John F. Rhodes / DMN
UCLA quarterback Troy Aikman chats with then Dallas Cowboys player personnel director Gil Brandt after the game.Arkansas finds nowhere to roam
UCLA yields 42 yards, wins Cotton, 17-3
1/3/1989
UCLA did what Arkansas dreamed about doing all season, using a ball-control offense and suffocating defense to win the Mobil Cotton Bowl. The ninth-ranked Bruins grounded the Southwest Conference champion Razorbacks, 17-3, on Monday afternoon before a sellout crowd of 74,304.
UCLA, which finished second in the Pacific 10 Conference, held eighth-ranked Arkansas to four first downs and 42 total yards, the lowest yardage total in Arkansas history. Offensively, quarterback Troy Aikman guided the Bruins on a 19-play, 93-yard touchdown drive for their first score, setting a Cotton Bowl record for number of plays in a scoring drive.
It was UCLA's seventh consecutive bowl victory, an NCAA record.
"To do something that no other football program has done was a tremendous accomplishment," UCLA coach Terry Donahue said. "I didn't want to leave Dallas 9-3, with the streak ended and the seniors feeling like the season went down the tubes. That made me nervous."
UCLA finished 10-2, as did Arkansas.
Aikman, projected to be the Dallas Cowboys' No. 1 draft pick, was consistent, if not flashy. He completed 19-of-27 passes for 172 yards, but only two completions went for more than 13 yards: one for 35 and 20. Aikman riddled Arkansas' zone defense with short passes, and freshman Shawn Wills rushed for 120 yards. During one stretch, UCLA successfully converted 12 consecutive third-down situations.
"We didn't ask Troy to do a lot," UCLA quarterback coach Rick Neuheisel said. "We didn't need him to win the game by himself."
The Bruins' defense, led by senior nose guard Jim Wahler, controlled Arkansas' offense. The Razorbacks' four first downs was their lowest ever in a bowl and one more than the school-record low.
"No team has dominated us as much," Arkansas coach Ken Hatfield said. "There were a variety of reasons. UCLA played extremely well. And we had to move a couple of people around (All-SWC guard Freddie Childress and All-America defensive tackle Wayne Martin were suspended last week). Freddie was a big blocker that helps out on the nose guard. But we didn't function as a unit."
Arkansas, playing in its first Cotton Bowl since 1976, got just 21 yards out of its run-oriented Flexbone. The Razorbacks were equally futile passing – 4-for-14 for 21 yards.
"We didn't do anything," Razorbacks sophomore quarterback Quinn Grovey said. "We were going to do whatever worked and couldn't find anything that did. We just didn't execute at all."
The Razorbacks went 32 minutes between their second first down, in the first quarter, and their third first down, in the fourth quarter.
Their only score came on a 49-yard field goal by All-America kicker Kendall Trainor after the Razorbacks recovered a fumble on the UCLA 47.
Seven of Arkansas' 10 possessions ended in three downs or less and the farthest the Razorbacks advanced – excepting the field goal possession – was to their 31.
The Razorbacks' defense played its typically strong game – getting three turnovers and holding the Bruins to two touchdowns and UCLA's second-lowest point total of the season. But the Bruins had a time-of-possession edge of 43 minutes to 17.
"I thought the score would be closer," Arkansas safety Steve Atwater said. "I thought both teams would score around 17 or 20 points. But it's not something you can blame on the offense. We got three points and would have won if we didn't allow any."
The Bruins scored two touchdowns before Trainor's field goal midway in the third quarter.
UCLA's first scoring drive was kept alive by a 15-yard penalty against Arkansas linebacker Odis Lloyd for hitting Aikman after he was down. The infraction gave UCLA a first down after the Bruins had come up short on third down. The Bruins then converted their next five third downs to go 93 yards in 19 plays. UCLA fullback Mark Estwick scored from one yard to give the Bruins a 7-0 lead.
The Bruins went up, 14-0, on a one-yard touchdown pass from Aikman to tight end Corwin Anthony. UCLA had driven from its own 26 to Arkansas' one, but faced a third-down situation against the Razorbacks's tough goal-line defense.
Aikman ran a naked rollout right and hit Anthony for his fifth touchdown of the season.
UCLA's Alfredo Velasco hit a 32-yard field goal with three minutes remaining for the final points.
Arkansas replaced the option-oriented Grovey with backups John Bland and Jimmy Williams in the fourth quarter but still could not handle the Bruins' defense, which set a school record for fewest total yards allowed in a game. The UCLA defense was the second best in the Pac-10 and ranked 24th nationally.
"The key was the physical play," Wahler said. "We played Nebraska like that (a 41-28 UCLA victory). I didn't think we could stuff Arkansas that much. ... It would have been nice to be at the Rose Bowl, but we still played in a major bowl against a Top 10 team."
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