PASADENA – Another beautiful night at the Rose Bowl, another fake comeback in the books.

And who fakes a comeback as convincingly as the UCLA Bruins?

Fake as in a comeback attempt that falls short, as many do, but that along the way gets loyalists’ hopes up even though they know better. That teases and toys and torments and lets hope creep back in, like a toxic habit, before the other shoe inevitably drops.

The false hope of fraudulent rallies.

Having so many second-half surges fall flat, like the one on Sept. 6, in UCLA’s 30-23 loss to UNLV , when the Bruins came out of hibernation only after falling behind 23-0. Or in their 17-14 loss at Northwestern on Sept. 27, when UCLA trailed 17-3 at halftime.

And now Saturday’s 28-21 loss to Nebraska , another predictable entry in UCLA’s

See Full Page