Bruins defense runs and hides in defeat UCLA FOOTBALL: Inconsistent effort costly against Cal, wastes season-best output on offense.

Byline: Jon Gold, Staff Writer

PASADENA - Four plays, four stories about the UCLA defense.

Story one: On first-and-10 from the Cal 6-yard line, Bears running back Jahvid Best is trapped behind the line of scrimmage by Bruins safety Rahim Moore for a 3-yard loss.

Story two, the next play: On second-and-13 from the Cal 3, Best breaks three tackles on his way to a 22-yard gain. That leads to a 51-yard touchdown pass from Kevin Riley to Best later in the drive.

Story three: On first-and-10 from the Cal 9, Best is pummeled behind the line of scrimmage by UCLA linebacker Kyle Bosworth for a 2-yard loss.

Story four, the next play: On second-and-12 from the Cal 7, Best breaks five tackles on his way to a 93-yard touchdown.

The there-one-minute, gone-the-next UCLA defense once again did not find its identity, and the Bruins fell for the third consecutive week, this time a 45-26 loss to the Bears on Saturday at the Rose Bowl that dropped UCLA to 3-3.

"That's just not us," senior defensive end Korey Bosworth said. "We've showed that's not UCLA defense. We have too many missed assignments, and that's stuff we can prevent. It's the worst way to go about a loss, when it's something you could have prevented. Knowing you've got a whole week to sit and think about yourself, look in the mirror and really think to yourself, 'What can I do to pick this team back up?'

"All that stuff is preventable, it's on us and that's just the worst feeling."

Another bad feeling was watching Best and fellow Cal running back Shane Vereen (Valencia High) dash toward the goal line.

UCLA saw the Bears backs reach paydirt three times, with Vereen rushing for 154 yards and a touchdown and Best gaining 102 yards on the ground and 51 more through the air.

On one play, UCLA is Dr. Jekyll. On the next, the Bruins ought to run and hide.

"We're a gap-conscious defense, and if that one guy does miss a tackle it's going to break," Bruins defensive lineman Kyle Bosworth said. "We have fast pursuit, and I think that's messing us up on the cutback. We have guys who are supposed to be there, but whatever it is, they're not getting there."

When the Bears were not exploiting the Bruins in the running game, Riley was making them pay through the air.

Riley completed 14 of 23 passes for 205 yards and three touchdowns. Two of them went to wide receiver Marvin Jones, who had four receptions for 89 yards.

Riley's last touchdown pass was a backbreaker to UCLA.

After a Kai Forbath field goal - his second of four for the day - brought the score to 28-17 Cal with 2:51 left to play in the second quarter, the Bears drove downfield. Vereen picked up 20- and 19-yard gains, respectively, and broke free three times.

Ultimately, on second-and-5 from the UCLA 24-yard line with 46 seconds left before halftime, Riley found Jones streaking past Bruins cornerback Alterraun Verner for his second score.

"I told them on the sidelines early, 'Hey, don't feel like you have to make the tackle and make it right now,"' Bruins defensive backs coach Carnell Lake said. "Be smart about your tackles. You don't have to dive at the guy. You just have to come up and swarm him. When we learn how to do that, we'll be OK."

The poor defensive effort overshadowed UCLA's best offensive output of the year.

The Bruins racked up 448 yards of total offense to Cal's 494, with redshirt freshman quarterback Kevin Prince registering his first 300-yard game and running back Johnathan Franklin picking up his second 100-yard game of the season with 101 yards and two scores.

Unlike the Bears, though, UCLA had difficulty finding the end zone after maintaining long drives.

"This offense is built to get first downs," sophomore offensive guard Jeff Baca said. "We like to create drives; we're not that explosive offense that, say, an Oregon is. They make big plays. Huge plays. We put drives together and when we get in the red zone we struggle."

The Bears did not struggle in the red zone. They never made it to the red zone. All of their touchdowns went for more than 24 yards.

"We tackled our tails off all week," defensive coordinator Chuck Bullough said. "We have to go back and make up more tackling drills. We do two-on-ones and one-on-ones. We do more tackling than I've ever been around. All you can do is keep going back. We just have to keep working on it."

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