COLLEGE FOOTBALL / DAILY REPORT : ROSE BOWL : It’s All About Fun for UCLA

UCLA has adopted a more open approach in dealing with bowl games than most of the Big Ten teams that have participated. Practices are open. Alumni come to watch and reminisce. Disneyland, beef dinners . . . they’re distractions?

No way.

“I don’t really consider them distractions,” UCLA Coach Terry Donahue said. “I consider the things that go on at a bowl game part of the reward for having a good season and part of what you want to be associated with and doing. I don’t consider the press conference and media days a distraction.

“Hey, the press conference at Pasadena, I’d rather be there than looking at film.

“It’s an opportunity for kids to experience things they don’t usually do.

“I’m not big on that one-dimensional, have your helmet on two weeks before the game approach. Hey, we’re going to practice hard, but we’re going to enjoy the time.

“I believe players should enjoy a bowl, but I want them to work hard. ‘Would you rather be doing it, or would you rather somebody else in the conference were doing it?’ ”

The approach seems to work. The Bruins have won the last eight bowl games they have played.

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Often overshadowed by the exploits of All-American J.J. Stokes, sophomore Kevin Jordan quietly became UCLA’s deep threat as the season wore on. He caught a ball for 53 yards against USC and finished the season with 42 catches, one more than Stokes had as a sophomore. Of Jordan’s catches, 25 were for more than 10 yards and seven for more than 20. . . . UCLA has been inside its opponents’ 20-yard line 46 times and scored on 40 of those trips, getting 25 touchdowns and 15 field goals.