Ugly loss

John Shinn

PASADENA, Calif. — Oklahoma’s trend of hitting on about half a cylinder continued and the sputtering result was a 41-24 loss to UCLA Saturday afternoon in the Rose Bowl.

The Sooners were plagued by six fumbles and a muffed punt.

Four fell into UCLA’s hands, resulting in 21 points and were the reason the Sooners fell to 1-2 for the first time since 1997.

“They took it away and we gave it away,” OU coach Bob Stoops said. “You’re not going to win when you turn the ball over and put the ball on the ground like we did. It’s just poor football. Until we can be responsible with the ball, it’s impossible to win.”

Unlike in its previous two games, OU was able to piece together a passing game. Rhett Bomar, who played every snap for the second straight game, was 20-for-29 through the air for 241 yards. He also ran for 28 yards on 16 carries.

But five of No. 21 OU’s fumbles came from his hands.

“Our offense did not have their best day of production,” UCLA coach Karl Dorrell said, “but we did capitalize on our opportunities when we needed to.”

UCLA didn’t have a to deal with a mixed bag of good and bad from its quarterback. Drew Olson was nearly flawless, going 28-for-38 for 314 yards and three touchdowns.

“He played like it was a championship-style game,” Dorrell said of Olson.

The Bruins, who improved to 3-0 for first time since 1998, also got 93 all-purpose yards from tailback Maurice Drew.

Despite the turnovers, the Sooners might have been able to salvage a win if they could have gotten Adrian Peterson on track. He rushed for a career-low 58 yards on 23 carries.

“Our defense? What a performance,” Dorrell said. “They needed to stop 28 (Peterson), and we did for the most part.”

The Sooners opened up their offense for the first time this season. On their fourth play from scrimmage, Bomar flipped the ball to wide receiver Travis Wilson on a reverse. Wilson took the toss and motored 56 yards down the sideline for a 56-yard touchdown.

It turned into a short-lived advantage.

A special teams miscue put the Bruins right back in the game. OU’s Lindy Holmes tried to make a sliding catch on a punt but muffed the attempt. UCLA Michael Norris pounced on the ball at the Sooner 19.

One play later, Drew Olson hit Andy Baumgartner for a 19-yard touchdown.

A Peterson fumble late in the first quarter turned into a 44-yard field goal by UCLA’s Justin Medlock. He added a 51-yard kick with 3:15 left in the first half to give the Bruins a 13-7 lead.

The Sooners answered with a 37-yard boot from Garrett Hartley 15 seconds before the break. It was setup by Rhett Bomar’s best stint as OU’s starting quarterback.

He directed a 13-play, 61-yard drive that brought OU to the UCLA 3 with plenty of time to score. A holding call on Sooner center Chris Chester knocked OU back to the 13 and OU had to settle for a field goal.

However, any chance of turning the game around in the second half ended abruptly.

On OU’s fourth play after intermission, Bomar was hit by Dennis Keyes on a blind-side blitz.

The ball popped into the hands of Spencer Havner, who returned it 13 yards for a touchdown.

OU cut it to 20-17 on Peterson’s 11-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter and had plenty of time to improve its fortunes.

But it didn’t happen. The Bruins answered with a 13-play, 83-yard march. Olson capped it by finding tight end Marcedes Lewis for a 19-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter.

Chris Markey added 7-yard dash with 7:16 left to pump the Bruins’ lead to 34-17.

“I thought we played three good quarters and we didn’t play football in the fourth quarter,” defensive tackle Dusty Dvoracek said. “They were better than in the fourth quarter and they won.”

Bomar tacked on a 16-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter, but it was too little too late.

After an onside kick, Drew galloped in from 9 yards out to cap the scoring and send the Sooners out of non-conference play with another loss.

Stoops thought his offense played its best game thus far and said his defense played well enough to win until collapsing in the fourth quarter.

However, the turnover issues are nullified any gains the Sooners may have made.

“To me, that’s the whole game,” Stoops said. “That’s beating yourself. Until we stop doing that, we don’t have much of chance. If we get that taken care of, I think we can build.”

The Sooners have next week off and return to Owen Field Oct. 1 when they open Big 12 play against Kansas State.

John Shinn366-3536jshinn@normantranscript.com