UCLA football: A fan’s look back at the Stanford game

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The answer is ‘yes’ if you’re asking whether I made it known and reminded anyone who would listen to me late last month that UCLA was the Pac-10’s only undefeated team heading into October.

Maybe it’s because it was realized that such a claim could be short-lived, and that at this stage in Coach Rick Neuheisel‘s tenure it’s the little things you have to hang your hat on to build an identity.

So much for that, as Stanford shattered that notion -- of being the lone unbeaten team in the conference, that is -- with a punishing, though not entirely surprising, blow to the Bruins on Saturday.

Here are ‘observations, opinions and reflections from the fan’s chair’ after UCLA’s 24-16 loss to Stanford.

-- Kevin Craft played decently but could not do enough consistently to keep the Bruins close early or to bring them all the way back late.

-- It was good to see Craft make better decisions when it came to throwing in traffic, and he certainly seemed to be at his best on rollouts and quick passes (particularly during the drive at the end of the first half).

-- Still, there were too many times when Craft stayed in the pocket too long at crucial moments, including UCLA’s final drive, which ended with Craft’s being hit as he threw on a fourth and 10.

-- Speaking of that drive, did anyone notice on a pass to the sideline to Terrence Austin that he got out of bounds but the clock kept running and UCLA lost a good 20 to 25 seconds? The referee clearly signaled for the clock to stop, though no one (television announcers, coaches, players, etc.) made an issue of it. It left me wondering if I had missed something.

-- It was clear Stanford’s Toby Gerhart would be the key to the game. Or more accurately for the Bruins, stopping (or at least slowing) Gerhart would be the key. That said, the defense fell short and clearly couldn’t keep up and was worn down by the line play of Stanford and Gerhart’s bruising style.

-- I did like that UCLA finally came up big on its first defensive series, forcing a turnover when Akeem Ayers not only delivered a hit but also recovered the ensuing fumble to give the Bruins some early momentum. Too bad they couldn’t build on it with more than a Kai Forbath field goal (the first of Forbath’s three in the game) on the next drive.

-- Stanford was six for six on third-down conversions in the first half, setting the tone for which team was going to make the big plays.

-- Speaking of big plays, the two long passes from Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck to Ryan Whalen that helped set up touchdowns were defended by freshman Sheldon Price and sophomore Tony Dye, both of whom actually provided decent coverage but were victims of deadly accuracy by Luck. Interesting to note that Price was the starter again after having taken over for Courtney Viney, who sat out against Kansas State for disciplinary reasons.

-- Price showed some gumption in the fourth quarter after he was called for a crucial pass interference penalty on a third-and-eight play that helped Stanford out of a hole. Price bounced back a few plays later to stuff Gerhart after a short pass play, forcing a Stanford punt that was subsequently partially blocked by Sean Westgate and gave the Bruins good field position.

-- Another Price, defensive lineman Brian Price, played like a man again, but even he was worn down by Stanford’s offensive philosophy. Hard not for that to happen when, as colleague Chris Foster reported in his game story, the Cardinals employed a six-man offensive line for much of the game.

-- Rahim Moore would have been better served by laying back and probably earning his sixth interception of the season instead of setting up to deliver a ‘targeted’ blow to Stanford’s Coby Fleener that resulted in not only a penalty being called on Moore but also a concussion to the defensive back.

-- After seeing Damien Thigpen do what he did in the backfield for three plays in a row in the second half, you kind of wish he would have had more than three carries.

-- In case you missed it: Yes, that was junior running back Christian Ramirez lining up in the wildcat formation in the first half, though the play was whistled dead before it even got started because of a penalty on lineman Jeff Baca. Ramirez, who sat out last season because of academic issues, never returned to the game as far as I could tell.

-- In case you missed it II: Stanford’s Richard Sherman muffed a punt in the second quarter that probably would have been recovered by Kyle Bosworth with excellent field position if he had not been blocked in the back and sent to the turf by Stanford’s Tyler Gaffney. Of course, no penalty was called and Sherman recovered his fumble. Bosworth, by the way, was all over the field again.

-- In case you missed it III: Heady play by lineman Mike Harris, who recovered a fumble by Craft when the quarterback was hit on a keeper in the third quarter. It kept a turnover-free game intact, which is a good thing for the Bruins.

-- Don’t forget: Freshman tailback Johnathan Franklin had only 58 yards rushing but still averaged 4.1 yards a carry and continued to look solid.

-- UCLA’s best quarter, obviously, was the fourth when the Bruins scored 10 points and actually seemed to spring to life even though Stanford had possessed the ball for 29 of the first 45 minutes.

-- Broken record: Still waiting for that go-to receiver to emerge. There were 22 completions by Craft, yet the high in receptions was four (for 33 yards) by Taylor Embree. Austin had the most receiving yards with 47 but only three catches.

-- Player of the game? Hard to argue against Jeff Locke, who averaged 47.8 yards on four punts and booted three of his four kickoffs into the end zone for touchbacks. That’s huge when you’re kicking to a guy (Stanford’s Chris Owusu) who has returned three kickoffs for touchdowns this season.

-- The difference in the game? UCLA gets a field goal to close the first half, then gets the ball to start the second half but goes three and out and punts. Stanford then takes the ball and drives 75 yards in six plays for a touchdown to take a 21-6 lead. Just saying.

-- I suppose it’s good to get this physical Stanford game out of the system now instead of in the middle of November. Anyone else feeling daunted by the thought of what is now a nine-game, no open-date stretch for the Bruins?

-- Final grade: B. It was good to see a reduction in penalties and turnovers, but the Bruins still lack that over-the-hump quality. Giving a lower grade, though, would take away from the fact that Stanford is a very, very good team that not too many people east of here is talking about. I like that UCLA came back to put the outcome in doubt until the last minute because this certainly was the type of game that easily could have gotten away from the Bruins, and often did the last few years.

-- Jim Barrero