Bruins’ season on verge of slipping away after defeat against Oregon

PASADENA — Midway through the third quarter of UCLA’s 42-30 loss to Oregon, the Bruins’ offensive personnel looked listless, a lethargy befitting their demeanor.

They weren’t on the sidelines. They were on the field, running plays down 35-10.

Of the many things that crumbled on Saturday for No. 18 UCLA (4-2, 1-2 Pac-12), the players’ spirits seemed to be the last, but certainly not the least.

There was the support of the students, who began to file out of the Rose Bowl in bunches in the third quarter, sure of a lost cause.

Before that, it was the Bruins’ poise cracking.

After falling behind 21-3 in the second quarter, defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich and coach Jim Mora were captured by the national television broadcast in a heated argument. The source of the frustration seemed to be an ill-timed Bruin blitz on a third-and-10, allowing Oregon to turn a screen pass into an easy 21-yard touchdown.

Ulbrich admitted he “lost control a little bit.”

“We’re both very passionate and very competitive,” Mora said. “If you don’t have that fire, then something’s wrong. If you don’t have that respect where you can have difficult conversations, then something’s wrong.”

For the Bruins’ defense, there seemed to be something wrong all game.

Drive after drive, play after play, they withered under the power of the Oregon offense. At one point in the game, UCLA allowed No. 12 Oregon (5-1, 2-1 Pac-12) to score six touchdowns on eight possessions; the other two belonged to a half-end and a turnover on downs two-yards away from another six-point-score.

UCLA’s offense, too, couldn’t hold together.

Its most glaring mistake came early in the third quarter.

Wide receiver Logan Sweet ran a curl too long and redshirt junior quarterback Brett Hundley’s throw, a few yards in front of him, was intercepted deep in the Bruins’ own territory.

In fact, the 30 points UCLA notched were more of an aberration than a small victory. Two-thirds of those points came from late-game catch-up play, the game’s outcome in no danger at all.

When the Bruins needed points, they weren’t there.

In the second quarter, four-yards away from a touchdown, junior quarterback Brett Hundley’s pass to a wide-open junior wide receiver Devin Fuller fell behind him, keeping Fuller from scoring and UCLA to just a field goal. Later on, the blemish darkened as a 41-yard field goal went wide-right.

But at game’s end, the largest crack was in UCLA’s flailing season, visible for all to see.

What was once a No. 7 preseason ranking and talk of a College Football Playoff berth now has the Bruins teetering on the verge of being unranked. And what was, since January, a building excitement around the program after Hundley announced his return, is now all but extinguished.

“Honestly I think (the expecations affected us). It got to the point where obviously we couldn’t ignore it,” said sophomore linebacker Myles Jack.

“Everyone was talking about us, everyone had high hopes for us. We could filter it out as much as we want but at the end of the day you’re going to hear it. I wouldn’t say we tried to live up to it but I’m sure it was in the back of our minds.”

Now at the forefront, the wheels of the Bruins’ bandwagon have spun dangerously off.

Where to now?