Still, Hundley tried his best to climb it. Richards picked the ball off, and soon after, the Cardinal took a 14-point lead – quite a mountain to climb, given the Bruins’ inability all afternoon to move the ball. And on the next drive, Hundley – determined to throw the ball downfield – failed to see Stanford’s Jordan Richards coming from over the top. Two big passes downfield from Kevin Hogan, including a one-handed, highlight-reel grab from Kodi Whitfield in the end zone gave Stanford its first score and a 10-3 lead. Running back Tyler Gaffney rumbled for 114 yards and two touchdowns in the second half alone. They held Stanford’s offense to just three points in the first half, and a 38-yard field goal from Ka’imi Fairbairn tied the game just a few minutes into the third quarter.īut from there, the mistakes that doomed the Bruins last November slowly derailed them again, as Stanford’s offense finally found rhythm in their run game. From there, Hundley rarely found a calm moment in the pocket.Įven as the Bruins’ offense sputtered, held scoreless in the first half for the first time since November 2011, UCLA’s suddenly stout defense had given its offense a chance. Injuries to left tackles Simon Goines and Conor McDermott would compound the problem, forcing UCLA to reshuffle the entire line in the third quarter. “So bad.”Īnd as the run game faltered, UCLA’s young offensive line collapsed, forced to brace for impact against a more physical, more experienced Stanford front that was expecting the pass. “You want to win these games so bad,” he said later, hanging his head. He was born to play in these games, he said earlier in the week. He knew, better than most, the implications (that a spot in the national title conversation was on the line). He looked down at the water and shook his head. Hundley stared off into space for several minutes at a time, letting the ice soak on his bare skin. But the chill of the ice water couldn’t take away the pain of UCLA’s first loss this season, a 24-10 bludgeoning by the Cardinal that wore him and the Bruins’ offense down, bit by bit. The water could numb the physical aches, soothing the effects of the many hits he’d taken with an injury-depleted offensive line as his only line of protection. STANFORD – Worn down by Stanford’s brutal defense – the likes of which he and his UCLA offense hadn’t seen all season – sophomore quarterback Brett Hundley lowered himself into a large tub of ice just outside the Bruins’ locker room, and let the freezing water wash over him.
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