With Josh Rosen out for the season, UCLA doesn’t have a run game to rely on

The timing was so perfect that Kennedy Polamalu had to smile.

As the UCLA offensive coordinator approached reporters late Thursday night inside a building next to Colorado’s Folsom Field, an event worker loudly announced that the facility could be vacated by elevator or stairs.

Polamalu was grateful for the tip.

“Thank you for the option,” Polamalu said, chuckling as he moved in front of the media scrum, “but I’ll do this.”

No one could blame Polamalu for wanting to get away. The Bruins’ offense was a Boulder slapdash during the team’s 20-10 loss to the No. 15 Buffaloes, coming up empty on both of its trips inside the 20-yard line, including a first-and-goal opportunity at the nine.

UCLA also gained only 25 yards rushing and is on pace to finish the season with 945 yards on the ground, potentially only the third time since 1945 that the Bruins have failed to gain at least 1,000 yards rushing.

“I can’t tell you the disappointment,” Polamalu said.

Compounding UCLA’s first four-game losing streak since the team lost five in a row in 2009, there’s no Josh Rosen to the rescue. Backup Mike Fafaul will be the Bruins’ starting quarterback the rest of the season after Coach Jim Mora announced that Rosen’s shoulder injury would keep him out until 2017.

That might not be so bad if the Bruins had any semblance of a running game. They don’t.

“Mike was throwing with fire and we hoped to help him out,” said tailback Soso Jamabo, who gained 66 yards on 23 carries, “but unfortunately we haven’t done that.”

UCLA (3-6 overall, 1-5 Pac-12 Conference) will need to win its final three games to gain bowl eligibility, though that seems the least of their worries. Mora’s Pac-12 record has fallen to 24-18, not counting a loss to Stanford in the 2012 conference title game. That’s slightly worse than predecessor Karl Dorrell’s 24-17 record in the conference before the arrival of Colorado and Utah.

Dorrell’s five years on the job were widely considered a disappointment, territory Mora is quickly veering toward after opening his UCLA tenure with three feel-good seasons followed by an 8-5 record in 2015 and the current fiasco.

UCLA’s defense has played well enough to win for most of the season. It was the same story against Colorado when it provided four takeaways that the Bruins’ offense turned into only three points.

Asked if his offense was disjointed, Mora didn’t try to sidestep the obvious.

“It’s been that way all year,” Mora said.

Polamalu’s first season calling plays in a lengthy coaching career has probably made the huge wine enthusiast want to down a bottle of his beloved Cabernet Sauvignon or Pinot Noir. Maybe both.

Slop fest

UCLA and Colorado combined for 25 penalties that set them back 224 yards, leading to some chippy play and accusations that Bruins linebacker Kenny Young flopped while trying to make a goal-line stand in the third quarter.

Young had wrapped up Buffaloes quarterback Sefo Liufau at the one-yard line when Young jerked wildly backward and fell to the ground, drawing a personal foul on Colorado receiver Bryce Bobo.

“One of the defenders was still dragging [Liufau] by his collar after the whistle was blown,” Bobo said of Young. “I was trying to get him off of Sefo and the guy flopped and got the penalty.”

UCLA’s defense had previously sustained the same drive with a trio of 15-yard penalties: a facemask infraction on defensive end Deon Hollins, an unnecessary roughness call on safety Jaleel Wadood and an unsportsmanlike conduct call against linebacker Jayon Brown.

“If you’re going to win, especially these kind of games like this when they’re close, you just can’t make those,” Bruins defensive coordinator Tom Bradley said of the penalties.

ben.bolch@latimes.com

Follow Ben Bolch on Twitter @latbbolch