Doba can understand what Dorrell is feeling

Washington State Coach Bill Doba felt Karl Dorrell’s pain when UCLA could not hold on against Notre Dame last week. It reminded Doba of how he felt in 2003 when the Cougars lost, 29-26, in overtime to the Irish after leading, 19-0, in the first half.

“We were there ourselves,” Doba said. “We had them 21-3 at halftime. It’s a neat place to play, but there’s not a whole lot you can say except it’s a tough loss.”

On Tuesday, UCLA, which lost to the Irish, 20-17, in the final seconds, was happy to get back to practice.

“You really overcome it by getting on to the next one,” Dorrell said, referring to the Bruins’ game against Washington State Saturday at the Rose Bowl. “We reflected on it, talked about it on Sunday with the team and the staff. We flushed it down the toilet.”

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Sophomore wide receiver Ryan Graves made a solid debut as a punt returner last week against Notre Dame. With freshman Terrence Austin sidelined because of a hamstring injury, Graves had two returns for 25 yards.

With Austin still slowed -- he did not practice Tuesday -- Graves will get the nod again this week.

“He did a really good job for us last week,” Dorrell said. “We feel that we’re in pretty good shape there.”

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Quarterback Ben Olson, recovering from a knee injury, wore a red jersey in practice on Tuesday but did not work with the offense. He went through individual rehabilitation drills along with tight end J.J. Hair (hip) and Austin. Middle linebacker Christian Taylor did not practice in order to rest a nagging ankle injury. Outside linebacker Aaron Whittington and running back Kahlil Bell, who both suffered injured ankles against Notre Dame, did not practice.

lonnie.white@latimes.com