This is not going to have a happy ending

The end, we now know, will be sad.

The end will be filled with fight, but an alley kind of fight, wild swings and pointed fingers and sucker punches.

The end will be filled with effort, but a futile sort of effort, kids trying to save a job that can probably not be saved, trying rescue a season that has already been lost.

The end will be about devastated players making desperate plays in hopes of piercing the chill that has settled upon this UCLA football program like a shroud.

They will not. They cannot.

The end of the journey that has been Karl Dorrell’s five-year UCLA coaching career seems as certain as the pain in some of the final steps taken in Saturday’s 24-20 loss to Arizona State at the Rose Bowl.

Another blown lead, another bad halftime, more bad penalties, more questionable calls, three consecutive losses, boos that are now firmly wedged between the cheers.

“Our team played hard,” said Dorrell, because, anymore, that is all he can say.

Earlier, in ways they probably never imagined, his senior leaders spoke for him.

Listen to Bruce Davis after he crushed Sun Devils quarterback Rudy Carpenter late on a failed Hail Mary pass to end the first half, a penalty which gave the Sun Devils’ one more play, which became a game-changing field goal.

“I was doing what I was supposed to do,” Davis said.

Listen to receiver Brandon Breazell after his perfect deep pass in the third quarter was dropped by wide-open, walk-on wide receiver Chris Meadows, killing Bruin momentum.

“That was Meadows’ play,” said Breazell, blaming the kid without the scholarship. “All week he said, ‘I got your back, I got your back’ ” . . . and then when game time comes, well . . . “

Listen to linebacker Christian Taylor talk about Dorrell’s future.

“Football is a business, it’s not the YMCA,” he said, shrugging. “If we don’t play well, we sit on the bench. You’ve got to win.”

They have not, and so Dorrell will probably pay, and they know it, their fall nearly complete now, two games left against the two best teams in the conference, a season that has mirrored an era.

From the Pac-10 lead toward a possible bowl ban. From the excitement of 20 returning seniors to a silence of another losing locker room. From Hollywood to Toledo.

A couple of weeks ago, when asked about Dorrell, Bruins Athletic Director Dan Guerrero said, “I will be very interested to see how we finish the season. And you can use that.”

Since those words were spoken, the Bruins have gone 0-2, been outgained, 821-588, accrued 121 yards of penalties, and blown leads in both games.

Even though injuries forced them to play Saturday with a converted wide receiver playing quarterback and two walk-on running backs, UCLA took a 13-10 halftime lead.

Then, what seemingly happens in all of Dorrell’s big losses happened again.

The other guys made halftime adjustments, and Dorrell didn’t.

In the third quarter, Arizona State outgained UCLA, 232-74. The Sun Devils offense scored 14 points, while the Bruins offense scored zero.

By the end of the game, the Bruin collapse had mimicked their season-long collapse.

In the second half of the Bruins’ five losses this season, they have been outscored, 85-20.

Those are the numbers most closely watched by an athletic director whose program prides itself on finishing.

In the final three games of Bob Toledo’s final three seasons, he was 2-9, and look what happened to him.

On Saturday afternoon, the Bruins actually fell apart at the end of the first half, and just kept tumbling.

“We did not make the plays we needed to make,” said Taylor, pausing, sighing. “We say that every week.”

In the final two minutes of the first half, the Bruins capitalized on an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and a couple of Osaar Rasshan passes to move to the Arizona State 18-yard line.

But then, on third-and-one, as everyone jumped across the line, center Chris Joseph never snapped the ball, leading to an offsides penalty.

This was followed by a Rasshan scramble that led to a fumble that led to a three-yard loss.

What could have been a possible touchdown became a field goal.

And if UCLA was wondering how it could get more frustrating, well, moments later it did.

The Bruins stopped a last-gasp Sun Devils short, the last play being your basic failed Hail Mary pass into the end zone.

But Davis pummeled Carpenter after he threw the ball, leading to that rare roughing-the-Hail-Mary penalty. Given one more play, Sun Devils freshman kicker Thomas Weber connected on a 53-yard field goal to cut the halftime lead to 13-10.

Twice given a chance to order his kicker to attempt a similar field goal in the second half, Dorrell punted, then later said something about the wind.

Dumb plays. Strange calls. Whispers everywhere.

“So who are you?” said Taylor, reciting the question facing his team in these final days. “Who are you?”

Five years under Karl Dorrell, and the Bruins still don’t know. And that is the saddest thing of all.

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Bill Plaschke can be reached at bill.plaschke@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Plaschke, go to latimes.com/plaschke.