ROSE KILL BRUINS' TITLE HOPES WILT IN CRUSHING LOSS STANFORD 38, UCLA 28.

Byline: Billy Witz Staff Writer

STANFORD - Receiver Craig Bragg walked off the field glassy-eyed. Defensive end Kenyon Coleman looked vacant and spent. Tailback DeShaun Foster sat on the bench after his teammates left the field, staring straight ahead.

The UCLA Bruins, who for the past two months had the look of national- championship contenders, exited Stanford Stadium late Saturday afternoon wearing a new face - one of disbelief after their 38-28 loss to the Cardinal before a crowd of 64,495.

The Bruins couldn't believe anyone could shred their seemingly impregnable defense. Or that anyone could shut down Foster, their Heisman Trophy front-running tailback. Or that they could turn the ball over five times, commit twice as many penalties and miss three times as many tackles.

Yet, what UCLA was struggling most to come to terms with is the bottom line: that its national-championship aspirations are all but over.

``We've been talking about it for so long,'' receiver Ryan Smith said. ``All summer, we had 70 guys here working out together with the expectation of playing in the Rose Bowl, our home, on Jan. 3. It's basically gone.''

The No. 4-ranked Bruins (6-1, 3-1), with Oregon's victory over Washington State, are still in first place in the Pacific-10 Conference - albeit tied with four other teams with one loss. Yet, this has the look of a loss that won't be so easily put behind them.

``I'll tell you on Monday,'' said Foster, who was held to 77 yards on 21 carries, less than half his nation-leading 155-yard average. ``It's on my mind now, I'll tell you that. I'm thinking about all the plays that happened out there that could have been the difference. Something here, something there and we could have won.''

The one play Foster would like to have back was a fumble he lost at the UCLA 35. One play later, Stanford (5-1, 4-1) scored on Brian Allen's 35-yard touchdown run.

But the senior running back had plenty of company.

--Matt Ware wishes he hadn't tripped on the heels of Luke Powell on a 20-yard touchdown pass. ``I would have intercepted it,'' Ware said.

--Backup quarterback Scott McEwan, who replaced injured and ineffective Cory Paus and nearly rallied the Bruins from a 24-point deficit, wishes he hadn't been so ambitious with the Bruins facing fourth-and-6 at their own 43 with 2 minutes, 45 seconds to play. Instead of getting the ball to Tab Perry on an underneath route, he overthrew Smith at the Stanford 20.

``I saw the safety come up and I knew Smith had single coverage,'' McEwan said. ``In any other circumstances that would have been OK, but in that situation it was not a good decision. That play's going to be eating at me for a long time.''

--UCLA coach Bob Toledo wouldn't mind having one of his decisions back, either. He passed up a 46-yard field-goal attempt by Chris Griffith late in the first half with the Bruins trailing by 21 points and facing fourth-and-20. The Bruins rallied in the fourth quarter, only to find themselves down by three.

``We were on the 30-yard line, kicking into a little bit of a wind and we were down by three touchdowns,'' Toledo said. ``I just felt like we needed to try to make something happen.''

It was the type of aggressive decision Toledo has said he hasn't had to make this season because of his confidence in his defense. Saturday began no differently.

On the fourth play of the game, linebacker Ryan Nece scooped up a fumbled lateral and raced 39 yards for a touchdown. The Bruins would have been fine if they cut to halftime right there.

Stanford's backup quarterback Chris Lewis, starting in place of injured Randy Fasani, completed 13 consecutive passes and the Stanford offensive line pushed UCLA's front seven around like tackling dummies. Tailbacks Kerry Carter and Brian Allen took turns running through the defense like they were running through turnstiles.

Stanford, twice driving 90 yards for touchdowns, led 28-7 at halftime and it might have been more if fullback Casey Moore hadn't fumbled at the UCLA 20.

``Twenty-eight points in a half?'' said Coleman, the defensive end. ``I never would have fathomed that. That's what's frustrating. We got gassed in the running game and gassed in the passing game. We know we're better than that.''

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(color) Stanford's Kerry Carter outruns UCLA's Marcus Reese (44) on his way to a second-quarter touchdown Saturday.

Ben Margot/Associated Press