes to protect their quarterback . . .

“They restructured their passing attack. . . . Their offensive line coach (Ed Kezirian coaches the offensive tackles and Don Riley coaches the interior linemen) has a lot of pride, and the2032167009all week about how bad they were, so if you were an offensive lineman, it would upset you and bring up the pride you have inside. You’d probably play the game of your life, which I think those guys did.”

Tomey said that the Wildcats just couldn’t seem to get their defense off the field in the second half.

It was just the other way around in the first half, before a halftime speech by Donahue that Arbuckle termed, “electrifying.”

Gaston Green, who had just 42 yards in 14 carries during the first half but who finished with 149 yards in a school record-tying 39 carries, said Donahue told the team it was bad enough to get beat, but he didn’t want to get beat looking as bad as the Bruins were looking in the first half.

Arizona scored first, on a 28-yard field goal by Gary Coston. Three plays later, Anderson fumbled the ball away to Arizona linebacker Jerry Beasley on the UCLA 27--and Arizona quarterback Bobby Watters threw a 27-yard touchdown pass to David Eldridge on first down.

To that, Donahue says, “Those defensive guys are on scholarship, too. They’re supposed to be able to play quick-change defense, not go in and give up a first-down touchdown.”

But they gave it up, so it was 10-0 before UCLA (3-1) scored on a 17-yard pass play from Aikman to Arbuckle, ending an 80-yard drive that included a 15-yard third-down pass to Arbuckle and a 13-yard third-down pass to Paco Craig.

Arizona played it gutsy on its next drive, sending Reggie McGill diving over the middle into Bruin linebacker Ken Norton for a two-yard gain on fourth-and-1 from the UCLA 26, and sending Charles Webb (who played with Green at Gardena High School) through right tackle and into the end zone on fourth-and-1 from the 3.

Alfredo Velasco missed his second field goal attempt of the half, a 35-yarder with just over two minutes to play, after missing a 46-yarder in the first quarter.

That left the Bruins down by 10 points at the half, but they came back strong.

An interception by free safety Jeff Damron, starting in place of the injured James Washington, stopped Arizona’s first drive and put UCLA on the Wildcat 35. The Bruins scored on a two-yard pass from Aikman to Arbuckle.

Arizona was held without a first down on its next series, and UCLA came back to tie the game, 17-17, on a 36-yard field goal by Velasco. UCLA leaned on the pass for that series, which stalled when Kevin Singleton scored one of Arizona’s two sacks on third down.

But it wasn’t over. Arizona regained the lead on the next series, setting up Webb’s one-yard run with a 41-yard pass play from Watters to flanker Derek Hill.

UCLA answered that with a seven-yard touchdown run by Mel Farr that tied it, 24-24, early in the fourth quarter.

The Bruins took control when Eric Turner, a backup strong safety, intercepted a pass from Watters and returned it 38 yards for a touchdown. The touchdown was called back because of a clipping penalty but the Bruins got the ball on the Arizona 34 and drove for the go-ahead score.

Twice on that drive Green carried on fourth-down to keep the drive alive and Aikman kept the ball for the final yard and the touchdown.

Turner’s interception was even more costly for Arizona because Watters hit his hand on Bruin linebacker Doug Kline’s helmet and may have broken his thumb.

Freshman Ronald Veal came on in relief and went nowhere, opening the door for the Bruins to score again (they scored on every possession of the half except the last one, when time ran out.) Velasco wrapped it up with a 44-yard field goal.

Tomey said, “We took it to them early, but they ended up being stronger at the end, and that’s when you need to be strong. . . . Aikman just did a tremendous job. When he had to have a key pass to get them off the hook, he got it. A great quarterback can do that. When he had to make a good throw, he did it.”

And Donahue said: “Troy has a really unusual ability to put the ball on the money. . . . He still has a lot to learn as a quarterback. But his greatest asset is his throwing arm. A lot of people can put heat on the ball, but he can put it right on target. And he has avoided interceptions.

“We could not have won the game without his passes.”

Aikman completed 11 third-down passes for first downs or touchdowns and completed passes to seven different receivers.

Anderson said that he was doing well one-on-one against Arizona’s young cornerbacks. Anderson said: “They kept biting on every fake I was giving them.”

Bruin tailback Eric Ball, who carried just one time, suffered a separated shoulder early in the game.