If somebody looked at the box score they might think it was a 60 minute thumping, but if they actually watched the game they'd see a somewhat close 40 minute game, followed by a 20 minute thumping. We were in it for quite a while into the 3rd quarter, and we might have been in it for a while longer if we hadn't turned the ball over on the long pass play.
I'll sort of give you "In it" based on being within 2 scores with plenty of time left to play. But to me, "In it" means that you're within a play of tying things up or taking the lead. All day, the Buffs played hard and sort of hung around trying to find that drive that would make a game of it. They couldn't do so and, really, it was game over as soon as our offense went from a 3rd and 2 to giving UCLA the ball around midfield after getting stoned on 2 straight plays. Any momentum the team had on offense was lost right there and it was just a matter of UCLA closing the door with another score.