Mark Gustafson

LA Times: A Run for the Roses

O.J. Simpson's 64-Yarder Against UCLA Helped Send USC on to Pasadena and a National Championship

November 19, 1992|MARYANN HUDSON, TIMES STAFF WRITER

For 25 years, they have relived that darned run: a 64-yard nightmare for all the UCLA players O.J. Simpson left in his wake on his way to tying a game that had more than roses at stake.

Simpson headed for the sideline behind Drake, who was trying to block UCLA safety Sandy Green.

"I was on the sideline and I felt that if I could get back to the middle of the field I might be able to outrun those guys to the end zone," Simpson said. "So I just cut to the middle, went by a couple of guys and our Earl McCullouch was making a screening block on Green."

Simpson cut back in at UCLA's 40 and headed toward the middle at about the 30.

But the Bruins had one last chance.

"Well at that point in time, after 10 people had missed him, it was all up to me and I was in the wrong place to do it," said Mark Gustafson, who played safety. "I was one of the last guys to have a chance to tackle him, and I didn't even touch him.

"He was going one direction and I was going the other, and he kind of cut back across the field. He surprised me, and I was trying to cut him off further up the field because I knew how fast he was. I overplayed it and he cut back across the green, and once he did that with his speed there wasn't any way to make up for my mistake."