Craft has taken a beating

Whether UCLA wins or loses, senior tailback Kahlil Bell has noticed that junior quarterback Kevin Craft doesn’t pour out his emotions.

“If people watch the games, they would realize he takes a butt-kicking every single game,” Bell said. “But he keeps getting up.”

Arizona State returned three interceptions and a Craft fumble for touchdowns Friday in a 34-9 win over the Bruins, and Craft says he wants to rectify UCLA’s 4-7 season when it faces USC on Saturday.

“I’m going to be harder on myself than anybody is,” Craft said. “If I come to the side and get yelled at, I’m harder on myself than any of that. I want it just as bad.”

The Trojans lead the nation in scoring defense (7.8 points per game) and total defense (210.6 yards per game) while the Bruins rank 110th in total offense (294.7) and 107th in scoring (18.6 ppg).

Teammates and Coach Rick Neuheisel expressed admiration for Craft’s weathering season-long criticism, for not pointing fingers and for wanting to improve.

“As a football coach, it’s not good enough,” Neuheisel said of the performance of Craft, who has had 12 passes intercepted in his last four games with no touchdowns. “We can’t play quarterback that way and be successful and be the team we want to be. But as a person who’s played the position and a person who admires courage and so forth, I can’t tell you enough how much I admire Kevin Craft.”

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Spoiler alert

Defeating USC on Saturday wouldn’t erase UCLA’s losing record. It wouldn’t give the Bruins bowl eligibility, either.

But UCLA (4-7, 3-5 in Pacific 10 Conference play) knows the ramifications of an upset over the No. 5 Trojans (10-1, 7-1).

“There’s no better way to go out than to beat ‘SC, and send them to the Holiday Bowl or something like that,” UCLA senior wide receiver Marcus Everett said.

With a victory, USC would play Penn State in the Rose Bowl. A UCLA victory would lock the Trojans in a three-way tie with Oregon and Oregon State for the conference title and, by tiebreaker, send Oregon State to the Rose Bowl.

In 2006, UCLA played the spoiler role when it beat USC, 13-9, preventing the Trojans from reaching the Bowl Championship Series title game. Instead, USC played in the Rose Bowl game against Michigan.

“We’ve spoken a little bit, but that [2006] team was a different team,” UCLA defensive tackle Brigham Harwell said. “This is a whole different team. This is a whole different year.”

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Etc.

Neuheisel said starting right guard Nick Ekbatani had an MRI exam on his injured knee. “He practiced Sunday,” the coach said. “He’s fine.” . . . Thee were no injuries reported from Monday’s practice.

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