Over the past several years, rumors occasionally have cropped up about BYU joining the Pac-10 Conference.
After BYU's humiliating Saturday night at the Rose Bowl, in which the Cougars, holders of first place in the WAC, were positively trashed, 68-14, by a UCLA team picked to finish in the middle of the Pac-10, those rumors should die a merciful death.Heck, the No. 25 Bruins should be applying for membership in the WAC, so they could make annual reservations for the Holiday Bowl. In a 10-day span, the team that hasn't gone to the Rose Bowl since 1986 demolished two of the WAC's finest (the other was San Diego State), by a combined score of 120-27.
UCLA (3-2) obviously is better than the 2-2 record it brought into the game, but is BYU (4-1) this bad? As the Cougars narrow-margined their way to a 4-0 start and No. 19 ranking this season, players and coaches alike assured everyone who would listen that they were a better team than they looked.
Now what will they say?
From the start, BYU could do no right, UCLA could do little wrong. The Cougars' lone highlight of the first half was a 21-yard TD pass from John Walsh to Tyler Anderson, on the last play of the half.
The Cougar defense played well for a while, until UCLA coach Terry Donahue figured out that he could pass at will against it. BYU held the Bruins to a pair of field goals on their first three possessions, two of which started within 31 yards of the Cougar end zone because of turnovers.
But UCLA's fourth series ended with a 15-yard TD pass to J.J. Stokes, who was covered (more or less) by Vic Tarleton, and the run-prone Bruins suddenly received the very strong psychic impression that passing is the way to beat BYU.
The result was that Cook passed 22 times in the first half, after averaging just 24 passes per game this season. He only completed 12 of those passes, but four of them were for touchdowns. The second was a 19-yarder to Stokes, in front of Patrick Mitchell; the third was a lob from the four-yard line to Stokes in the left corner of the end zone, beating Mitchell; and the fourth was a 49-yard strike to Kevin Jordan, who caught it at the 10, was wrapped up by Mitchell, but promptly shook off the Cougar cornerback and pranced 10 yards into the end zone.
And, just for variety's sake, in the middle of all that, UCLA's James Milliner dashed 35 yards for another touchdown.
Hard to believe as it sounds, BYU was even worse offensively. Walsh was sacked eight times in the first half alone, 10 times in three quarters. BYU's first series ended in an interception, the second in a fumble by Jamal Willis in which UCLA defensive back Carl Greenwood simply ripped the ball out of Willis' hands. A third BYU turnover - a fumble by Walsh that the Bruins recovered at the BYU 17 - led to UCLA's second touchdown.
Of BYU's first 16 snaps, five ended in sacks, three in turnovers.
In light of all that, it was somewhat surprising that Walsh was sent out to quarterback the second half. Besides being obvious that he was not quick enough to avoid the UCLA rush, mercy would seem to have dictated that someone else be sent out there.
But sent out Walsh was, and further abused he was. He was sacked two more times and intercepted two more times, all in the third quarter, before lefty Steve Clements started the fourth quarter, with UCLA ahead 61-7.
Clements didn't fare much better. His first series ended in a sack.
Walsh, meanwhile, finished the game by completing 19 of 36 for 222 yards, with one TD, three interceptions.
The really bad news for BYU is that things don't get any easier from here. Next week's opponent is Notre Dame.
Enough said.
GAME NOTES: UCLA has now beaten BYU five in a row . . . This game was the Bruins' biggest something-to-zip start in a game since they led now-defunct Long Beach State 42-0 in 1988 . . . UCLA's 68 points was the most scored on BYU since the 65-14 Texas A&M Holiday Bowl debacle in 1990. BYU started that season 4-0, too, before losing to a Pac-10 team, Oregon.