LAS VEGAS -- Welcome to Karl Dorrell's nightmare.
Just when it looked like the UCLA football program had finally turned the corner, it all came crashing down with a resounding thud.
UCLA ended its season on the lowest of lows Thursday, losing 24-21 to Wyoming in the Las Vegas Bowl.
It was an ugly, uninspired performance from the Bruins (6-6), who have now lost to a middle-of-the-pack Mountain West opponent to end each of the last two seasons.
"Unfortunately, we're going into the offseason with a loss, another loss," a forlorn Dorrell said after the game. "It just proves how much work we have left to do."
While Wyoming (7-5), having not appeared in a bowl game since 1993 and having not won a bowl game since 1966, scored one of its biggest victories in school history, the Bruins suffered one of their worst losses in recent memory.
A lot had to go wrong for UCLA to lose this football game, and a lot did go wrong. Starting quarterback Drew Olson was knocked out of the game in the second quarter with a sprained knee, leading junior tackler Spencer Havner didn't play, and sure-handed senior Craig Bragg fumbled a punt that gave the ball back to the Cowboys late in the game.
By the time Wyoming quarterback Corey Bramlet threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to John Wadkowski with 57 seconds remaining, it was pretty clear that Dorrell and his staff would be headed back to the drawing board.
"You won't see this UCLA team again," said receiver Junior Taylor, who scored UCLA's first touchdown of the game. "You won't see a team lay down and play bad football against a 6-5 team."
Taylor, a junior, insisted that things will change. He said the team's attitude and mindset need to change, because he never wants to have this feeling again.
"I'm not going to go out like this," Taylor said. "I'm not going to let this university, this team, play like this ever again."
Things looked bad for the Bruins from the outset. After a big return by sophomore Maurice Drew on the opening kickoff, UCLA's drive stalled. Before long, the Bruins found themselves in a 10-0 hole to Wyoming.
They were able to climb out of the hole for a while, and it appeared on numerous occasions the Bruins would put the game out of reach. Olson threw the touchdown to Taylor before getting hurt, and backup quarterback David Koral, who hadn't thrown a pass in Division I football prior to Thursday, did a decent job filling in. Koral, who finished 7-of-12 for 89 yards, threw two touchdown passes to guide UCLA to a 21-10 lead.
But mistakes, foolish penalties and some bad luck sealed the Bruins' fate.
"We had some opportunities to do some things, and we didn't do them," Dorrell said. "This was totally a team effort in the loss."
After UCLA had forced the Cowboys to retake a punt in hopes of getting better field position late in the third quarter, the punted ball hit an awaiting Bragg in the helmet, caromed forward, and was jumped on by Wyoming. That set up a touchdown several plays later on an under-thrown end-around pass from a Cowboy receiver, making the score 21-17.
Sophomore Justin Medlock missed a 45-yard field goal after senior Matt Clark had made a key interception, and then Bramlet orchestrated the drive of the game. The Cowboy signal-caller, who finished 20-of-34 for 307 yards and two touchdowns, was very impressive on the Cowboys' final drive, making a critical fourth-down conversion as well as a huge third-down conversion at the start of the drive.
A questionable pass interference call on Clark put the ball at the UCLA 12-yard line, and Bramlet and Wadkowski did the rest.
"My hat's off to them," Dorrell said. "They played an inspired game with a lot of heart, and our team didn't play well enough to win the football game."
And once again, UCLA enters the offseason on a sour note. The Bruins are 1-5 in their last six bowl appearances.
"It's a huge step back," said Olson. "I think you've got to question where this program is going. If we play inspired football like we did against 'SC, I think it's a different outcome. I don't think we put everything we could into every play."
It was enough to make Dorrell want to scream. But that's what nightmares will do to someone.