Hurricanes blow away UCLA’s hopes

Monday, December 7, 1998

Hurricanes blow away UCLA’s hopes

FOOTBALL: Bad playing, official’s fumble deflates magical
winning streak

By Vytas Mazeika

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

Whether the deciding factor was Brad Melsby’s phantom fumble, or
the Brendon Ayanbadejo-less porous defense, or Cade McNown’s
inability to complete a hail-mary pass on the last play of the
game, the luster of the UCLA football season has worn off.

The Bruins are no longer national title contenders after having
their 20-game win streak snapped in Saturday’s heart-breaking 49-45
loss at Miami. UCLA dropped to fifth in the Bowl Championship
Series and will play Wisconsin at the Rose Bowl.

"They’re upset right now," UCLA head coach Bob Toledo said.
"They know they let something slip away. The Fiesta Bowl is
gone."

All year long the Bruins (10-1) made their living by relying on
their high-octane offense.

McNown, UCLA’s senior quarterback and Heisman trophy candidate,
didn’t disappoint. He accounted for all six Bruin touchdowns – five
passing and one rushing.

The problem was that McNown couldn’t also contribute on
defense.

Ayanbadejo, a senior linebacker who injured his left knee on the
first defensive play of the game for Bruins, left a void in the
UCLA defense that allowed the Hurricanes (8-3) to go to work.

Senior quarterback Scott Covington finished the day with 318
yards and three touchdown passes while junior tailback Edgerrin
James racked up 299 yards on 39 carries – including the go-ahead
touchdown with 50 seconds left.

UCLA still had a chance to keep their national title hopes
alive.

In 1984 Doug Flutie, an NFL quarterback for the Buffalo Bills,
secured the Heisman trophy when his 48-yard desperation heave at
the Orange Bowl turned into a touchdown and gave Boston College a
47-45 win over the Hurricanes.

With the ball 30 yards from the end zone and four seconds left,
McNown tried to duplicate Flutie’s heroics as he lofted a ball to
the right side of the end zone. But neither flanker Danny Farmer
nor back-up quarterback Drew Bennett, who caught a hail-mary pass
with seconds left against Oregon earlier this season, could change
UCLA’s fate.

"We dictated the momentum on offense. We rolled on them," said
McNown, who broke three UCLA records on Saturday – single-game
passing yards (513), single-game total offense (515) and
single-season total offense (3130).

"What today showed was our immaturity on defense," said
McNown.

After finding themselves down 21-17 at half-time, the Bruins
stormed back to take a 38-21 lead late in the third period. McNown
opened the scoring in the third quarter with a 14-yard touchdown
pass to Farmer.

Then McNown showed off his long ball accuracy as he connected
with his two split-ends, Brian-Poli Dixon and Brad Melsby, for
61-yard and 59-yard touchdown passes, respectively.

Those three scores, though, were not enough to keep the
Hurricanes from becoming the second school in NCAA history, along
with Princeton, to end four winning streaks of 20 games or
more.

The longest was Notre Dame’s 23 consecutive wins, which ended in
1989. Nebraska’s 22-game streak was lost after Miami defeated the
Cornhuskers in the 1984 Orange Bowl. Oklahoma’s 20-game streak
ended at the 1988 Orange Bowl.

After the game, the first loss for the Bruins since a 30-24 loss
to Tennessee in the second game of the 1997 season, thousands out
of the 46,819 in attendance celebrated with the players on the
field.

"You’ve got to love it," said James, who had a three touchdown
performance. "We had the crowd into it and everything."

Other than the fact that the national title aspirations are now
gone, the loss was tough on the Bruins because of the way the
Hurricanes were awarded the ball on their final drive.

With a little over three minutes left and UCLA driving down the
field, McNown completed a pass to Melsby. After one juke move,
Melsby was tackled and the ball popped out. Instant replays showed
Melsby’s right knee hitting the ground before the ball came loose,
but the referees awarded the ball to Miami.

Covington methodically advanced the ball to the 1-yard line
before James took a pitch and broke through on the left side.

A Bruin defense that allowed 407 yards per game (91st in the
nation) coming into the game allowed the Hurricanes to eclipse
their previous record offensive output with 689 total yards. James
now holds Miami’s single-season rushing record (1,416 yards) and
broke his own single-game rushing mark of 271 yards.

"We just couldn’t get them stopped," Toledo said. "Our defense
didn’t play well and if you don’t play good defense, you don’t
deserve the national championship."

Without a national title game to inspire the team, revenge for
the 1994 Rose Bowl loss to Wisconsin will be UCLA’s consolation.The
Associated Press

UCLA’s Brian Poli-Dixon stands dejected as celebration begins on
the field after UCLA fails to score in the last seconds vs. the
University of Miami Saturday at the Orange Bowl. Miami upset UCLA
49-45.

Comments, feedback, problems?

© 1998 ASUCLA Communications Board[Home]