Miscues doom Cougars

PASADENA, Calif. — Similar to the 1984 Holiday Bowl victory over Michigan resulting in a national championship, and the 1990 upset of top-ranked Miami kick-starting Ty Detmer's Heisman Trophy season, the '07 BYU football team found itself in a similar setting Saturday as the Cougars squared off against 13th-ranked UCLA in the vaunted Rose Bowl venue.

At stake against a big-name opponent was the nation's longest current winning streak — 11 games, after Boise State lost earlier Saturday — and a possible third consecutive victory against a Pac-10 foe. To say nothing of the Cougar faithful's pining for BCS possibilities.

All streaks and BCS hopes ended as the Bruins ran down the clock, rushed for a final-minute insurance touchdown and erased a Cougar comeback with a 27-17 victory before 72,986.

No matter that BYU (1-1) nearly doubled the 2-0 Bruins in total offense, 435 yards to UCLA's 236. Nor that quarterback Max Hall outperformed UCLA counterpart and one-time BYU QB Ben Olson, completing 30-of-52 passing for 435 yards and two touchdowns compared to Olson's 13-of-28 for 126 yards and no scores.

The difference in defeat?

Three costly turnovers — two resulting in 10 UCLA first-half points and the third squelching a sustained BYU drive deep into Bruin territory, with the Cougars poised to overcome a 20-17 fourth-quarter deficit.

BYU's double-digit penalties (11 for 84 yards, including a pair of personal fouls), frequent poor field position and an inability to establish a complementary ground game (25 rushes, 44 net yards) didn't help, either.

In the end, the Bruins deserved the win, as simply stated by BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall.

"When the critical plays needed to be made, they made them," he said. "We fought back and rallied, but, quite frankly, we didn't play well enough in all three phases of the game to win in this setting against this strong of a team."

BYU's first turnover came late in the opening quarter, with UCLA nursing a 3-0 lead. On a Hall pass intended for Austin Collie, Bruin DB Trey Brown stepped in to snag the pick, weaving his way for a 56-yard touchdown return and a 10-0 score.

With Kahlil Bell's 4-yard TD run sandwiched in between, the second Cougar miscue also resulted in Bruin points, just as BYU was making a rare first-half foray into UCLA territory. Tight end Vic So'oto coughed up the ball after a 19-yard reception, with Brown returning the fumble 21 yards back into BYU's side. It set up Kai Forbath's second field goal and a 20-0 UCLA lead 26 minutes into the game.