Potential last sniff of Rose Bowl stinks

In possible finale at iconic venue, Bruins are laughably bad in 48-14 loss to Huskies

- BY BEN BOLCH

Photographs by ERIC THAYER Los Angeles Times NICO IAMALEAVA loses the ball and later left with an injury Saturday in what may be a sad farewell to the Bruins' home since 1982.

The dense clouds that hovered over the Rose Bowl three hours before kickoff couldn't keep the sun from peeking through to illuminate the nearby San Gabriel Mountains. It was as if the football gods wanted to showcase the majestic beauty of the place one last time, in case this really was farewell.

What happened next could not conjure the same sort of sentimentality.

In what might have been UCLA's last game at the Rose Bowl after 43 years of calling the place home, the Bruins unfurled the kind of showing that no one would ever want to relive or put in a scrapbook, much less market as part of a future plan at another stadium.

If this was goodbye, it was a sad sendoff.

JAIVIAN THOMAS is brought down by Leroy Bryant on a night the Huskies' stout defense held the Bruins to 57 yards rushing.

There were lost fumbles, a laughably bad fake field goal that resulted in a touchdown for the other team, and a dropped pass that probably cost UCLA its own score. And that was just in the first half.

Adding injury to insult, UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava took a crunching hit that sidelined him late in the third quarter, ending his gritty return from a concussion that had forced him to miss his team's previous game.