This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Pasadena, Calif.
As the final seconds slid off the clock Saturday night, along the sidelines on the field at the Rose Bowl, BYU's players stood silent, as the reality of a 24-23 loss settled into their minds, egos and souls. Opportunity was lost in a crushing way.
The 19th-ranked Cougars had just acquiesced to the 10th-ranked UCLA Bruins in an anticipated game pairing what were supposed to be the two best freshman quarterbacks in the country, certainly two freshman QBs who had generated and gotten as much publicity as any other young players in the land two weeks deep into the season.
One looked impressive, the other … well, he got a whole lot of help from his running backs.
But that matchup was one of two main storylines here. The other was the chance for BYU to demonstrate what it could do against a team that might be the best in the Pac-12, a team that was a 17-point favorite heading in.
Heading out, this is what we saw: Tanner Mangum couldn't bring the magic for a third straight time.
UCLA's Josh Rosen got off to a slow start, and stayed there, with the Bruins offense often struggling. That's when his running backs — namely, Paul Perkins and Nate Starks — began tearing off large chunks of yardage. But on UCLA's second possession, Rosen spiraled what might have been a touchdown pass deep in BYU territory straight into the hands of linebacker Harvey Langi, who picked the QB at the Cougars' 5-yard line.
Thereafter, Rosen remained hit and miss.
He was hit in the fourth quarter, with UCLA fighting to stay close, including a 19-yard TD pass that cut a BYU lead to 20-17. He was miss when Langi got another interception off him, setting up a BYU field goal in the second quarter, and building a 10-3 Cougar margin.
What was obvious was this: Paul Perkins was faster than just about everybody on BYU's defense, a fact that was substantiated time and again. The junior gained 99 yards … in the first quarter alone. He wound up with 219 rushing yards.
BYU couldn't stop him.
The first time Mangum touched the ball, he led BYU on an 11-play, 71-yard touchdown drive that looked easy, benefited as it was by a targeting call against UCLA. Essentially, Mangum dialed up a midrange passing attack and got relief from a ground game that included a couple of nice rushes by Adam Hine, who wound up with 149 rushing yards, and even one from running back-turned-linebacker-turned-running back-again-turned-linebacker-again Langi, who hadn't toted the ball in years. He did on multiple occasions Saturday night.
If the definition of desperation in the run game is handing the ball off to your inside 'backer, then the Cougars were on their way to defining the word. Hine's effort changed that.
After its initial success, though, BYU's offense frequently labored to sustain drives, repeatedly giving Rosen new opportunities to put points on the board, chances he struggled to cash in on. The youngster threw three first-half picks and looked jittery from jump. In the initial half, Rosen completed only two more throws to his own receivers than he did to BYU defenders. He was 5 of 15 for 52 yards.
For their part, the Cougars showed a willingness to go for it on this night. They attempted and recovered an onside kick after their early TD, which didn't amount to anything other than to fire off a signal that BYU was going to chuck whatever it had at the Bruins.
It wasn't enough.
Mistakes didn't help them. Early in the third quarter, consecutive bits of boneheadedness hurt the Cougars, with tackle Ryker Mathews wiping out a scoring shot, caught for holding on a 38-yard pass play from Mangum to Mitchell Juergens, followed by a lapse in punt coverage that yielded a 66-yard return which set up a Perkins TD, tying the game at 10.
BYU answered, big time, with a kick-you-in-the-teeth 75-yard drive capped by a Mangum touchdown pass to Mitch Mathews. It followed that with another march — 60 yards — that ended in a field goal and a 10-point lead, an exercise that was rinsed and repeated after the Bruins scored again, and BYU went 61 yards for another field goal.
Ultimately, Mangum completed 30 of 47 passes for 244 yards and 1 touchdown. The late wonders he pulled off against Nebraska and Boise State skidded to a halt on Saturday night, when he threw a pick on fourth-and-7 on the Cougars' last chance.
The Bruins, led by Perkins, finished BYU's magic.
GORDON MONSON hosts "The Big Show" with Spence Checketts weekdays from 3-7 p.m. on 97.5 FM and 1280 AM The Zone. Twitter: @GordonMonson.