In a battle of wits, Norm Chow might just have outsmarted himself.

After UCLA scored with 1 minute, 26 seconds left in Saturday’s eventual 31-22 loss to Kansas State, the Bruins found themselves with a game-tying two-point conversion opportunity.

Rather than call his preferred play, Chow opted for a pass play to the back of the end zone – Kevin Prince’s throw to Taylor Embree was batted down – because he thought Kansas State coach Bill Snyder would have a read on him.

“You always plan for your 2-point play in advance, and you usually have a list of two, three plays,” Neuheisel said. “Norm had on his list a play above the play we called, but we had called that play in a previous game on a 2-point play, and he just thought, ‘You know what, they’ll have looked at that one, so I’m going to the next one.'”

While UCLA had a successful night running the football against Kansas State – the Bruins finished with 193 yards on the ground, but only 120 passing – the next step for the coaching staff is trusting the running game in critical situations.

Perceived to be the weak spot heading into the game, the offensive line showed consistent push, as running backs Johnathan Franklin, Derrick Coleman and Malcolm Jones averaged 5.2 yards per carry.

Now they’ll have to get the two yards that matter most.

“As we get further into the Pistol and gain more confidence in it, the runs will be much more viable in that situation,” Neuheisel said. “They were in an eight-man drop, three-man rush, and if we had to do it again, we’d probably run the ball.”