So far this season, the UCLA football team’s biggest obstacle has been a small, yellow flag.

Through four games, the Bruins have seen that flag thrown 28 times, costing them a total of 245 yards. That’s an average of more than 60 yards per game.

UCLA committed six crucial penalties in its 24-16 loss at Stanford last Saturday.

“I don’t know where the penalties came from,” junior defensive tackle Brian Price said afterwards. “We shot ourselves in the foot.”

The most notable penalty came in the second quarter, when sophomore safety Rahim Moore misjudged an Andrew Luck incomplete pass on a third-and-long and was called for the personal foul. Moore suffered a concussion on the play and did not return to action.

“We had to think before we could play,” sophomore safety Tony Dye said following the game.
The Bruins, at least defensively, will have to be more cautious this week. Oregon leads the Pac-10 with 34.2 points per game.

But Oregon’s success has not come easy. Like the Bruins, the Ducks have had their share of issues with penalties. Oregon has been flagged 32 times for 276 yards in five games.

According to sophomore receiver Taylor Embree, the Bruins have to be focused from the start to prevent tough situations.

“As an offense, we just need to pick it up earlier,” he said.

That was evident on the Bruins’ first drive in Palo Alto.

After UCLA recovered a Stanford fumble, redshirt freshman running back Johnathan Franklin got the Bruins to the Cardinal 39-yard line on just three carries. Another Franklin five-yard rush was negated by a holding penalty and the Bruins eventually settled for a field goal.

“We were moving the ball earlier,” coach Rick Neuheisel told reporters after the loss at Stanford. “It wasn’t a case of not moving (the ball).”