Hard-Luck Bruin Grabs Spotlight

Lovell Houston redshirted last season. Then he missed spring drills because of injuries. Then he missed a chunk of fall camp because of injuries, costing him valuable time in the quest to break the starting lineup in the UCLA secondary.

But he didn’t miss his chance Saturday.

Sent in early in the third quarter at Stanford as the deep man on a kickoff, a move by Coach Bob Toledo because of injuries to his regulars there, Houston’s 95-yard return became the Bruins’ first such touchdown since JoJo Townsell had one in 1980. It may have been an unexpected contribution--Houston hadn’t practiced in that role all season--but a rare contribution nonetheless.

“I heard him say, ‘Houston! Houston!’ He grabbed me and said ‘Here’s your chance. Let’s see what you can do with the ball,’ ” Houston said.

“I have to give all the credit to the whole return team. It wasn’t like I had to make a lot of fancy moves. I just went straight up the field.”

The touchdown got the Bruins within 28-10 of Stanford and became a key to the second-half comeback--”It kind of electrified the crowd,” Toledo said. “It got us going too.”

UCLA rode that emotion to get as close as 35-32, before the Cardinal scored late in the fourth quarter to claim a 42-32 victory.

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Split end Brian Poli-Dixon expects to get word from doctors today whether surgery will be necessary to help repair his broken wrist. If not, he could make it back for the final two or three games, but that would also mean that he wouldn’t redshirt and his junior season will have comprised of less than half the schedule.

“I’d prefer to redshirt,” said Poli-Dixon, who hurt the right arm in the first quarter Sept. 18 against Fresno State but played the rest of the game.

Poli-Dixon was not part of the official UCLA traveling party to Stanford, but he paid his own way to Palo Alto and spent the game on the sideline, the wrist in a cast.