[Online exclusive]: Shaky second half saved by big plays

Up 20-3 heading into the second half, all was well and good for the Bruins at the Rose Bowl on Saturday.

UCLA’s defense had held BYU in check for most of the game, stuffing the Cougars’ huge running backs and keeping quarterback Max Hall from getting into a rhythm.

UCLA’s offense was shaky, but Kahlil Bell had a few decent runs. It seemed that, if the Bruins could just get one good offensive series in the second half, they could seal the victory.

Things, as they tend to do, changed.

By midway through the third quarter, the stands in the northwest corner of the stadium were shaking as what seemed like most of the transplanted city of Provo, Utah, cheered while the Cougars climbed to within three points of the reeling Bruins.

The Bruins ultimately pulled out the 27-17, skin-of-their-teeth victory thanks to a huge sack and forced fumble by Bruce Davis near UCLA’s goal line and a clock-killing scoring drive led by quarterback Ben Olson.

But, UCLA went without a score for nearly two quarters, from Kai Forbath’s field goal toward the end of the second half to Chris Markey’s game-sealing touchdown run in the fourth quarter. The vaunted defense was once again lit up by an aerial attack that elected to throw the ball more than 50 times. And in the post-game press conference, coach Karl Dorrell was asked more questions about Olson’s shaky performance than any of the game-saving plays at the end of the game.

“We had a comfortable lead, but you know what, you can’t get too comfortable,” Dorrell said. “We gave them the opportunity to make plays. Offensively (we struggled with) continuity throughout the game.

“(But) this team we played this week is a very, very good football team.”

UCLA, however, was supposed to be better.

The No. 13 team in the nation entering the game, the Bruins were outgained by almost 200 yards offensively on their home turf. The unranked Cougars killed themselves with 11 penalties for 84 yards as well as two huge turnovers – one, an interception in the first quarter that Trey Brown returned for a touchdown, and two, the fumble recovered by UCLA that stopped what could have been the game-winning drive for BYU in the fourth quarter.

In short, outside of some miscues, the Cougars looked like the better team.

“I’ll never forget those players from BYU,” Davis said. “They gave us all we could handle. We know there’s things we have to clean up. We missed a couple of tackles.

“(It was like) the Notre Dame game at the end. It got tough, and it got down to the wire. But we had guys on the sideline saying, “˜Remember the Notre Dame game last year.'”

In that game, the Bruins let the Fighting Irish go 80 yards in a little over a minute toward the end of the game to win it.

This time, the Bruins were able to make the defensive plays necessary and put together enough of an offensive drive to eke out the victory.

But it was close.

It appeared as if the coaching staff lost confidence in Olson halfway through the second quarter. Olson was shaky on most of his short throws, missed open receivers, did not go through his progressions, and reacted slowly to pressure. His receivers were also plagued by drops.

“We had some execution issues,” offensive coordinator Jay Norvell said. “We have to execute better.

“(But) our goal is to win the game. The rest of it is all style points in my opinion.”

And maybe it was just style that the Bruins were missing on Saturday. They will have to hope so.