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Pasadena, Calif. • There was no late-game magic on 4th-and-7 this time for BYU freshman quarterback Tanner Mangum.
With the Cougars driving for a potential game-winning field goal, Mangum was intercepted on 4th-and-7 by UCLA's Myles Jack, and the Bruins escaped with a 24-23 win in front of 67,612 fans at the Rose Bowl on Saturday night.
"We've been on the other side of these," BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall said. "This time, they made one more play than we did."
Asked to sum up what it feels like to be on the losing end of a heartbreaker after the Cougars defeated Nebraska and Boise State in the final seconds, Mendenhall replied: "The exact opposite."
In the other locker room, UCLA coach Jim Mora said the Bruins "had to overcome a lot to win that game tonight. There was a lot of adversity. It starts with a very good BYU team. They were physical and tough and gave us all that we could handle."
But they didn't hand the Bruins, favored by 17 points, an upset loss, despite edging the home team in total yards, 405-402.
The Cougars bottled up UCLA freshman quarterback Josh Rosen, but had no answer for the Bruins' rushing attack. Paul Perkins rushed for 219 of UCLA's 296 rushing yards.
"The difference in the game was Perkins, the running back for UCLA," Mendenhall said.
Trailing by a a point after Nate Starks' 3-yard touchdown run gave UCLA its first lead of the game with 3:21 remaining, the Cougars took over at their 15 and moved to the UCLA 45. But an incomplete pass, a 3-yard run by Nate Carter and another incomplete pass set up the second-straight 4th-and-7 for BYU in the closing moments of a game.
Pressured early, Mangum rolled from the pocket and tried to deliver the ball to Mitchell Juergens, but Jack stepped in front of it, and that was that.
"I was just trying to make a play," Mangum said. "…I had all the confidence in the world that we were going to go down and score."
But the Bruins had other ideas, and the BYU freshman whose fourth-quarter touchdown passes beat the Huskers and Broncos had to experience the other side of the coin in just his second career start.
"You know, it hurts," Mangum said. "It definitely hurts, but we can't keep our heads down."
Mangum finished 30 of 47 for 244 yards and a touchdown, outplaying fellow freshman quarterback Josh Rosen of UCLA, who was 11 for 23 for 106 yards and a touchdown with three interceptions.
But the Cougars couldn't stop UCLA's rushing attack, which Mora turned to with Rosen struggling from almost the opening kick.
"He is a really impressive player, good competition," BYU safety Michael Wadsworth said of Perkins. "We weren't wrapping up and making the tackles we usually do."
Trailing 20-10 after a BYU field goal early in the fourth quarter, the Bruins drove 68 yards and trimmed the deficit to 20-17 with a 19-yard strike from Rosen to Jordan Payton, who beat BYU's Micah Hannemann on the play.
But the Cougars put together a clock-eating, 16-play drive and capped it with Trevor Samson's 32-yard field goal to go up six with 5:39 remaining. Mendenhall opted for the field goal thinking it was too early to gamble on 4th-and-5 from the UCLA 15.
BYU played without nose tackle Travis Tuiloma and running back Algernon Brown, but Mendenhall declined to say Tuiloma's absence contributed to UCLA's big rushing night.
"I would just praise [Perkins] — he did a nice job," Mendenhall said.
The Bruins improved to 3-0 with the win, while BYU fell to 2-1.
Momentum swung drastically early in the third quarter after it appeared the Cougars had moved the ball to the UCLA 27 on a 37-yard pass to Mitchell Juergens. However, Ryker Mathews was flagged for holding on the play, and it was negated.
After Rhett Almond's first career punt, UCLA's Devin Fuller returned it 56 yards to the BYU 17, and five plays later Perkins found the end zone from 5 yards out to knot the score at 10-10. It was the first time BYU had not led since less than six minutes into the game. Perkins had picked up a first down on 4th-and-2 from the 9 on the previous play.
But BYU answered right back, with Mangum directing a seven-play, 75 yard drive for a touchdown. His 14-yard TD pass to Mitch Mathews made it 17-10 for BYU with 6:26 remaining.
The Cougars made it a two-score game with Trevor Samson's 45-yard field goal with 13:41 remaining in the fourth quarter, surging ahead 20-10 and setting up the dramatic finish.
BYU could not have asked for a better start. After forcing a UCLA punt on the Bruins' opening possession, the Cougars marched 71 yards in 11 plays, aided by a 15-yard targeting penalty on UCLA's Kenny Young that got the linebacker ejected.
Adam Hine's 7-yard touchdown run gave BYU a 7-0 lead with 9:39 remaining in the first quarter after Harvey Langi picked up 5 yards on his first-ever carry for BYU on 3rd-and-2.
Then the Cougars tried an onside kick, and Michael Davis recovered Jonny Linehan's squib kick to give BYU excellent field position at the UCLA 44.
The drive went nowhere due to a holding penalty and a couple sacks.
UCLA quickly drove from its 8 to BYU's 9, thanks to a 44-yard run by Perkins, but Langi had the first of his two picks in the first half to thwart the drive.
The Cougars had to punt on four straight possessions, but were set up again in UCLA territory when Langi picked off Rosen again, making a brilliant play after tipping the pass. They picked up just 14 yards though, and had to settle for Trevor Samson's 40-yard field goal.
The Bruins got on the board after another 44-yard run by Perkins, getting a 35-yard field goal from Ka'imi Fairbairn.
UCLA was driving again just before halftime, but Kai Nacua stepped in front of a Rosen pass in the end zone to end the threat. It was Nacua's fourth interception in the last two games.
At halftime, the Cougars led 10-3 despite being out-gained 195-149.
Perkins had 128 yards in the first half on 12 carries, but Rose was just 5 of 15 for 52 yards with the three interceptions. Mangum was 14 for 23 in the first half, for 101 yards. He was sacked three times in the first half.
The Cougars played without running back Algie Brown, who was out with a knee injury.
They inserted Langi in the game on third-down situations, and he had two carries for 8 yards in the first half, both picking up first downs. They were 0 of 7 on third-down plays not involving the former University of Utah running back who had played only inside linebacker at BYU before Saturday night.
The Cougars had the ball for 20 minutes and 29 seconds in the first half, running 43 plays, while UCLA had it just 9:31.
Twitter: @drewjay —
Storylines
• UCLA drives 80 yards in seven plays or the go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter with 3:21 remaining.
• Trevor Samson's 32-yard field goal with 5:39 remaining in the game gave BYU a 23-17 lead, but the Cougars couldn't hold it.
• The No. 10 Bruins improved to 8-3 against No. 19 BYU with the come-from behind win