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UCLA's defense denies BYU

Sep 9, 2007 - 3:32 AM PASADENA, California (Ticker) -- Ben Olson and the offense ignited UCLA in its season opener. On Saturday, the defense carried the Bruins.

Senior safety Trey Brown returned an interception 55 yards for a touchdown and No. 13 UCLA forced a key fourth-quarter fumble to stave off Brigham Young, 27-17, on Saturday.

The loss snapped the Cougars' 11-game winning streak - which was the longest in the nation after Washington defeated No. 22 Boise State on Saturday afternoon. Fifth-ranked Wisconsin carried a 10-game winning streak into its game with UNLV on Saturday night.

"That was a hard-fought win," UCLA coach Karl Dorrell said. "I knew BYU was a very good football team. You don't win 11 games in a row without having that poise and attitude to come back. My hats off to them, we had the upper hand early, but you can't be too comfortable with a team like BYU."

Brown picked off BYU quarterback Max Hall and outran several Cougars before being tackled as he crossed the goal line with 1 minute, 58 seconds remaining in the first quarter.

In the second quarter, Brown scooped up the ball that Vic So'oto fumbled and returned it 21 yards to set Kai Forbath's second field goal of the day.

Khalil Bell also scored on a five-yard run in the second quarter as UCLA (2-0) raced out to a 20-0 lead and looked poised to cruise to victory.

BYU (1-1) responded just before halftime when Mitch Payne kicked a 27-yard field goal to cut UCLA's lead to 20-3.

Quarterback Max Hall fired a pair of third-quarter scoring strikes to Austin Collie to bring the Cougars within 20-17. The first score was from 6 yards out, while the second was a 16-yard pass.

"I thought it was pretty gutty," BYU coach Bronco Bendenhall said. "He made some plays down the stretch that were critical. I think his performance was reflective of the team. They fought and scrapped and battled until the end, but just fell short in terms of our precision and execution."

With BYU at UCLA's 13-yard-line in the fourth quarter, defensive end Bruce Davis sacked Hall and forced a fumble that defensive end Tom Blake recovered.

"That was a great, great play to stop a scoring opportunity by BYU," Dorrell said. "They had been on a drive that had lasted about five minutes and we came up with the play we needed. We responded to the pressure and our defense has to feel good about that."

"I couldn't believe they were playing only one man on me on that play," Davis said. "I have to give credit to everyone on our defense. The quarterback got a little antsy on that play and I was able to put a hit on him and he lost the ball."

UCLA's Chris Markey rushed in from three yards out with under a minute to go to cap the scoring.

Olson, a BYU transfer who now stars for the Bruins, struggled mightily on Saturday, finishing 13-of-28 for 126 yards with one interception.

Arguably the nation's top quarterback in the high school class of 2003, Olson went to BYU and redshirted his freshman season. He went on a two-year Mormon mission, then decided to transfer to UCLA, near where he grew up.

Olson led the Bruins to a 45-17 road rout of Pac-10 Conference rival Stanford in their season opener last weekend, passing for 286 yards and five touchdowns.

UCLA, which is beginning its 26th year of play at the Rose Bowl, has won 13 of its last 14 home games.