Bruins Miss Short-Handed Goal : College football: After a fast start, UCLA makes costly mistakes and ultimately is worn down by Ohio State, 42-20.

They assessed one last penalty Saturday night in the handicapped-parking mess:

Ohio State 42, UCLA 20.

The powers that be allowed the undermanned, undersized and underdog Bruins a fleeting brush with the improbable before 93,283 at Ohio Stadium, then ended those hopes after the Bruins stayed close for three quarters. So now the 10 starters and key reserves serving two-game suspensions will return Monday to a 1-1 team, one that can only wonder what would have happened at full strength.

“You think about it,” receiver Brian Poli-Dixon said afterward. “There’s no point of any saying you didn’t.”

After UCLA’s biggest loss in nearly three years, since the 29-point deficit at Michigan on Sept. 28, 1996, there was no point in denying the other certainties.

The 14th-ranked Bruins hurt themselves with turnovers. Drew Bennett had the ball pop out of his hand without getting hit, a fumble that Ohio State (1-1) turned into a critical touchdown. That didn’t count two fumbles they recovered themselves. That also didn’t count the interception by Bennett in a 21-17 game that did not lead to a Buckeye score or the one by backup Cory Paus that came during the fourth-quarter garbage.

Danny Farmer was back, but not nearly all the way, and maybe not at all. UCLA’s best receiver had three catches for 56 yards after sitting out last week’s season opener against Boise State, but also had a touchdown go through his usually sure hands because he was unable to properly plant to leap for the throw. Then, he twisted the same left ankle, even in the same spot on the joint, and walked off the field with an ice bag taking the place of a shoe on that leg.

UCLA still has no dependable running game. DeShaun Foster averaged three yards a carry and didn’t have a double-digit gain, while his backup, Jermaine Lewis, had nine yards on one carry and a total of three yards in his other four rushes. The Bruins started using Bennett on the option more in hopes of generating some attack there.

And, most importantly on this night, the Bruins got worn down. This could have happened anyway, given Ohio State’s size and physical style on both lines, but it definitely happened no matter the circumstances Saturday, which led to UCLA becoming fatigued, which led to the 13th-ranked Buckeyes dominating the last 16 minutes to turn a 21-17 cushion into the blowout.

Which led to an especially bad feeling in its first trip here since 1980.

“They say that fatigue can make a coward out of you,” defensive lineman Pete Holland said. “And what it sort of did to us was it got us away from techniques and fundamentals.”

To think it started out as such an encouraging night. The weather was entirely Southern California summer, warm with a comforting light breeze, and the first break was Southern California strange.

The only thing that made sense about the fourth play of the game from scrimmage was that Bennett was looking to Freddie Mitchell and that it resulted in a 67-yard touchdown. It wasn’t Mitchell’s score. It was, however, partly Mitchell’s doing.

He never touched the ball originally. The pass to the left side was tipped away by safety Percy King, then hit again in the air by cornerback Ahmed Plummer. Mitchell’s involvement was that he was on his stomach.

That’s when the ball came to rest on his back. Matt Stanley, the walk-on fullback starting in the stadium that he watched games for the six years he lived in town, snatched it up and took off into the open field. Either assuming the pass was incomplete or not realizing Stanley had burst out of the crowd of five people in the immediate vicinity, the Ohio State players watched.

When the Buckeyes finally gave chase, Stanley was too far ahead of the pack. Safety Gary Berry caught him from behind at the three, but Stanley’s momentum carried him into the end zone, credited with the entire 67-yard touchdown pass even though he never really caught anything.

Said Coach Bob Toledo: “You know how long it took us to practice that play?”

What could have been a bigger break for the Bruins, or a bigger omen? And when Chris Griffith, also a walk-on, kicked a 35-yard field goal on the second play of the second quarter, they also had a bigger lead, 10-0.

No one could have seen reality coming so quick.

The Bruins got beyond their own 30 only twice through early in the fourth quarter, by which time the rout was on. They got beyond midfield once in that same stretch.

Ohio State jumped on that opening and scored on three consecutive possessions in the second quarter to take control. And when Foster went around left end for a seven-yard touchdown to make it 21-17 with 10:44 left in the third period, the Buckeyes got a scrambling Bennett to lose his grip on the wet ball, resulting in the critical fumble on the UCLA 30, and took advantage of that too. The result was the three-yard plunge by fullback Jamar Martin that blew the game open.

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COLLEGE FOOTBALL

FLORIDA ST. 41

GA. TECH 35

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Page 9

GEORGIA 24

S. CAROLINA 9

Holtz’s team having a lot of trouble scoring.

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PENN STATE 20

PITTSBURGH 17

Nittany Lions barely avoid major upset.

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NEBRASKA 45

CALIFORNIA 0

Crouch shows Bears that he can do it all.

Page 10

MICHIGAN 37

RICE 3

Henson gains in quarterback race.

Page 10

PURDUE 28

NOTRE DAME 23

Time runs out on the Fighting Irish near goal line.

Page 13