COLLEGE FOOTBALL / DAILY REPORT : UCLA : Price Is Right--at Home

Mike Price is aware of the home-field advantage at Pullman, Wash.

“Our fans get after the opponent and that’s the way it should be,” said Price, the Washington State coach. “A full house in this stadium will be an intimidating factor for UCLA (which plays there Saturday). Teams don’t like to come into Pullman and play. They don’t like to travel, they don’t like the crowd or the stadium.”

The Cougars have used that advantage well, winning nine of 10 home games over the past two seasons, including a 30-17 victory over UCLA last season. They are 4-0 at Martin Stadium in 1993.

“I don’t know whether Mike knows or not that we don’t like to play in Pullman,” responded Bruin Coach Terry Donahue. “I haven’t discussed it with him. I’m not sure he’s not speculating.

“Pullman is a tough trip because of the distance and sometimes because of the weather you encounter there and because they have very noisy and supportive people that attend the games.

“But that’s the situation that fits most everybody in the Pac-10.”

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UCLA linebacker Nkosi Littleton is wearing out a videocassette recorder, watching and rewinding replays of his 64-yard return after an interception in the fourth quarter of the victory Saturday over Arizona.

“I must have watched it 50 times,” Littleton said.

Sale Isaia has also spent time reliving his third-quarter fumble return of 24 yards to the Arizona 10, in which he dragged Wildcat quarterback Dan White 10 yards before falling.

Defensive tackle Matt Werner has had no such pleasure, save for wondering for what might have been. Before halftime, Marvin Goodwin sacked Arizona’s Brady Batten, knocking the ball loose. Werner scooped it up, ran 54 yards, seemingly for a touchdown, but the ball had been whistled dead.

Undaunted, Werner spiked the ball between his legs in the end zone. “If they had called it a touchdown, I was going to do a back flip,” said Werner.

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UCLA coaches and medical staff are keeping a close watch on outside linebacker Jamir Miller, who suffered a pinched nerve in his neck--called a “stinger”--last Saturday. “The danger is an injury like that can become chronic,” Donahue said. . . . Craig Novitzky has played every offensive play in UCLA’s eight games, either at center, left guard or left tackle. . . .Reserve outside linebacker Andrew McClave is undergoing reconstructive shoulder surgery and is sidelined for the season.