[media-credit name=”Derek Liu” align=”alignnone”]Stanford’s Michael Thomas tackles UCLA quarterback Kevin Craft.

PALO ALTO “”mdash; After three hours of big plays, critical penalties and huge third downs, one single play stuck out as “huge” in the mind of coach Rick Neuheisel.

Early in the second quarter, while the game was still unfolding with Stanford leading 7-3, the Bruins had the Cardinal pinned inside their own 20 and facing a third-and-8. Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck threw to his tight end Coby Fleener across the middle. Luck couldn’t jam the ball between the linebackers and safeties, and the ball fell harmlessly incomplete, giving the Bruin defense a much needed stop on third down and a chance to take the lead with good field position.

Then, in a bang-bang play, the ball hit the turf, and sophomore safety Rahim Moore came up from his position behind the ball and hit Fleener to try to jar the ball loose if the Cardinal tight end had caught it.

But the hit came a second too late. A late-hit penalty flag hit the field, and so did Moore.

In a split second UCLA lost both its leader in interceptions and a golden opportunity to seize the game’s momentum.

“Finally we get (Stanford) off the field, but now (after the penalty) they’re alive, and also we lose a very, very talented safety,” Neuheisel said.

Moore, who suffered a mild concussion as a result of the hit, needed to be helped off the field and, despite his own desires, was not allowed to return. Moore was in good spirits after the game, however, and both he and Neuheisel expect the sophomore safety, who has five interceptions on the season, to be ready for Oregon this week.

“I was a little mad about (not playing) because I wanted to play, man, because I knew I was a part of this team, and I didn’t want things to go down like that,” Moore said.

Defensive coordinator Chuck Bullough acknowledged that the defense struggled to stop Stanford on third down, citing the second-quarter play as a prime example.

“Rahim’s a great player, obviously,” Bullough said. “But you cannot have that mindset. It didn’t change our calls because he’s not there … you can’t have an injury go down and change your whole defense. The next guy has to step up.”

Master Craftsman?

A different play bothered Kevin Craft.

The redshirt senior quarterback had another solid game against Stanford completing 22 of his 34 passes for 204 yards and, most importantly, no interceptions.

He showed signs of the same leadership he exhibited in 2008 against Stanford when he orchestrated a two-minute game-winning drive at the Rose Bowl. A year later, he closed out the first half of Saturday with an impressive 1:07 drive that marched the team 58 yards down the field and led to a field goal that put the Bruins within striking distance going into halftime.

But at the end of the game, with 3:06 left, Craft was called upon to work magic one more time. After gaining only one first down, Craft threw four straight incompletions that sealed the loss.

The one that most bothered the quarterback was the second-down play ““ a hitch pattern to Nelson Rosario that came in a little too low for the sophomore receiver to handle.

“There are a couple balls I wish I could have had back,” Craft said. “That hitch to Nelson, I’ve got to put that on him.”

QUICK HITS:

UCLA’s Kai Forbath tallied another three field goals Saturday, but the Bruins again were held to only one touchdown. They have a total of 12 field goals on the year compared to eight touchdowns. … Stanford ended the day seven-of-13 on third-down conversions while the Bruins were only two-of-10. … Stanford had trouble holding onto the football, fumbling three times but recovering the fumble twice. … Both quarterbacks were sacked only once. … With the win, the Cardinal jump out to a 4-1 start for the first time since 2001.

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