Go beyond the scoreboard
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With USC and UCLA playing their final season in the Pac-12, The Times is revisiting the top five games in the history of each series. This week: UCLA and Washington State.
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Sept. 21, 2019: UCLA 67, No. 19 Washington State 63
UCLA quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson walks off the field after a win over Washington State on Sept. 21, 2019.
(Young Kwak / Associated Press)
The Chip Kelly era was already flickering. A 3-9 debut season was followed by three more losses to open 2019. It looked like more of the same when UCLA fell behind by 32 points midway through the third quarter in Pullman, Wash.
The Bruins appeared completely overmatched. They couldn’t stop giving up touchdown passes. They won. In one of the most improbable comebacks in school history, UCLA scored 29 unanswered points. The Bruins were so far down that they needed another score.
Demetric Felton Jr. provided it when he caught a short pass from Dorian Thompson-Robinson and outmaneuvered several defenders for a 15-yard touchdown with 67 seconds left. UCLA linebacker Keisean Lucier-South then smashed quarterback Anthony Gordon, forcing a fumble that the Bruins’ Josh Woods recovered.
The game’s absurdity was best illustrated by Gordon, who threw for a school-record nine touchdowns and 570 yards — and lost.
It was UCLA’s second-biggest comeback in school history, trailing only the 34-point deficit the Bruins wiped out against Texas A&M in 2017.
UCLA coach Chip Kelly called Washington State’s Cameron Ward one of the top quarterbacks in the country. Ward is poised to test his improved defense.
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Oct. 15, 2005: No. 12 UCLA 44, Washington State 41 (OT)
UCLA tailback Maurice Drew celebrates after scoring a touchdown in overtime to lift the Bruins to a 44-41 win over Washington State on Oct. 15, 2005.
(Ted S. Warren / Associated Press)
Imagine the awkwardness inside the locker room. The unbeaten Bruins had just given up 362 yards and 28 points in the first half. Over comes offensive coordinator Tom Cable to let the defense know how much it’s letting everyone down. “It was just my emotions,” Cable would explain later. “I just had to get that out.”
Whatever he said worked. Trailing 38-21 early in the fourth quarter, UCLA rallied to force overtime by finally getting some stops.
Maurice Drew’s one-yard touchdown run in the extra period put the Bruins on top, their record improving to 6-0 as part of an 8-0 start fueled by comebacks.
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Oct. 29, 1988: Washington State 34, No. 1 UCLA 30
UCLA quarterback Troy Aikman runs with the ball during a 34-30 loss to Washington State at the Rose Bowl on Oct. 29, 1988.
(Allsport)
Times columnist Jim Murray wanted to warn the Cougars before they faced the top-ranked Bruins and quarterback Troy Aikman in what seemed like a quixotic quest.
“Stop being the palookas of the Pac-10,” Murray wrote of the admonition he kept to himself. “Go play Idaho State or somebody but stop tilting at windmills. Leave the big boys alone. It was getting like watching somebody pull the wings off butterflies.”
In a role reversal, Washington State proved to be the bully after rallying from a 27-6 deficit early in the third quarter. UCLA reached the six-yard line with 44 seconds left before four consecutive Aikman passes fell incomplete, completing what many considered the biggest win in Washington State history.
Former UCLA football coach Jim Mora says he never told running back recruit Najee Harris he knew the identity of Tupac Shakur’s killer.
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Aug. 30, 1997: Washington State 37, UCLA 34
UCLA quarterback Cade McNown is hit during a 37-34 loss to Washington State in August 1997.
(Allsport)
One yard. One stinkin’ yard. That was all that separated the Bruins from victory in their season opener.
They had the perfect player to get that yard in Skip Hicks, who had already run for a career-high 190 yards and four touchdowns. But Hicks tapped out before that final fourth-down play, telling coaches he was worn out after getting dropped for a one-yard loss on first and goal from the nine.
UCLA eventually reached the one for that final play, putting the ball in the hands of tailback Jermaine Lewis. He was stuffed in the backfield and the Bruins were on their way to an 0-2 start.
They would go on to win their final 10 games, beating Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl, as part of a school-record 20-game winning streak.
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Nov. 14, 2015: Washington State 31, No. 19 UCLA 27
UCLA quarterback Josh Rosen dives in for a touchdown in front of Washington State safety Shalom Luani during the Cougars’ 31-27 victory on Nov. 14, 2015.
(Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)
This was the Jim Mora era in a nutshell. A wild, triumphant high followed by a gut punch.
The Bruins had gone ahead on quarterback Josh Rosen’s 37-yard touchdown run with 69 seconds left, only to hand back the lead like a stadium giveaway. A frantic Cougars drive ended with a diving Gabe Marks hauling in a 21-yard touchdown pass from Luke Falk with three seconds to go.
UCLA’s momentum meter continued its huge swings the next two weeks, the Bruins beating Utah only to fall to USC in a loss that sent them to the Foster Farms Bowl.
