Bruins Pull One Out Of The Hat End-Around Play Helps Ucla Top Texas A&M; In Cotton Bowl

The last time there was a rally like this in the Cotton Bowl, Joe Montana pulled it off.

Fifth-ranked UCLA overcame a 16-point deficit Thursday, beating Texas A&M 29-23 in the Cotton Bowl behind the brilliance of quarterback Cade McNown and the first rushing touchdown of the year for tight end Ryan Neufeld.

It was Neufeld’s 5-yard run on an end around with 7:05 left, capping a 71-yard drive that finally put away the No. 20 Aggies, who came into the game as 13-point underdogs.

“We practiced that play for a month,” Neufeld said. “And it paid off.”

McNown threw two touchdown passes and ran for a third, and Skip Hicks gained 140 yards on 31 carries and caught a scoring pass as UCLA earned a 10th consecutive win for the first time since 1946.

“When it had to be done, Cade did it,” said UCLA coach Bob Toledo. “We had to make some big adjustments at halftime. Cade is poised and confident.”

It was the second-best comeback in Cotton Bowl history, topped only by Notre Dame’s rally from 22 points down in 1979 to beat Houston 35-34 as Montana threw a touchdown pass on the last play of the game.

“A&M’s defense played us well, but we knew what we had to do and we did it,” McNown said. “Talk is cheap when you got into a spot like we did. We stopped ourselves a lot, and it got frustrating.”

Hicks said UCLA was a little worried, but he added: “We still had the confidence we were going to come back. We’ve been down before. It was great to end my career like this.”

A&M (9-4) was led by linebacker Dat Nguyen, who intercepted a pass and had 20 tackles, 15 of them solo, in the loss.

“We had them going in the first half, but they made adjustments to our blitz,” Nguyen said. “We at least proved to the nation what a good defense we have.”

The Aggies beat the UCLA blitz with a reverse pitchout to split end Chris Cole, who dashed 43 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter to give them a 22-14 lead with 8:37 left. Randy McCown, subbing at quarterback for injured Branndon Stewart, who hurt an ankle, faked a handoff, then pitched to Cole going the other way, fooling the Bruins defense.

But McNown ran 20 yards to cut the deficit to 23-21 heading in the fourth quarter.

UCLA scored two touchdowns in a span of 2:28 at the end of the first half and the start of the second half to get back into the game and trail the Aggies 16-14.

McNown threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to Jim McElroy with 2 seconds left in the half, then hit Hicks with a 41-yard pass on UCLA’s first possession of the second half.

Texas A&M parlayed a bizarre 83-yard interception return, a safety, and Dante Hall’s 74-yard touchdown run into a 16-7 halftime lead over the Bruins.

Nguyen, the defensive MVP, intercepted a McNown screen pass at the A&M 17, ran 19 yards, and lateraled to safety Brandon Jennings, who went the final 64 yards for the touchdown. It was the second-longest interception return in Cotton Bowl history, topped only by a 95-yard return by Colorado’s Marcus Washington in 1996.

“I was in the right place at the right time for that one,” Nguyen said. “I saw a receiver about to tackle me, so I just lateraled to somebody I saw out of the corner of my eye.”

“Dat was all over the field, he’s just a great player,” Toledo said.

“I should have thrown the ball in the dirt,” McNown said.

The Aggies, who sacked McNown five times in the first half, got to him for a safety in the second quarter when Zerick Rollins caught him in the end zone.

A&M ruined a 76-yard McNown quick kick, which pinned the Aggies down on their own 10. From the 26, Hall broke through the line, shook off an attempt by safety Larry Atkins to strip the ball away, and dashed for the touchdown and a shocking 16-0 lead.

A 33-yard punt return by Eric Scott positioned UCLA for its only first-half score with just 2 seconds left on the clock. McElroy slipped into the end zone behind two Aggies and took a perfect pass for the touchdown.

“That was one of the key plays of the game,” said A&M coach R.C. Slocum. “We had everything under control until that happened. We had a coverage error and you can’t give them easy TDs. It was a very disappointing loss. We had our chances to win against one of the best teams in the country.”

“That was a big momentum score for us,” McNown said. “It made a big difference in the game.”

McNown, the offensive MVP, hit 16 of 29 passes for 239 yards, while the Aggies managed only 55 yards passing.

Toledo, who had been fired by Slocum as offensive coordinator at A&M after the 1994 Cotton Bowl, shook hands with his counterpart after the game. Both said during the week they had put the firing behind them, but Toledo told the team before the game: “I really want this one.”

It was the first meeting between the Aggies of the Big 12 and the Bruins of the Pac-10 in 42 years.

Officials announced 59,215 tickets sold for the game, sponsored by Southwestern Bell, but not that many fans showed up.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: UCLA 29, Texas A&M 23 UCLA 0 7 14 8 29 Texas A&M 7 9 7 0 23 A&MJennings 64 interception return after lateral from Nguyen (Bryant kick) A&MSafety, McNown tackled in end zone A&MHall 74 run (Bryant kick) UCLAMcElroy 22 pass from McNown (Sailer kick) UCLAHicks 41 pass from McNown (Sailer kick) A&MCole 43 run (Bryant kick) UCLAMcNown 20 run (Sailer kick) UCLANeufeld 5 run (McNown run) A59,215.

UCLA A&M First downs 23 10 Rushes-yards 48-154 40-192 Passing 239 55 Comp-Att-Int 16-30-1 7-14-1 Return Yards 66 92 Punts-Avg. 8-43.6 9-45.3 Fumbles-Lost 3-0 1-0 Penalties-Yards 7-73 4-38 Time of Possession 33:04 26:56 RUSHING-UCLA, Hicks 31-140, Lewis 1-6, Neufeld 1-5, McElroy 1-2, McNown 14-1. Texas A&M, Hall 7-93, Cole 1-43, Parker 11-40, Hardeman 10-36, Broyles 1-4, McCown 7-(minus 11), Stewart 3-(minus 13) PASSING-UCLA, McNown 16-29-1-239, Farmer 0-1-0-0. Texas A&M, Stewart 4-8-0-30, McCown 3-6-1-25. RECEIVING-UCLA, McElroy 5-84, Farmer 4-40, Hicks 3-53, Grieb 2-31, Poli-Dixon 2-31. Texas A&M, Cole 4-32, Oliver 3-23.