AIKMAN ACHING : Bruin Quarterback Has Stellar Day but Fails to Beat USC, Reach Rose Bowl

So USC beat UCLA by a measly 9 points. Jim Brock, the man in the Cotton Bowl green jacket, chewed a cigar that stretched almost to Dallas, and waited for his moment.

The Bruins’ moment had come earlier, when once again they hoped Troy Aikman’s right arm would beat USC and once again it could not.

For all the statistics he amassed Saturday in UCLA’s 31-22 loss--32 completions, 317 yards, 2 touchdowns--Aikman passed, but he failed.

“It just wasn’t good enough,” he said.

Aikman did not beat USC in the only two chances of his college career, and this season’s prize for that is the Cotton Bowl. Aikman’s legacy is 13 appearances in the Rose Bowl stadium, but not one in the Rose Bowl game.

“I had my hopes set on the Rose Bowl,” Aikman said. “That’s the reason I came here . . . and I didn’t do it. That really hurts.”

Brock, the executive vice president of the Cotton Bowl, offered some consolation with an invitation to play in the Jan. 2 bowl game in Dallas, which UCLA accepted.

Aikman’s reaction?

“I’d be lying if I said I was satisfied,” he said.

Aikman went on to say that he knows the Cotton Bowl to be a fine event and that he is looking forward to a good time. Brock thinks the UCLA people will eventually realize this once the sting of losing the Pacific 10 title wears off.

“This thing is so emotional for them, you have to understand and give them a chance to get used to the idea,” he said.

Brock has learned how to be sympathetic. This is the third consecutive year he has invited a team to the Cotton Bowl minutes after it had lost a game. UCLA follows Notre Dame, Ohio State and Auburn into the loser’s circle.

Brock and three green jackets with board members inside met with UCLA Coach Terry Donahue in a room beneath the stands at the south end zone and made the Cotton Bowl invitation official.

All four of the Cotton Bowl officials wore somber faces as they approached Donahue. “You guys can smile,” Donahue told them. “You didn’t lose the game. I did.”

Brock told Donahue that the Cotton Bowl was delighted to have UCLA as an opponent for Arkansas, which represents the Southwest Conference as the host team.

“We know the Rose Bowl is what it’s all about,” Brock said.

The Rose Bowl is clearly what it was about for Aikman although he never got there. Last season, he played poorly--he completed only 11 passes and 3 of his passes were intercepted.

This time, Aikman was accurate, completing 32 of 48, but the Bruin offense was not effective, UCLA lost again to USC, and that is something Aikman cannot change.

“It hurts more for me (this season ),” Aikman said. “I don’t get another shot.”

Aikman pointed to the three times in the first half when Bruin drives fizzled and UCLA settled for field goals.

“We just got stopped at some critical times,” he said.

But Aikman also said: “I don’t think they really stopped us.”

UCLA’s defense allowed 21 points in the first half, which Donahue said he wasn’t expecting to happen, but then neither could he have expected the offense to remain largely silent.

Aikman admitted that USC has “a good” football team.

“But we weren’t outplayed in any phase,” he said. “They are not a superior football team.”

Nevertheless, they appeared to be so once again Saturday.

Donahue, who lost his first four games to USC before finally beating them for the first time in 1980, 20-17, probably knows how Aikman is feeling.

“It was a very strong performance by him, but football is a team game,” Donahue said. “When the team loses, Troy Aikman loses and we all lose.

“Everybody wants to go to the Rose Bowl game, but only one team can. That’s the conference champion. And this particular year, it’s USC.”