On BYU’s first drive Saturday against UCLA, Cougars quarterback Max Hall completed all six of his passes. With no gain longer than 11 yards, the Cougars moved 75 yards in 11 plays. BYU receiver Austin Collie cut and looped around UCLA corners, and Hall found him three times with crisp and precise throws. The drive ended with a BYU touchdown.
Brigham Young did everything right on that first drive and for the rest of the first half, as they demolished a UCLA team that, in almost the same way, kept making mistakes. The end result was a 59-0 drubbing ““ the Bruins’ worst loss since 1929 ““ in front of a crowd of 64,153 at LaVell Edwards Stadium.
But those first two quarters were really all the Cougars needed to sprint past a younger, clumsier Bruin team.
The floodgates opened in the second quarter. After UCLA (1-1) started slowly and struggled to run the ball, No. 18 BYU (3-0) went up 14-0 in the first minute of the second quarter. The second scoring drive, like the first, was long and methodical ““ 13 plays and 86 yards.
UCLA’s first big mistake came four plays later, when left tackle Micah Kia let BYU end Jan Jorgensen slide past him. Jorgensen leveled UCLA quarterback Kevin Craft and forced a fumble.
BYU scored on the next play with a 37-yard rainbow from Hall to Collie, who burned UCLA corner Alterruan Verner for the score and put BYU up 21-0.
Two plays later, running back Raymond Carter fumbled the ball, and BYU recovered.
Two minutes later, Hall found wide receiver Michael Reed, and the Cougars led 28-0.
UCLA’s Terrence Austin fumbled the ensuing kick-off return, and the Bruin defense marched out onto the field again. Four plays later, Hall hit running back Harvey Unga for another touchdown.
On the next drive, UCLA’s field goal attempt was blocked, and that mistake, too, was converted into a BYU touchdown. This time it was a short, 2-yard throw from Hall to tight end Dennis Pitta.
Fifteen minutes, four big UCLA mistakes, and five BYU touchdowns put the game out of contention before halftime.
"Our game is always going to be the same," UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel said. "We’re going to have to stay on the field, keep our defense off of it, and play long fields. We could not do that today."
Hall tied a school record with seven touchdown passes. He also completed 27 of 35 attempts – almost 80 percent ““ and threw for 271 yards before BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall replaced him with 6:33 remaining in the third quarter.
Collie was Hall’s favorite target, and he caught 10 passes for 110 yards and two touchdowns.
"They played a flawless game," said Verner, who covered Collie most of the day.
The lack of pressure on Hall was a factor, defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker said. The Bruins recorded no sacks and rarely hurried any of Hall’s throws.
Defensive tackle Brian Price said the BYU zone-blocking scheme was confusing at times and that "four of the five BYU offensive linemen will play in the NFL."
"We wanted to keep people out of the end zone, and that didn’t happen by any stretch of the imagination," Walker said. "This was a very humbling experience."
But UCLA’s problems were not confined to the defensive side.
The Bruins offense was shutout for the first time since a 27-0 loss to USC in 2001. Craft threw for only 90 yards in the first half, and the Bruins gained just nine yards running.
The Bruins’ inexperienced offensive line played poorly. Craft was pressured constantly, and though UCLA stopped running when the team fell far behind, the Bruin running backs averaged only 0.6 yards per carry.
"We need to take this personally, how badly we played today," guard Darius Savage said.
Craft was quick to defend the unit, though.
"Those guys are working so hard. … And there are times when I have to make better passes," Craft said. "It’s not a matter of who’s at fault. We all just have to make more plays."
The win springs BYU into the BCS picture. The Cougars have now won 13 straight games, and their toughest remaining contest comes at the end of the season at Utah.
When asked if he was surprised by the easy win, Collie barely hesitated before he replied.
"Not at all," he said. "We’re one of the best teams in the nation."
It was a much different, and much more subdued, mood for the Bruins. The game exposed many of the concerns about this team that seemed to disappear after an opening win over Tennessee – the offensive line, especially.
But Neuheisel, like always, remained positive.
"It’s a tough loss to be dominated in the way that we were," he said. "But it’s one loss. What will be important to us is that we let it go.
"All of us have to get better. This loss is pinned on every one of us. The bottom line is what do we do to fix it?"
Middle linebacker Reggie Carter, the leader of the defense, agreed. In the locker room, he hunched over at his locker after a very long day, slowly dressed and found his iPod. He made 20 tackles and his defense stayed on the field for almost two-thirds of the game.
"It’s probably the worst … whooping I’ve taken in my career," he said. "But it’s over now. You have to take it and let it go. … You have to get up and keep fighting."