NCAA Football: Holiday Bowl: Baylor stifles UCLA 49-26

UCLA running back Steven Manfro drives against Baylor defense during the second half of the Holiday Bowl NCAA college football game on Thursday, Dec. 27, 2012 in San Diego. Baylor won 49-26. ((AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi) )

SAN DIEGO - For two weeks, everyone talked about a shootout. But once UCLA walked into Qualcomm Stadium, it looked all the team packed were a few dull knives.

Before a heavily pro-Bruins crowd at the Holiday Bowl, the offense fell flat in a 49-26 loss - abused relentlessly by a Baylor defense that entered Thursday ranked second-to-last in the country.

The Bears, who had just 13 sacks on the season before the bowl game, sacked UCLA quarterback Brent Hundley five times before the halftime show, a rousing performance that included Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'."

But Bruins fans saw little to believe in on a chilly night that soured the end of an otherwise superlative season under first-year head coach Jim Mora. After helping the school sell out its bowl game allotment for the first time since 2006, two-thirds or so of the 55,507 in attendance saw one of UCLA's worst offensive showings of 2012.

"We've got a long ways we have to go to get where we want to be," Mora said. "Where we want to be is a national champion."

The Bruins (9-4) punted on four of their first five drives. What happened on the fifth? They turned the ball over on downs. UCLA, facing fourth and 18 on the Baylor 33, somehow ended up with a play that didn't even come close to a first down: Brett Hundley connected with tight end Joseph Fauria for 9 yards.

When Baylor (8-5) punted on its first drive, it looked like UCLA's defense might have figured out the nation's No. 1 offense.

The Bears

then scored touchdowns on five of their next seven possessions. After Baylor scored its second touchdown with a little over four minutes left in the first quarter, it led UCLA in offensive yards by an astounding 140-7.

The Bears racked up 342 yards by halftime on 43 plays - the same number UCLA ran through two quarters. The Bruins gained 148 yards.

Art Briles' team gave a performance that provided credence to the argument that Baylor is the country's best five-loss team.

The Bears gashed the Bruins in just about every imaginable way. There were short runs by Glasco Martin, who scored on a 1-yarder that made the score 42-13 late in the third quarter and sent fans to the exits. There were big gains by receivers Terrance Williams and Tevin Reese, who had catches of 48 and 55 yards, respectively.

And there was self-proclaimed future Heisman winner Lache Seastrunk, the sophomore tailback whose midseason emergence helped Baylor become bowl eligible. The former five-star recruit's longest run went for 43 yards, and he totaled 121 on just 14 touches after three quarters.

"When you have patient running backs, you can find those holes," UCLA linebacker Eric Kendricks said.

"That's what they were doing to us tonight."

Along the way, quarterback Nick Florence broke Robert Griffin III's school record for single-season passing yards (4,293).

Hundley also broke the same record for UCLA, having entered the game just 60 yards shy of Cade McNown's 1998 mark (3,470).

UCLA star tailback Johnathan Franklin had just 20 rushing yards after one half, not helped by an early hole that forced his team to stick with the passing game. The senior finished with 34 yards in his final game as a Bruin, his worst showing of the season.

Losing two starters on the offensive line in the first half didn't help. Jake Brendel and Torian White both suffered high ankle sprains.

Simon Goines, bothered by a bad knee much of the season, will have surgery.

"When we're at our best is when we run the football," Mora said. "We couldn't find any room to run the football tonight."

Source: http://www.willitsnews.com/ci_22277705/ucla-baylor-holiday-bowl?source=rss_viewed

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