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PROVO — For the third time in three weeks, a BYU football game was decided by three points or less.
Josh Rosen completed 26-of-40 passes for 307 yards, two touchdowns and an interception to help UCLA spoil BYU’s home opener, 17-14 on Saturday night at LaVell Edwards Stadium.
The rising sophomore quarterback opened the scoring with a 6-yard strike to Cameron Griffin on the first drive of the second quarter. The play capped a 12-play, 80-yard drive that looked surprisingly easy for Rosen, who was bothered by an apparent ankle injury and pressure through the first quarter but never left the game.
BYU’s defense held the Bruins to a 24-yard field goal through the rest of the half, but the Cougars’ offense did little to inspire confidence in the rest of the team.
Rosen opened the third quarter in much the same way as the second: he tossed a casual 33-yard scoring strike to Darren Andrews, and the Bruins (2-1) took a 17-0 lead while avenging the 59-0 shutout loss in Provo of 2008.
Jamaal Williams prevented the shutout with a 1-yard TD dive in the third quarter. Taysom Hill added a scoring strike to Nick Kurtz in the game’s final minute, but the damage was done and BYU fell to 1-2 on the season.
Here are a few quick thoughts from Saturday night’s late, late kickoff on ESPN2.
BYU’s passing game is ‘meh,’ and it’s not all Taysom Hill’s fault
If you listen to sports talk radio or read ESPN.com, you likely heard about BYU’s lack of deep passing game in its first two wins, a 1-1 result against Arizona and Utah. The Cougars had yet to deliver a ball more than 20 yards downfield — the only FBS team in the nation without such a completion.
Hill put that stat to bed on the third play of the game. Hill’s pass to Williams on the edge went for 39 yards, and BYU immediately found itself in UCLA territory after taking the field first on offense. Of course, that drive stalled when Hill overthrew Aleva Hifo on fourth down — but it was the thought that counts, right?
Hill also threw an interception in the second quarter, and completed just 10 passes for 88 yards in the first half and threw for 250 yards, with a passer rating of 100.6, as well as a 23-yard touchdown strike to Kurtz with 37 seconds on the clock.
It’s a physical game
BYU’s offensive line looked completely overmatched, even in the beginning of the Cougars’ home opener in front of 62,904 fans. The Bruins pressured every play, even with a nominal pass rush, and sacked Hill four times.
Through the first two games of 2016, UCLA had one sack — an eight-yard drop against UNLV. They doubled that category in just 16 minutes at BYU.
UCLA nearly added another sack in the fourth quarter, but Hill fumbled the ball and center Tejan Koroma jumped on it to avoid the statistical deficiency.
The Bruins finished with six tackles for loss.
Pow-Pow-Pau’u
It’s a consolation prize, but sophomore linebacker Butch Pau’u continued his standout rise in his first season starting at middle linebacker. The Southern California native needed barely more than two quarters to record a career-high 19 tackles, including 2.5 tackles for loss, to lead all defenders in both categories.
Pau’u, who finished with 14 tackles, had plenty of opportunities to make plays. But when given the chance to shine, he is doing just that.
Pau’u’s 19 tackles are tied for the fourth-most in a single game in BYU history.
