Cal Pounds UCLA With Lowest Blow : College football: The Bruins’ fifth loss in a row is their worst Pac-10 setback of the Donahue era, 48-12.

BERKELEY —  UCLA’s goal at the start of the football season was to win the Pacific 10 championship.

But the Bruins have a different goal now--winning a Pac-10 game.

California beat the Bruins, 48-12, Saturday before 56,000 at Memorial Stadium. It was the most points that Cal has scored against the Bruins and it was UCLA’s most lopsided conference loss since the Terry Donahue era began in 1976.

“This was the worst beating we’ve taken this season,” Donahue said after UCLA surrendered a season-high 439 yards in total offense. “In our worst anticipation, we didn’t think that we’d be in a situation where we haven’t won a Pac-10 game.”

Off to its worst conference start since 1943, the Bruins have lost their first five Pac-10 games after opening the season with three victories.

“This is the worst I’ve felt since I’ve been here,” Bruin senior cornerback Carlton Gray said. “I’ve never been beat like this on any level. It’s hard to go through things like this.

“I think everybody is pretty frustrated and dejected right now. Nobody expected to come in here and lose like this. But this epitomizes how our season has been going all year long.”

Depleted by injuries to key players this season, UCLA saw its injury problems continue.

Wide receiver Sean LaChapelle, recovering from a cracked rib, aggravated the injury when he landed hard on the artificial turf after catching a pass during the second half. LaChapelle, who sat out most of the fourth quarter, will be X-rayed today.

Three other Bruins were also injured: offensive tackle Rick Fuller, sprained ligaments in his right knee;, linebacker Rod Smalley, a slight shoulder strain; and safety Donnie Edwards, bruised ribs.

“I know that UCLA’s an awfully beat-up team that’s had a rough time,” Cal Coach Keith Gilbertson said.

Gilbertson apologized to Donahue after the game for running up the score because his second offensive unit scored a fourth-quarter touchdown to give Cal a 48-6 lead. Gilbertson disdained a field goal on fourth down at the Bruins’ six-yard line, and backup tailback Lindsey Chapman scored a touchdown on a run into the middle of the defense.

UCLA’s offense, which hadn’t scored a touchdown in 10 quarters, set up three Cal touchdowns with turnovers.

Quarterback John Barnes, making his second start of the season because of injuries to Wayne Cook, Rob Walker and Ryan Fien, set up two Cal touchdowns with interceptions. Safety Eric Zomalt returned an interception 45 yards for a second-quarter touchdown after a defender hit Barnes as he was throwing. Cornerback Ike Booth intercepted a third-quarter pass to set up quarterback Dave Barr’s 17-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Sean Dawkins.

“The first interception was a poor decision on my part,” Barnes said. “I got hit on the elbow and it came out wobbly. The second interception, I tried to force and (Booth) made a good play on it.”

UCLA tailback Chris Alexander rushed for 103 yards, including a 47-yard run that set up UCLA’s first touchdown in two weeks. But he lost a fumble at the Cal 28 during the second quarter after gaining 21 yards on his first carry of the season to set up Barr’s 52-yard touchdown pass play to wide receiver Jeff Jones during the second quarter.

Barr completed 14 of 21 passes for 212 yards and three touchdowns before he was replaced by Kerry McGonigal during the fourth quarter.

Cal tailback Russell White, who ran for 141 yards during the first half, finished with 148 and one touchdown. He surpassed Chuck Muncie, who had 3,052 yards, to become the leading rusher in Cal history with 3,058. White, who was ineligible his first season after graduating from Crespi High in Encino, has never lost to UCLA in three seasons.

White was motivated after a columnist in the Daily California, the school newspaper, criticized White’s unproductive season.

“One of the student newspaper (writers) wrote an article on Friday that I thought was unbelievably in poor taste and demeaning to Russell after all the things Russell has done for Cal,” Gilbertson said. “When I saw him yesterday I said, ‘Hey, Russell, we’re going to blow that article in half.’ I thought it was a cheap shot.”

White, who had rushed for only 96 yards in his last three games after suffering a pulled groin muscle, said he was inspired by the article.

“I had to come out and defend myself,” White said. “I just felt that it doesn’t matter, every little thing that’s written about you, you just have to keep going. I took it hard a little bit, but I definitely knew I had to come out and prove to myself that I’m not washedup.”

Dawkins, the leading receiver in the Pac-10, caught five passes for 72 yards, including touchdowns of 14 and 17 yards, as Cal ended a three-game losing streak to improve to 4-4 and 2-3.

Trailing, 48-6, the Bruins scored their first touchdown in 10 quarters when Barnes threw a 12-yard pass to tight end Brian Allen with 44 seconds left in the game.

“It was a relief,” Barnes said. “It was gratifying to get the touchdown because we’d gone so long without a touchdown.”

* BIG EIGHT BLOWOUT: Nebraska ends a four-year losing streak against top-10 teams with a 52-7 rout of Colorado. C3

* PAC-10 UPSET: Oregon sends No. 19 Washington State to its second loss in a row, 34-17. C8

* MIKE DOWNEY: At 25, Ed Bunn is kicking up a storm at Texas El Paso. C9