More ‘foolish penalties’ by Bruins in loss to Huskies

When is a defensive stop not a defensive stop?

When UCLA commits a penalty to keep the drive alive. It’s happened with alarming regularity this season and it happened again Saturday at Husky Stadium in the first quarter of the Bruins’ 44-23 loss to No. 12 Washington.

UCLA appeared to have held Washington to a three-and-out after Huskies quarterback Jake Browning scrambled before his third-down pass fell incomplete. But Bruins linebacker Kenny Young was called for a personal foul after chasing Browning toward the sideline and hitting him out of bounds, giving Washington a first down.

It extended a drive that led to a Washington field goal.

UCLA defensive coordinator Tom Bradley said benching Young in that situation — to send a message about the need to avoid those types of penalties — was not considered.

“I don’t think so,” Bradley said. “You know, a lot of those on the sidelines, especially on the sideline, [are] really a bang-bang play.”

Bradley did acknowledge it was the type of play UCLA wanted to avoid, particularly after coach Jim Mora had repeatedly discussed the issue in practice.

“That’s probably the thing that’s disheartening is how much he emphasized, ‘We can’t have foolish penalties,’ ” Bradley said. “There’s going to be penalties that are bang-bang plays, but that’s the one thing that we wanted to eliminate, the things that were foolish and we can obviously control some of that.”

UCLA freshman defensive end Jaelan Phillips made another questionable play in the third quarter when he appeared to knee tailback Myles Gaskin in the head after a play, earning a personal foul for unnecessary roughness.

“I just saw the flag, I didn’t get to talk to Jaelen yet and ask him what happened,” Bradley said, “but obviously anything of that nature in that situation, you just have to walk away. … He’ll learn to do that.”

UCLA linebacker Josh Woods is scheduled to undergo season-ending surgery Tuesday on the shoulder he injured against Oregon last week, Mora said.

“Big loss, a lot of depth there,” Bradley said.

Woods was among a handful of top players the Bruins were missing against the Huskies. Receiver Jordan Lasley (suspension), linebacker Breland Brandt (concussion), defensive ends Rick Wade (knee) and Matt Dickerson (collar bone), and tight end Austin Roberts (ankle) also were out.

The absence of Lasley for a second consecutive week was particularly troubling for the Bruins because he’s one of the team’s top playmakers and was averaging a team-high 108.6 yards per game. Mora has not specified what led to the suspension or when Lasley might be allowed to return.

“That will be determined as we go,” Mora said.

On the plus side for the Bruins, linebackers Krys Barnes and Lokeni Toailoa and defensive end Jacob Tuioti-Mariner returned against Washington after being sidelined recently by a variety of injuries and illnesses.

Tailback Jalen Starks warmed up before the game but did not play.

Right tackle Sunny Odogwu changed jersey numbers, going from No. 66 to No. 99.

ben.bolch@latimes.com

Follow Ben Bolch on Twitter @latbbolch