Bruins Go 0-2-and-Out in Pac-10 Race

The easy approach to take would be to say the Bruins lost to Arizona State here Saturday because the secondary made another colossal mistake.

If the only highlight you saw was Delvon Flowers weaving his way through the Bruin defense for the game-winning touchdown in the final minute, it sure would look that way.

The real culprits in this 28-27 defeat, which signaled the beginning of the end of the UCLA season, play on the offensive side of the ball.

Even on a day when it provided 426 yards and 27 points, the offense let the team down.

Yes, the offense provided some flashy moments, such as Keith Brown’s 50-yard run and Danny Farmer’s 85-yard touchdown catch that put the Bruins ahead, 14-0.

But it also provided these lowlights: four turnovers, one of them a fumble at the UCLA 14-yard line that led to Arizona’s third touchdown.

The Bruins’ trick play of the week, a pass from Freddie Mitchell, had the Sun Devils fooled, but Mitchell overthrew a wide-open Durell Price.

Mostly, the Bruins didn’t come through with the basics, such as providing young quarterback Cory Paus with enough time to make good throws or providing their defense with time to rest.

Paus had defenders in his face all day, and he looked every bit the freshman during his 15-for-40 passing day, which included two very bad interceptions.

Playing in the middle of the afternoon in Arizona--with a kickoff temperature of 92 degrees--meant time of possession was critical. The UCLA offense needed to keep Arizona State’s defenders on the field, let them broil under the sun for a while, and give their own teammates a chance to chill out under the Cool Zone fans on the sidelines.

Instead, the Bruins had five three-and-out possessions in the first half alone. They sustained only three drives of more than five plays all afternoon. Arizona State held the ball more than half the game, 33 minutes and two seconds.

“We went three-and-out too much,” offensive coordinator Al Borges said. “At the end there, we were feeling it shouldn’t have even come to that.”

The Bruins also had a first and goal from the five at the start of the fourth quarter with a chance to put the Sun Devils down by 14 points again.

Brown, who had a tremendous day with 182 rushing yards and two touchdowns, couldn’t crack the end zone in two carries, buffered by a Paus incompletion. The Bruins had to kick a field goal.

“Their defense stepped up,” Brown said. “They wanted it a little more than us. That’s all it comes down to.”

And now, with a 2-3 overall record and an 0-2 conference record, it has come down to this: “We can have a not-so-good season, or we can have a horrible season,” cornerback Ricky Manning said.

Some options. Especially after last season, in which the choices were the Fiesta Bowl or the Rose Bowl.

We can’t let the defenders escape without chastising them just a little bit.

If losing this game was enough to give UCLA Coach Bob Toledo “a very sick feeling,” as he put it, the manner in which the Bruins conceded defeat might be enough to send him to the infirmary.

They let a walk-on third-string quarterback named Griffin Goodman lead a Brett Favre-like comeback, and the Sun Devils got the game-winning, 49-yard touchdown on a screen pass over the middle.

A middle screen.

The Bruins couldn’t have had a better setup if Sun Devil Coach Bruce Snyder walked over with his playbook and asked the UCLA staff to pick one. Less than 30 seconds remained when Flowers caught the ball in the middle of the field. The Sun Devils had no timeouts remaining. Not even Carl Lewis could have jumped out of bounds to stop the clock from where Flowers was. All the Bruins had to do was surround him, bring him down and watch the seconds keep ticking away.

Not only did Flowers get to the sideline, he then ran down said sideline and into the end zone.

“I’m yelling out, ‘Tackle him! Tackle him!’ ” Toledo said.

One of these days, the youthful Bruins might start to heed instructions. Patience will have to be the operative word around Westwood, but it’s not always easy.

At one point an exasperated Borges said, “Doggone it, you go through the same thing every week. Typical of a young team.”

When will it end? Probably not in time to give the Bruins the finish they desired this season. The Rose Bowl is all but out of the question, and Toledo told his players so after the game.

What to work for now? How about working on the basics?

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J.A. Adande can be reached at his e-mail address: j.a.adande@latimes.com.