Kevin Craft

The cast of characters showing a little character had two leading men. The senior quarterback who conjures up horrific memories of bad passes . . . interceptions . . . defensive backs celebrating in the end zone . . . from a last season UCLA fans would love to forget. The freshman cornerback who is so skinny teammates would like to send him back to the table for seconds . . . and thirds . . . and maybe slip in a midnight snack or two. Kevin Craft, poster boy for a 4-8 season in 2008, came off the bench to put UCLA back in the win column.

UCLA does have quarterback issues. They just lurk below the surface. The Bruins have starter Kevin Prince and backup Richard Brehaut , but the depth chart at quarterback gets shallow from that point. It leaves the Bruins vulnerable if there's an injury or a transfer. "It's a precarious deal," offensive coordinator Norm Chow said. "We need to find a No. 3." Those thoughts have been on Coach Rick Neuheisel's mind as well, saying the situation "is something I ponder all the time."

A trip down memory lane with UCLA quarterback Kevin Craft, who will face Stanford in Palo Alto on Saturday: The last time Craft started a road game, he produced big -- for Arizona State. Interception returns of 38, 45, 100 yards by the Sun Devils were the longest scoring plays Craft "created" during the 2008 season. The last time Craft faced Stanford, he took the Bruins on an 89-yard drive in the last two minutes, finishing with a game-winning touchdown pass. That's the Craft UCLA hopes it is getting on Saturday.

UCLA's EagleBank Bowl game preparations were interrupted Tuesday . . . by the players. The Bruins resurrected the most visible of UCLA football traditions after finishing stretching exercises. Coach Rick Neuheisel called his team into a huddle, exhorted them by barking, "Let's have a great effort today!" then watched as the players bolted over the practice field wall and took off, ending practice. The tradition is known as "Wall Day," an event Neuheisel thought he had ended last spring.

There is a 3-0 college football team in Los Angeles. It's just a little farther west of the 110 Freeway for a change. UCLA kept its record clean with a performance that was far from pristine in a 23-9 victory over Kansas State at the Rose Bowl on Saturday night. There is a quarterback who can wake up in a good mood this morning. But he's nowhere near the Aaron Corp residence. Kevin Craft got his shot at redemption, subbing for starter Kevin Prince. He may not have wowed fans, and his play did produce some boos in the third quarter, but he also tossed a 51-yard touchdown pass to Terrence Austin to ice the game.

Kevin Craft is leaving a better legacy on the UCLA football program than anyone would imagined. The idea this season seemed for Craft to quietly be put out to pasture as a senior, allowing the memory of a harsh 2008 season to fade away. But at this point, where would the Bruins be without him? UCLA has four victories this season and Craft is directly responsible for two, both coming after starter Kevin Prince was injured. His latest salvage job was the Bruins' 24-23 victory over Washington.

Ask UCLA quarterback Kevin Craft to discuss what he went through during the 2008 season and he'll ask a question back. "Where do I begin?" Craft said. Some many things to pick from . . . that 4-8 record . . . those school-record 20 interceptions . . . the constant booing. As always, Craft reveals little besides an introspective-looking smirk. But if there is anyone out there who thinks he didn't agonize his way through last season, they're wrong. What Craft would like now is a chance to change his UCLA image.

Product updates: Madden NFL shipped 2.3 million units in September; Kevin Craft 2.0 completed its first beta test without crashing; Trojan 2009 may be subject to a manufacturer's recall. Wes Wellman Santa Monica :: It was nice to see Kevin Craft play so well Saturday. How well a quarterback plays might be very much related to how well the line plays and how well the running game is. Both were so much better than last year. So it will be interesting to see how well he continues to play, and if his level of success might give Coach Neuheisel that age-old conundrum of whether an injured QB gets his position back, or does he stay with the QB who is moving the team and winning.

Two first-year-on-the-job coaches, two struggling football teams. Someone will feel a little better. What to look for in tonight's game: Big O or little d: UCLA's newfound running game faces a defense that's about as bad as it gets. Quite a spread: Bruins, outscored 90-10 in two of their losses, are a big favorite in this one. Game time: Washington State will try to repeat the ball control it enjoyed in last year's victory over UCLA. The quarterbacks: Bruins junior Kevin Craft, in his fifth game as starter, is the wily veteran in this game.

Watching UCLA quarterback Kevin Craft produce touchdowns . . . for California . . . Bruins fans had to have been longing for the Patrick Cowan Era on Saturday. It was a brief period, lasting for a few hours on Dec. 2, 2006. Cowan looked awkward at times and could throw just as bad a pass as Craft at other times, but he did engineer a 13-9 victory over second-ranked USC with his running and passing, and also scored the Bruins' only touchdown. Cowan, alas Bruins fans, is already looking beyond UCLA.

