Had someone told UCLA fans they would hold Heisman runner up Christian McCaffrey and the 7th-ranked Stanford Cardinal out of the end zone for the first 59 minutes and 36 seconds of the 60-minute contest Saturday evening at the Rose Bowl, they’d have loved their chances. Stanford, though, drove 70 yards, trailing 13-9, and took […]
Had someone told UCLA fans they would hold Heisman runner up Christian McCaffrey and the 7th-ranked Stanford Cardinal out of the end zone for the first 59 minutes and 36 seconds of the 60-minute contest Saturday evening at the Rose Bowl, they’d have loved their chances.
Stanford, though, drove 70 yards, trailing 13-9, and took the lead when quarterback Ryan Burns hit JJ Arcega-Whiteside on an 8-yard TD with 23 seconds to play.
Needing a field goal to tie game in 24 seconds was a difficult, but not impossible task for the Bruins and quarterback Josh Rosen.
But on a third-down attempt, Rosen was crushed, fumbled the ball, and Stanford’s Soloman Thomas scooped it up and brought it back 42 yards for the score as time expired.
Many of the 80,000-plus had no idea the final play resulted in another score for the Cardinal (3-0 overall, 2-0 in Pac-12 North Division), until they saw the final score outside the Rose Bowl.
UCLA (2-2, 0-1 Pac-12 South) had NBA world champion and former Bruin Kevin Love of the Cleveland Cavaliers to pump up the crowd, but at halftime the Bruins called out the big guns.
U.S. Olympic medalists from all the way back to the 1948 games, joined fellow UCLA athletes who brought home medals up to the 2016 Olympics in Rio.
Rafer Johnson, the 81-year old gold medal winner in the decathalon, got the biggest hand.
In all, UCLA athletes have garnered 133 gold medals throughout the Olympic Games.
Back to Saturday, the Bruins may have kept McCaffrey out of the end zone, but the Stanford junior, and son of former 3-time Super Bowl champion Ed McCaffrey, led all rushers with 138 yards on 26 carries.
Rosen had a game-high 248 yards on 18 of 27, including a 10-yard TD pass to Nate Iese in the first quarter to give UCLA a 7-3 lead.
The Bruins would lead from that point on until Stanford scored with 24 seconds to play.
It had many in the stands and waiting for the shuttle thinking “what just happened?”
UCLA will host the Univ. of Arizona next Saturday with the time to be determined on Monday.
