UCLA players still feeling pain from Stanford loss

UCLA players and coaches surfaced publicly Friday for the first time since a 31-10 loss to Stanford that cost the Bruins a spot in the Pac-12 championship game.

Two weeks later, there was still pain, which has wiped out the team’s 24-hour rule to mentally move on from any game.

“You get tired of losing,” quarterback Brett Hundley said. “There are certain games where you need to come up with a victory. To come up short, for us to have a letdown like that, it hurts.”

Good, was Coach Jim Mora’s opinion.

“That one needed to hurt,” Mora said. “You have a 24-hour rule because you have to get on to the next game, the next week. That one still hurts. That one is not going to go away. Those don’t go away.”

Mora said that loss needs to resonate because “it was a game that had huge impact on what we are trying to achieve and we didn’t get it done. We failed. We failed. It should hurt, if you take pride in what you do, if you’re serious about what you do. That’s what I want them to understand.”

If that’s the case, message received.

“Not playing to our ability, not playing our standard, definitely hurt,” defensive end Owamagbe Odighizuwa said. “I needed some time away to get myself together for whatever bowl game we were playing.”

The Bruins will play Kansas State in the Valero Alamo Bowl on Jan. 2.

Now, safety Anthony Jefferson said, “We put [Stanford] away. That’s old news. We’re looking forward to Kansas State.”