PASADENA, Calif. – Like in the season opener against Akron, Ohio State kicker Josh Huston started the game with a booming kick-off through the end zone for a touchback.

Sadly for the OSU kicking game, the similarities stopped there.

An anemic offensive performance, combined with three missed kicks by Buckeye kickers proved too much for the Buckeye defense to overcome Saturday, in its 13-6 loss to UCLA in front of 73,723 fans at the Rose Bowl.

“We’re in a growth mode. We will be in a growth mode for some time,” OSU coach Jim Tressel said of the game. “We knew there was going to be a point in time when this new family would have some tough times.”

On the offensive side of the ball, the tough times were plentiful.

Tressel described the offensive performance as “really out of sorts,” and without any sort of rhythm.

Gaining eight first downs during the 60-minute affair, throwing for only 45 yards and converting one of 14 third down chances did not bode well for the Buckeyes.

At the center of OSU’s non-attack was quarterback Steve Bellisari. On the day the senior quarterback completed five of 23 passes for 45 yards and two interceptions. Only one of his five completions was for more than 10 yards. An 11-yard connection with wide receiver Michael Jenkins in the first quarter was also the lone OSU first down through the air.

Tressel, however, refused to put the brunt of the blame on Bellisari.

“I think there were some things Steve did that we asked of him,” he said. “But there was some things he could have done better, obviously.”

Tressel attributed the two interceptions to Bellisari’s inability to sufficiently read the defense.

“In all the decisions we make, our goal is to see what’s there before we make a decision. And I’m not sure we saw what was there,” he said.

Bellisari’s teammates also were cautious to criticize him.

“I think Steve played a real hard game. I think he laid it out for us,” OSU running back Jamar Martin said. “He did what he needed to do as a captain – go out and just do whatever he can do to help his team win and I think he did that.”

Fellow Buckeye running back Jonathan Wells also centered concern on the overall performance of the offense, saying the offense didn’t have a good day and didn’t execute.

“The effort was there. We just didn’t execute,” he said. “You can have a lot of effort out there, but if you don’t execute, it (doesn’t) mean anything.”

OSU center LeCharles Bentley echoed Wells’ sentiments.

“Yeah, (we didn’t get our job done) it’s true. It’s an obvious fact. It hurts but you can’t hide from it,” Bentley said. “It’s not a good feeling.”

Both Wells and Bentley said it will be tough, but not impossible to find any positives for the offense from Saturday’s game.

“Every game should be a building block, and we took our lumps and bruises in this game, but we learned from it,” Bentley said.

Still, both were nowhere near pleased with the outcome.

“The job the defense did was outstanding, and we didn’t put any points on the board for them,” Wells said. “That’s gotta fall on our shoulders.”

The few times the offense was able to put anything together, the kicking game failed them.

Trailing 7-6 at the onset of the second quarter, OSU kicker Mike Nugent, who had already missed an extra point wide right, pushed a 28-yard field goal to the right that would have given the Buckeyes the lead.

Down 10-6 midway through the third quarter, the Buckeyes replaced Nugent with another freshman kicker, Josh Huston. This time, the kicker missed wide left.

The three missed kicks could have totaled seven points, which proved to be the margin of victory for UCLA.

“They’re young kickers,” Tressel said. “I’ve been around a lot of real good kickers in my life and when all of them were young, they had their moments.”

Tressel also added that the kickers make their kicks in practice.

On the year, during games, OSU is 0-3 on field goals attempts.

Again, Buckeye players said the loss was a team effort and the kicking game had an equal part of the loss as everyone else.

“I told them just keep going, keep your head up,” the senior Wells said. “They made mistakes, we made mistakes offensively and we just didn’t get it done.”

Tressel said the keys to winning came down to three things: special teams, playing relentless defense and not making mistakes on offense.

“And well, we didn’t get there. That’s what you got to do on the road and we didn’t do it,” he said.