UCLA quarterback Kevin Prince suffered the right shoulder sprain that knocked him from the Bruins' 28-7 loss to USC on Saturday night at the Coliseum on the series before he had a second pass intercepted. "I was scrambling and I landed on my shoulder and felt it pop out a little bit," said Prince, who completed 10 of 22 passes for 90 yards. "I told [Coach Rick Neuheisel ] I could go and I felt like I could still go." Neuheisel relented and Prince came back out for the Bruins' next series.

Rick Neuheisel knows it, he just struggles to control it. "I'm hard on quarterbacks," he says. That goes for when things are going well, such as last week, when Neuheisel was in Kevin Prince's face even as the Bruins were routing Washington State . . . and when things are going not-so-well, such as when backup Richard Brehaut was admonished after his one series against Washington ended in a fumble. "It took me a little bit of time to understand why Coach Neuheisel does that," says Kevin Craft, who was often the object of red-faced, drill-sergeant-like rants when he was the starter last season.

UCLA is headed in a different, bigger direction with its running game this week. Derrick Coleman , a 6-foot, 230-pound sophomore, will get his first start of the season when the Bruins play at Washington State. UCLA has struggled with its running game in recent weeks, and the number of fumbles has become a concern. That has brought the focus to Coleman, who had seven carries in five games before he gained 49 yards in 13 carries against Washington on Saturday. "We need to see more yards after contact and we obviously need to see more security with the ball," running backs coach Wayne Moses said.

Kevin Craft is leaving a better legacy on the UCLA football program than anyone would imagined. The idea this season seemed for Craft to quietly be put out to pasture as a senior, allowing the memory of a harsh 2008 season to fade away. But at this point, where would the Bruins be without him? UCLA has four victories this season and Craft is directly responsible for two, both coming after starter Kevin Prince was injured. His latest salvage job was the Bruins' 24-23 victory over Washington.

The cast of characters showing a little character had two leading men. The senior quarterback who conjures up horrific memories of bad passes . . . interceptions . . . defensive backs celebrating in the end zone . . . from a last season UCLA fans would love to forget. The freshman cornerback who is so skinny teammates would like to send him back to the table for seconds . . . and thirds . . . and maybe slip in a midnight snack or two. Kevin Craft, poster boy for a 4-8 season in 2008, came off the bench to put UCLA back in the win column.

UCLA will do the very thing offensive coordinator Norm Chow has always said he was against -- use two quarterbacks Saturday against Oregon State. That is the stand head Coach Rick Neuheisel took Monday. He said redshirt freshman Kevin Prince would retain his starting spot, but was emphatic that freshman Richard Brehaut would play. "I am hopeful both will grow and prosper into being accomplished quarterbacks in this league," Neuheisel said. "To not give them both some measure of time while their eligibility is being used, I think that would be a mistake."

It has been said that every system is perfectly designed to get the results it yields. Kevin Craft has endured a great deal of criticism, from me included. There will be more criticism of Craft for UCLA's loss to Stanford. However, it is the responsibility of the coaching staff to put players in a position to be successful. The conservative, stale, unimaginative, boring offense that lacks any sense of creativity does not position anyone to win, let alone a struggling quarterback. If they don't trust him, bench him. If he's out there, then let him play.

With nothing on the schedule until a Nov. 28 trip to Arizona State, the Bruins get two weeks to savor their victory over Washington -- and address some lingering problems. Turnovers continue to be a concern after quarterback Kevin Craft suffered three more interceptions to bring his season total to 16. Craft, who is still considered the best option on the roster, threw off-target in the first quarter, tried to fit the ball into a tight space in the second and misread the defense in the third.

Stopped by to chat with the Heisman maker, Norm Chow , after listening to UCLA Coach Rick Neuheisel give yet another hilarious but hot-air news conference. The Bruins have lost four in a row, their quarterbacks haven't thrown a touchdown pass in a month and for the first time in nearly 20 years, UCLA is in danger of not getting a bowl bid in two consecutive years. And on the back page of the Daily Bruin on Monday, the headline read: "Neuheisel's team falling apart." I know how much closer the kids on campus are to the UCLA football players, so I asked Neuheisel whether the Daily Bruin was on to something.

UCLA Coach Rick Neuheisel had the opportunity to still any quarterback controversy, but he remained noncommittal during Sunday night's conference call. Would Kevin Prince go back in as the team's starter after the 27-13 loss to Arizona Saturday? "We will continue to look and evaluate our options as we go forward," Neuheisel said. Asked if that was a slight shift in direction, he said, "We're going to keep looking." The Bruins have lost four consecutive games and the offense has failed to score a touchdown in two of the last three games.