Fun in sun for Bruins
EL PASO, Texas – Brandon Breazell put the perfect wild finish on a wacky Sun Bowl.
Twice, in fact.
Breazell returned two onside kicks for a pair of highlight-reel touchdowns and Drew Olson recovered from an awful first quarter by throwing three TD passes, leading No. 17 UCLA to a 50-38 win over Northwestern on Friday.
“I won’t be able to watch it on TV because we’ll be on the plane going home,” Breazell said. “I hope somebody records it …”
This wasn’t the first time Breazell had a hand in a thrilling victory. He caught a 21-yard TD pass in overtime after the Bruins (10-2) scored 21 points in the final seven minutes of regulation for a 30-27 win at Stanford on Oct. 29.
“The one against Stanford was fun, but this was really big, coming in the Sun Bowl,” Breazell said. “At least I got something out of El Paso. It felt great.”
The Wildcats (7-5) pulled within 36-31 with 2:29 remaining when Brett Basanez threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to Mark Philmore. But on the ensuring kickoff, Breazell – a receiver lined up to make sure the Bruins kept the ball – returned the Northwestern onside kick 43 yards.
After Basanez added a 5-yard TD pass to Shaun Herbert with 23 seconds remaining, Breazell struck again by taking the next onside kick for a 41-yard score, punctuating the highest-scoring Sun Bowl.
“The first one, I was kind of stunned,” Breazell said. “When I got to the end zone, I saluted the troops I saw in the stands. The second one, I was real anxious. I wanted it so bad. My mind was going in 100 directions.”
“When they returned the first one, we said, ‘OK,’ ” Basanez said. “When they returned the second one, we said, ‘Well that’s interesting. I’ve never seen that before.’ “
It was a fitting ending to a crazy afternoon, where the teams combined to set 11 Sun Bowl records.
The teams came in ranked among the national leaders in offense but among the nation’s worst defenses. Sure enough, the Wildcats set a record with 584 total yards and the teams combined for another record with 1,037 yards.
The Bruins overcame three first-quarter interceptions by Olson, who threw three all season, and survived a first-half shoulder injury to star tailback Maurice Drew.