PASADENA, Calif. - UCLA quarterback Rick Neuheisel awoke at 4 a.m. yesterday with food poisoning. About 14 hours later, Neuheisel was feeling fine and the University of Illinois football team was sick.

Neuheisel, a walk-on at UCLA four years ago, completed 22 of 31 passes for 296 yards and four touchdowns as the Bruins manhandled Illinois, 45-9, before 103,217 people at the 70th Rose Bowl game.

Neuheisel's four touchdowns tied a bowl record set by Pete Beathard of Southern California against Wisconsin in 1963.

The Illini loss was the most horrifying since Michigan beat Southern Cal 49-0 in 1948.

Illinois coach Mike White said his only highlight came when the scoreboard quit functioning with 4:48 remaining to play.

UCLA finished its season with a 7-4-1 record while Illinois wound up with a 10-2 mark and suffered its first defeating since losing to Missouri in the season opener.

"I woke up at 4 sweating," said Neuheisel, who will attend law school. "I thought it was nerves so I tried to go back to sleep. But my stomach kept getting more upset. I threw up four times before the game.

"The coach put the four of us, who were sick and still going to try and play, in cars and sent us to the Rose Bowl that way. He didn't want us in busses and have us get motion sickness too.

"I felt OK during the game except when I would sit on the bench and my head would feel light."

Illinois was never in contention after two costly mistakes in the first quarter. The Illini seemingly had stopped an opening UCLA drive when the Bruins' John Lee was forced to try a 43-yard field goal. The kick was blocked by Illini defender Luke Sewall.

The ball bounced toward the goal line but Illini safety Craig Swoope, instead of falling on it, picked it up and tried to run it out for better field position. But Swoope fumbled when tackled and UCLA Steve Gemza recovered on the 14.

Four plays later, Neuheisel threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to tight end Paul Bergmann. Lee kicked the point-after-touchdown and UCLA was ahead to stay.

About four minutes later, the Illini were driving. Quarterback Jack Trudeau completed a 19-yard pass to Tim Brewster on the 44-yard line. But the play was wiped out because of a holding call and the Illini were penalized from their 25 to the 14.

Illinois, which threw 14 straight passes in the first half, had the ball on the UCLA 28-yard line with the second period barely underway. But two incomplete passes and a four-yard completion forced Chris White to settle for a 41-yard field goal. It was 7-3 with 13:59 left in the half and Illinois had passed 79 percent of the time at that point.

Illinois didn't score again until Trudeau threw a 5-yard pass to Thomas Rooks with 13:55 to play. But by that time the score was 38-3 and UCLA was giving the Illini the short pass.

UCLA put Illinois on the ropes with 10:59 left in the first half when Kevin Nelson raced 28 yards up the middle to increase the Bruins' lead to 13-3. Lee, a sophomore who set all kinds of UCLA kicking records this season, made the point-after touchdown

"We caught Illinois in man coverage," explained UCLA coach Tony Donahue. "They were trying to pressure Rick a lot because our reputation for sacks and Rick not being very mobile. Well, when you play that much man coverage, it's easy to score if you can get past the line of scrimmage. We had so many big plays in the first half for that reason."

Donahue and the UCLA defensive staff disguised most of the Bruins' coverage to take advantage of Trudeau just being a sophomore.

"We came after him with a little more heat than usual," said Donahue. "And when you get behind 28-3, signal calling becomes very difficult. The clock is your enemy. We wanted to be aggressive and play to win, we didn't want to play to avoid losing."

Asked how Illinois would rank in the Pac-10 Conference, which had a very poor record against nonconference opposition, Donahue said, "That's hard to say. Today, we didn't see the Illinois team that beat Michigan, Iowa, and Ohio State."

White, obviously very distraught, said, "This takes the luster off what we've accomplished. This loss is very painful for us. The first quarter was not a good one and that usually sets the tempo for the rest of the game.

"We had penalties and dropped passes and UCLA got more aggressive on defense. As the game went on, there was less we could do and that's why we got away from our running game."

White credited the UCLA staff for preparing Neuheisel so well. "They did some things to our defense people hadn't done all year," said White.

"We felt the key to beating Illinois was how we did with (Mark) Butkus and (Don) Thorp their tackles," said Donahue. "So, we moved our center Mark Mannou to guard because he can play both. Then, I told he and Mark Martmeier they'd be working against Butkus and I'd spell one with the other.

"Then we put Jim McCullough, our other guard, and Chris Yellich on Thorp. Bergmann, in terms of blocking and leadership, had his best game ever."

Trudeau, who completed just 23 of 39 passes for 178 yards and threw three interceptions, said he had no logical reason for the defeat.

"We would have liked to run the ball more but their defense executed very well," Trudeau said. "We tried to get the big play early and didn't get it. You have to stay out of third and eight, third and seven, and second and 10 situations to win games. Who knows what makes you lose a game. I made mistakes, the whole team did. But they played a great game."

Neuheisel admitted the Bruins picked on Illinois freshman cornerback Keith Taylor. "No. 4 was a freshman and we had to find out if he could be beat," said Neuheisel. "And our offensive line kept those Big 10 all-conference linemen off me all day. My job is to just find the open receivers. These guys just come after the ball and catch anything you get close."

Neuheisel, the No. 2 quarterback last season, said Donahue told the first one to go is the quarterback and the second one to go is the head coach. "He said he wasn't ready to go," said Neuheisel.

Neuheisel said the victory wasn't as easy as the score would indicate.

"Their blitz forced me to scramble," said Neuheisel. "But it also gave us a lot of outs. We read where Illinois had been coached to never give the inside away. They would give the outside away 20 straight times but never the inside. So, we went outside."

UCLA's total yardage of 511 is the most the Illini have given up since Purdue gained 523 yards in October.

"I'm stunned," said Donahue. "I felt we'd play well but I didn't expect to win by that margin. This has to be one of the biggest wins in my career.

"We had a psychological advantage. We weren't getting much credit for getting to the Rose Bowl. Our players took it personally and the chemistry was perfect for an upset.

"Second, this is our home stadium. When I first came out and heard all that noise from the Illinois fans, it set me back a moment. But then our fans started to come in and they were just as loud."