Donahue Resigns, Says Beating USC "No Longer A Challenge."
Just kidding. Terry Donahue still is UCLA's coach. Saturday, he became the first coach to win five consecutive Smog Bowls. By all accounts, he'll go for No. 6.This was not quite up there with John Barnes in 1992, but it was close. Coming off six quarters of give-up football and living without Karim Abdul-Jabbar, the Bruins still toppled USC, 24-20.
They whipped the Trojans on the scrimmage line, limited Keyshawn Johnson's longest gain to 20 yards, stole the game with a frenzied first half. Maybe when its Rose Bowl contract mercifully expires, UCLA will return full time to the Coliseum. Why not? The Bruins are 3-0-1 here since 1987.
"The desk clerk at our hotel told us we were going to score first and beat 'em," said Jim McElroy, the receiver who stopped in the midst of a double-reverse and flipped a 35-yard touchdown to Kevin Jordan for a 21-0 lead. "Turned out he was right. Karim kept hyping himself up during practice, but we kept telling him we were going to do it without him."
Make no mistake, the Bruins had gotten quite comfortable with Abdul-Jabbar's weekly 200 yards. But when he went down, Donahue ordered up a new dish, with everything on it.
UCLA ran freshman Akil Davis on its first third-and-4 situation. Davis got 21. The next play was a McElroy reverse, for 12. On third-and-6, Cade McNown shoveled a pass to Derek Ayers for 9. On and on. The Bruins kept picking the roads less traveled, and USC never caught on.