No. 19 BYU’s game against No. 10 UCLA at the Rose Bowl matches emerging stars in freshman QBs Tanner Mangum and Josh Rosen. BYU goes to UCLA on Saturday, and by the time the cool air rolls off the San Gabriel Mountains in the crisp Pasadena night, the Cougars walk away with the biggest win of the young season.
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The UCLA defense worked hard to keep the game on track, sacking BYU quarterback Tanner Mangum four times after registering one sack over the first two games of the season.
Rosen, the true freshman quarterback who had looked steady in UCLA’s first two wins, had the worst showing of his young career.
And facing the No. 10 Bruins on Saturday at the Rose Bowl, the Cougars led most of the game, until UCLA took it back with 3:21 to play.
DeShone Kizer showed up well filling in for Malik Zaire, who fractured his right ankle in the third quarter last week against Virginia. After Rosen’s 9-yard pass to Jordan Payton to open the drive, the next six plays were all runs by Perkins and Starks to set up the decisive score.
While De’Veon Smith is the lead back and had three rushing touchdowns a week earlier, Ty Isaac led all rushers with 114 yards, including a 76-yard touchdown run. But on UCLA’s second possession, Rosen spiraled what might have been a touchdown pass deep in BYU territory straight into the hands of linebacker Harvey Langi, who picked the QB at the Cougars’ 5-yard line.
BYU is a very solid team-it wouldn’t be a surprise at all to see the Cougars win out with their schedule easing up the rest of the way-and USC, Oregon, Stanford and Arizona State, the presumed other main contenders in the Pac-12, have all already fallen, with the Trojans dropping a conference game to the Cardinal on Saturday.
And when Perkins finally got exhausted late in the fourth quarter, Nate Starks was there to carry the Bruins into the end zone. He had only one pass intercepted through the first two games.
Those three turnovers by Rosen and a trio of three-and-outs by the UCLA offense allowed BYU to hold the ball for 20:29. BYU offensive coordinator Robert Anae was asked in the postgame why he would rotate Nate Carter into the game at running back on the final drive when Adam Hine was having a career game. UCLA coach, Jim Mora let Starks carry the load on the drive. Linebacker Myles Jack then suckered Mangum and intercepted a pass to clinch the victory with 58 seconds left.
With Rosen out of rhythm for much of this game against BYU, the approach shifted.
With a mixture of exotic blitzes and confusing defensive alignments, the Cougars had Rosen guessing almost all night.
With its independent status, BYU has its work cut out for it to crash the College Football Playoff party this season.
“You want to make sure you have all your Ts crossed and your I”s dotted by the time you get to the Pac-12 because it”s so tough,” receiver Jordan Payton said. He completed 11 of 23 passes for 106 yards. “Things we can do better, but felt like the team did what we asked them to do but we improved as a team”.
UCLA finished with 296 yards rushing.
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That prompted UCLA to rely on Perkins to save the day. It followed that with another march – 60 yards – that ended in a field goal and a 10-point lead, an exercise that was rinsed and repeated after the Bruins scored again, and BYU went 61 yards for another field goal.
