Bruins Make Rose Bed : Tennessee Secures Fiesta Bowl Berth, With a Hopeful Florida State Waiting in the Wings.

When the greatest run in the history of UCLA football jackknifed to an end, the Bruins knew exactly what had transpired.

“Obviously,” guard Andy Meyers said, “we were just holding on to something we couldn’t obtain.”

The Miami Hurricanes smacked it from their hands Saturday, again embarrassing a defense that had suffered a similar fate much of the season and converting two fumble recoveries into fourth-quarter touchdowns to end the Bruins’ school-record 20-game winning streak and their hopes for a national championship, 49-45, at the Orange Bowl.

The Bruins most likely will play in the Rose Bowl against Wisconsin Jan. 1, and Cade McNown passed for a school-record 513 yards, but this wasn’t a moment to look for the silver lining.

The head coach knew it immediately. “They know that they let something slip away,” Bob Toledo said.

The rest of the staff knew it immediately. “This is as tough as it gets,” said Nick Aliotti, the defensive coordinator already braced for another round of abuse after the Bruins blew a 38-21 lead and gave up 689 yards in total offense, 89 more than Nebraska had in 1983 in the previous worst showing in school history. “We were so close to something so special that it might only come around once in your lifetime. To experience it is pretty disgusting.”

The players knew it immediately. “It’s the worst feeling I’ve ever felt in my life,” cornerback Jason Bell said of staying on the sideline for several minutes after the first loss in 15 months, poised nearly motionless on one knee as some of the 46,819 fans jumped the orange railings that ring the stands. “Just the worst feeling.”

It was about the same in the locker room, the Bruins not needing any time to have reality set in, aware from nearly the moment that Edgerrin James capped his 299-yard day with a one-yard run with 50 seconds remaining that they were out of the Jan. 4 Fiesta Bowl. That they wouldn’t need to get reports from games later Saturday involving Tennessee and Kansas State relayed to their charter flight during the long trip home.

Some players cried. Others got mad. Many simply sat on the long benches and stared out, even when the door was opened to the media and they handled the difficult questions with dignity.

It would not take a couple of days to understand the magnitude of the missed opportunity.

A couple of seconds was about twice as long as they would need.

“I know how bad it felt when the clock hit zero,” linebacker Tony White said. “And then I walked in the locker room and I saw all the seniors, guys like Andy Meyers and Shawn Stuart, guys who had worked hard for four, five, even six years. I just feel like I let them down. . . . Everybody in here knows now what we had.”

Said Bell: “You can see it. You can see the frustration and the hurt. There’s a lot of hurt. You could see it in everybody’s face.

“Tears. Frustration. Everybody has different ways of expressing it, and I saw them all.”

Anger too.

“I was the second one in here,” Meyers said. “It was rage. That was as angry as I’ve ever been. If I was as mad at Miami as I was at our team, I would have been kicked out.

“I thought our team played without heart. You can’t let guys break tackles. You can’t lose fumbles.”

All of which the Bruins (10-1) did in wasting a superb performance by McNown, the kind that would have been a major boost to his Heisman chances if they still existed in any real sense but will now have to be remembered as the greatest in his great UCLA career. The 513 yards set a school record and the five touchdowns tied one, and all the staggering numbers came in a loss because his team let James break so many tackles that the Hurricane ran for more yards than any back has against the Bruins, and because of two McNown completions that ended as turnovers.

Brian Poli-Dixon fumbled as he was fighting for extra yards after a 54-yard reception on the first play of the fourth quarter. Miami needed only five plays to go 87 yards, capped by Santana Moss’ 71-yard reception, and close within 38-35 with 12:34 remaining.

Brad Melsby fumbled as he was hitting the ground, or after he hit the ground on what will last as a controversial play. By then trailing, 45-42, the Hurricanes (8-3) turned that into the winning drive, ultimately the one-yard run by James, and then survived a final UCLA attempt that stalled at the Miami 29.

“I took a pretty good hit,” Melsby said. “The first thing I thought was, ‘Oh, I was down.’ I was a little bit surprised when the referees said it was their ball. But I should have had better control of the ball. Basically, I lost the game.”

Hardly single-handedly. Help was everywhere, from the UCLA defense that struggled in historic ways to the offense that let Miami back in the game with turnovers.

As if time and destiny--and, most of all, fate--had finally caught up with the Bruins.

“Yes,” Meyers agreed. “Unfortunately, it didn’t get to catch up with us on the fourth [of January].”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

The BCS Derby

No. 1 Tennessee 24

No. 23 Miss. St. 14

Two Overtimes

No. 10 Texas A&M; 36

No. 2 Kansas St. 33

Miami 49, No. 3 UCLA 45

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Streak Buster

UCLA’s winning streak came to an end, although its streaks in the Pacific 10 and at home are alive:

STREAK ENDS AT 20 GAMES

1997

1. Texas: 66-3

2. Arizona: 40-27

3. Houston: 66-10

4. Oregon: 39-31

5. Oregon State: 34-10

6. California: 35-17

7. Stanford: 27-7

8. Washington: 52-28

9. USC: 31-24

10. Texas A&M;: *29-23

*Cotton Bowl

1998

11. Texas: 49-31

12. Houston: 42-24

13. Washington State: 49-17

14. Arizona: 52-28

15. Oregon: 41-38 (OT)

16. California: 28-16

17. Stanford: 28-24

18. Oregon State: 41-34

19. Washington: 36-24

20. USC: 34-17

15 IN PACIFIC 10

1997

1. Arizona: 40-27

2. Oregon: 39-31

3. Oregon State: 34-10

4. California: 35-17

5. Stanford: 27-7

6. Washington: 52-28

7. USC: 31-24

1998

8. Washington State: 49-17

9. Arizona: 52-28

10. Oregon: 41-38 (OT)

11. California: 28-16

12. Stanford: 28-24

13. Oregon State: 41-34

14. Washington: 36-24

15. USC: 34-17

10 AT HOME

1997

1. Arizona: 40-27

2. Houston: 66-10

3. Oregon State: 34-10

4. California: 35-17

5. Washington: 52-28

1998

6. Texas: 49-31

7. Washington State: 49-17

8. Oregon: 41-38 (OT)

9. Stanford: 28-24

10. USC: 34-17