Just got back from the locker room after UCLA’s 36-31 loss to Fresno State and it wasn’t as bad as you might have expected. The general sentiment was one of frustration, but not dejection. Most of the players said they were happy that progress was made, that the offense showed signs of life, and that the Bruins put themselves in position to win.

Still, ending the way it did, with the defense unable to get the Bulldogs off the field on the final drive, which ate up almost nine minutes off the clock, was tough to swallow.

Defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker called it “humiliating.”

“It’s unfortunate,” he said. “We wasted a pretty good performance by our offense.”

I have to give a lot of credit to freshman running back Derrick Coleman, who stood in front of his locker answering question after question about his fumble in the fourth quarter.

“I didn’t have security of the ball and they hit it out from me,” Coleman said. “All I know is the ball came out and I should’ve had control of it. …It’s disappointing. We had the win in our reach. But we’re all still healthy, we got a game next week, and we’re going to get ready for it.”

UCLA decided to accept a holding penalty on that last scoring drive, effectively choosing 3rd-and-22 from the 25 over 4th-and-2 from the 13 yard line.

Umm, it didn’t work.

Fresno State punched it in with a 25-yard pass play to go up 30-22.

Any thoughts?

Terrence Austin’s 195 yards of yardage on kickoff returns breaks a 30-year old single-game school record. The previous record was 188 yards by Theotis Brown in 1978 against Stanford

That doesn’t include the 102-yard kickoff return Austin had at the beginning of the game, which was called back due to a penalty on Adam Heater.

Offensive lineman Micah Reed has a sprained left knee and will not return to the game. His previous knee injury was to his right knee.

In case you missed it, the UCLA and Fresno State just performed a halftime show together to disco music.

Is it me, or does it feel like UCLA could be up by two touchdowns in this game? UCLA’s offense has been able to move the ball –234 total yards on 40 plays, 19 points — but has come up short on some critical third down (and one fourth down) plays.

Fresno has been remarkably efficient, doing all it’s damage offensively in just 10 minutes and 47 seconds.

Fresno 20, UCLA 19 at the half

Defensive lineman Brian Price is back out there this drive after leaving the previous series with an injury.

Looks like he can play with it. Korey Bosworth (shoulder) back out on the field for the start of this drive.

UPDATE: Or maybe not. Bosworth was not out there for Fresno’s last drive, but did come on to the field for the extra point attempt. His left elbow is heavily taped.

Korey Bosworth suffered a shoulder injury. Not sure of the severity yet. We’ll update soon.

UCLA has scored as many offensive touchdowns in this half as it has in its previous three games