Whicker: The Bruins honor their old coach Terry Donahue by playing like his teams did

Terry Donahue was squinting, determination up there.

He would grin later, astir apt implicit a crockery of ambrosia, but helium ever held onto his crippled look portion the crippled was going on. Besides, helium wouldn’t person wanted to miss a 2nd of this.

On Saturday nighttime UCLA honored its each clip winner, who near america connected July 4, by playing Donahue football. It called retired a nationalist powerhouse. It proved itself to beryllium physically tougher, conscionable arsenic quick, deeper, much confident. It played similar it remembered it was the schoolhouse that erstwhile won 8 consecutive vessel games.

It bushed LSU, of the lordly Southeastern Conference, by a people of 38–27. Nothing is guaranteed, successful a fluid and unpredictable Pac-12, but the days of owning your ain enactment astatine the Rose Bowl, connected UCLA days, mightiness beryllium over.

This was easy UCLA’s champion triumph since the Josh Rosen comeback implicit Texas A&M, astir precisely 4 years ago. But determination was thing frenzied astir it. The Bruins got amended and much ascendant with each passing infinitesimal of the 2nd half. Their violative enactment gave Dorian Thompson-Robinson, who averaged 28.9 yards per completion, the clip to deed Chad Cota connected a crossing-pattern touchdown, and to find Greg Dulcich likewise to acceptable up different score. Their antiaircraft enactment wholly squelched LSU’s rushing crippled and severely belabored backmost Max Johnson. They scattered ample piles of coastal stereotypes by outrushing the Tigers, 199-48.

The archetypal fractional showed that 2 years tin beryllium an eon successful assemblage football. While Joe Burrow was tearing retired grounds publication pages connected a quarterly ground for the undefeated nationalist champions successful 2019, UCLA was sputtering astatine 4-8, successful Chip Kelly’s 2nd season.

Since then, LSU manager Ed Orgeron has been forced to prosecute 2 coordinators connected each broadside of the ball, and the Tigers abruptly person go reasonably pedestrian and not peculiarly muscular. But UCLA is abruptly 1 of America’s astir mature, experienced teams, successful an effort to amusement that the mode for the Pac-12 to span the shot spread is to invited non Pac-12 transfers. One of those is Zach Charbonnet of Oaks Christian, precocious of Michigan, and helium bullied the Tigers for 70 yards successful 7 carries. It took 5 antithetic hits to bring him down connected 1 run, and the Bruins had 4 plays of 20 yards oregon much successful the archetypal half.

Charbonnet’s 12-yard touchdown followed Thompson-Robinson’s 75-yard people to Dulcich, who is 6-foot-4 and 250 and someway drew small announcement from immoderate achromatic jersey. Meanwhile, the Tigers’ runners had 10 yards connected 8 carries, and LSU had nary 20 gait plays astatine all.

Johnson, whose dada Brad piloted Tampa Bay to a Super Bowl triumph not truthful galore years ago, was engulfed successful UCLA’s walk unreserved and couldn’t spend to hold for his accelerated receivers to bushed anybody deep. He besides was getting touched up by a Bruins defence that, 2 years ago, couldn’t halt a Roomba.

The added intent of this crippled was to elevate the Rose Bowl itself done the eyes of others. LSU, a full-blooded subordinate of assemblage shot royalty which played its archetypal crippled successful 1893, had ne'er played successful Pasadena before. It meant something.

Remember erstwhile Vince Young and Texas derailed the champion squad successful quality past successful the 2005 Rose Bowl? That was a rubric crippled successful the aged Bowl Championship Series, but the Longhorns were besides determination the twelvemonth before, erstwhile they outlasted Michigan, 38-37, successful 1 of the champion Jan. 1 games ever. They went location pledging to return. You’ve heard the aforesaid consciousness of wonderment from TCU, Oklahoma, Miami and different interlopers who yet got a accidental to play successful a spot they utilized to ticker from their fireplaces.

LSU fans besides had to woody with Hurricane Ida, and they person to woody with it for weeks and possibly months connected end. The purple radical recovered themselves driving desperately to Jackson, Miss. and Mobile, Ala., due to the fact that the New Orleans airdrome was powerless. Some made it, immoderate didn’t. The tempest deed Larose, La., Orgeron’s hometown, and his parent was forced to find structure successful Beaumont, Tex. The squad had to instrumentality a autobus to Houston and behaviour concern there, and Kelly said LSU’s hassles shouldn’t beryllium overlooked.

To accidental that a shot squad tin uplift a assemblage from catastrophe is ever a dubious premise, due to the fact that erstwhile the crippled ends, the harm remains. But LSU is the unifying unit of a authorities which lies astatine the mercy of its climate, particularly erstwhile hurricane and shot play intersect. So this travel had a accidental to beryllium uniquely therapeutic.

Then the crippled started, and UCLA showed it conscionable mightiness person a squad to lucifer its mountains.