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Provo

When quarterback Taysom Hill scrambled out of trouble and found Jamaal Williams for a 39-yard gain on BYU's third play Saturday night, the Cougars could celebrate a completion that doubled their formerly longest connection of the season.

That little victory would have to do, in another discouraging defeat.

If one of the Cougars' goals was finally completing a 20-yard pass, they succeeded right away. If their ambition was scoring 20 points in a game for the first time in the Ty Detmer play-calling era, they failed again in a 17-14 loss to UCLA at LaVell Edwards Stadium.

BYU's second touchdown came with only 37 seconds remaining, before an onside-kick attempt went out of bounds.

So Detmer's performance as BYU's offensive coordinator ruined the first home game for coach Kalani Sitake, a defensive expert who has brought more toughness to this team. The defense wore down, understandably. BYU linebacker Butch Pau'u (19 tackles) and his group could do only so much against UCLA without sufficient help from the offense coordinated by Detmer, whose Heisman Trophy is absorbing some hits lately.

Sitake is not using any excuses about a new offensive system, after one quarter of the regular season.

"We're trying to be patient with it, but we're running out of time," he said.

The Cougars have developed a knack for scoring on their last possession of the game, but that's "a little too late," Sitake said.

Detmer appeared on the stadium's east sideline for the first time in a BYU game since he quarterbacked the Cougars to a rout of Utah as a senior in 1991. This was nothing like that.

The Cougars completed their mini tour of the Pac-12 South with a loss to UCLA that followed a last-second win over Arizona and a one-point defeat at Utah. Upcoming opponents West Virginia and Toledo may offer more accommodating defenses, and the Cougars undoubtedly would enjoy encountering less resistance right about now.

Holding UCLA to 17 points "should be good enough to win," Sitake said, and Hill agreed.

Hill was constantly pressured and not always able to escape. BYU's offensive line generally was manhandled by UCLA's defensive players, with Ului Lapuaho's absence due to injury being only part of the problem. A quarterback change wouldn't have helped, because the line's troubles would have exposed the less mobile Tanner Mangum to all kinds of punishment.

The coaching staff discussed a possible switch at halftime, Sitake acknowledged.

Detmer, Hill and the rest of the offense found some solutions in the second half, but only after the Cougars fell behind 17-0. Hill also merits some of the blame for his inaccuracy, occasionally missing open receivers when he did have time to throw. He finished 26 of 48 for 250 yards, with his numbers boosted by the final, futile drive. BYU rushed for 23 yards.

The last time a former star quarterback became BYU's offensive coordinator, Brandon Doman's group produced one offensive touchdown in each of the first three games of 2011 vs. Mississippi, Texas and Utah. And that was with Doman having coached the Cougar QBs for six years before taking over as the play-caller.

Detmer is new to college coaching entirely, and BYU's offense lacks any kind of identity — even if his guys have accounted for five touchdowns in three games. As a quarterback, Detmer always relied on outstanding tight ends who were anchors of the passing game, and the current Cougars don't have anybody with that ability. Mix in the linemen's struggles, and the result is a first half when BYU produced 79 total yards — counting those 39 yards on the pass to Williams, who did most of the work.

That possession ended with a fourth-and-8 incompletion, and the Cougars later went backward after Fred Warner's interception gave them the ball at the UCLA 33. Hill was sacked for a 13-yard loss on second down and the Cougars ended up punting.

BYU produced only four first downs in the half and never got inside the Bruins' 30. Down by 17 points in the third quarter, the Cougars drove for a touchdown with a nice mix of running, passing and UCLA penalties. The march pushed BYU's total yardage to 138 after three quarters.

The Cougars topped the 200-yard mark only on their last drive, which covered 91 yards. The 20-point barrier remained untouched, for the month.

Twitter: @tribkurt