Turnovers are Bruins’ downfall

Three offensive plays, two turnovers.

It’s impossible to rally from a double-digit deficit, let alone against your fiercest rival on its home field, when you commit a pair of turnovers in a span of three plays.

And that was the sequence that doomed UCLA late in the third quarter Saturday evening at the Coliseum during No. 8 USC’s 24-7 victory.

The Bruins had the ball near midfield, trailing only 17-7, when receiver Brandon Breazell mishandled an exchange from quarterback Patrick Cowan on a reverse.

Trojans senior nose tackle Sedrick Ellis was so preoccupied with the two UCLA linemen blocking him that he missed the botched handoff. But he soon saw the ball on the turf -- and an opening for the Trojans.

“I saw it bouncing around on the floor and I just jumped on it and kind of fought guys a little bit and I came out with it,” Ellis said.

Two plays later, UCLA was back on the attack after a fumble by Trojans tailback Joe McKnight deep in Bruins territory.

But UCLA’s possession lasted two plays. USC junior linebacker Brian Cushing’s crushing hit knocked Bruins receiver Dominique Johnson off his route and senior cornerback Terrell Thomas was there to capitalize, cradling a Cowan pass in his arms for an interception.

“Cush gave a great re-route and all I had to do was catch the ball,” Thomas said. “I was in good position, but Cush made the play.”

USC converted UCLA’s fourth turnover of the game into a John David Booty to Fred Davis 12-yard touchdown pass early in the fourth quarter, putting the game out of reach and assuring the Trojans of a third consecutive Rose Bowl berth.

“We had too many turnovers,” lamented UCLA tailback Chris Markey, himself a culprit with a first-quarter fumble. “You can’t beat good teams like that with turnovers. We knew that coming into the game.”

So did USC Coach Pete Carroll, who had requested three turnovers from his defense before the game, Ellis said. The Trojans special teams got a jump on their teammates when sophomore safety Taylor Mays recovered Terrence Austin’s fumbled punt only 1 minute 25 seconds into the game.

The Trojans defense got into the act on the Bruins’ next drive when senior linebacker Keith Rivers forced and recovered a fumble by Markey.

“I was able to get in there untouched, get my helmet on the ball, saw the ball right there and grabbed it,” Rivers said.

The four forced turnovers were a season high for USC, which had nonetheless forged one of the best defenses of the Carroll era.

“I’d say the only thing missing this year was the turnovers,” Carroll said. “I mean, it is tough to match the ball-hawks that were the 2004 squad, but these guys have done a fabulous job.”

USC, which had forced 20 turnovers -- nine interceptions and 11 fumbles -- going into the game, came up with three fumbles and an interception while the Trojans committed two themselves, on one fumble and one interception.

The flip side was that normally sure-handed UCLA felt it had squandered an opportunity to knock off the Trojans for a second consecutive year; the Bruins began the game having committed only 12 turnovers in eight Pacific 10 Conference games.

“When you play a game like this, playing against a very good team,” UCLA Coach Karl Dorrell said, “you can’t afford to make those kinds of mistakes, and we made those kinds of mistakes.”

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ben.bolch@latimes.com