Chips are down for UCLA at end

LAS VEGAS -- UCLA tailback Chris Markey walked off the field slowly Saturday, alone in a crowd, oblivious to the joyous whoops of the BYU fans who swarmed onto the field at Sam Boyd Stadium.

His helmet dangling from his right hand, he trudged toward the UCLA locker room for the last time as a Bruin. His thoughts skimmed past the injuries that slowed him this season and lit on the tenacious effort he mustered Saturday, grinding out 117 yards in 27 carries.

Plagued this season by turf toe, a shoulder problem and a stress fracture in his foot, he was determined to end on a good note, with a victory.

Like defensive end Bruce Davis and strong safety Chris Horton, also seniors, Markey was emotionally and physically geared up to go out with a flourish.

Each of them left a good deal of his sweat and his heart on the field during the Bruins’ 17-16 Las Vegas Bowl loss to the Cougars.

None regretted a moment of it.

“My last game as a senior. That’s all the motivation I needed,” Markey said. “Plus my teammates.

“I had the mind-set coming into the game, ‘I’m going to put the offense on my shoulders and come into this game and win,’ but we fell a little short.”

They fell short by the length of the fingers on the outstretched hands of BYU defensive lineman Eathyn Manumaleuna, who blocked Kai Forbath’s 28-yard field-goal attempt with help from defensive lineman Brett Denney.

The Bruins fell short by one point and wished there were more games to play, more chances to redeem themselves.

More chances to play for interim Coach DeWayne Walker too.

Maybe the players who return next season will get that chance -- if the search to replace Karl Dorrell has a more satisfying resolution than Saturday’s game did.

UCLA’s postgame news conference turned into an unsolicited infomercial for Walker’s candidacy for the permanent job. Markey offered a succinct “Hire Coach Walker.” Horton, who was credited with five solo tackles and assists on two others Saturday, said Walker “knows how to get the best out of his players.”

Davis, a second-team All-American and semifinalist for the Bednarik award, said Walker “should be the future of this program, and it’s going to be a sad thing if they don’t hire him as the head coach.

“What he’s done with this team, the way the team’s responded the past two weeks, you know, he’s done everything that he could. He and the rest of the staff stepped into a pretty tough situation. He dealt with things that some coaches never have to deal with in their entire lives.”

Walker had only a few weeks to work magic, and he did what he could. Some of it worked. After giving up 17 points in the first half, the Bruins’ defense shut out the Cougars in the second half.

“We didn’t want to give up 17 points, but they made some plays early in the game,” Horton said.

It was a game that often turned chippy, and Davis’ aggressive tackles of quarterback Max Hall in the first half led to some pushing and shoving and hockey-like scrums.

That’s the part Davis liked best.

“It was definitely a battle, knew it would be a battle like this and we gave it everything we had,” Davis said as he peeled adhesive tape off his fingers in the cramped visitor’s locker room.

“It was definitely heartbreaking, but I have nothing to be disappointed about. Not a thing.

“Every single person and every coach on this team just played as hard as they could and coached as hard as they could. We made some mistakes, but we never hung our heads. We kept fighting and that’s all you can ask.”

Maybe you could have asked for more, but that’s all the Bruins were going to get Saturday, a frustrating and inconsistent performance that ended a frustrating and inconsistent season.

At least they gave themselves a chance to win this one, and they thought they were about to pull it out when they saw Forbath line up for that field-goal try with three seconds left.

“It’s rough,” Horton said of the 180-degree turn their emotions took when the attempt was blocked.

“You battle out there an entire game and we get our last drive and we get in field-goal position and [going from] just knowing we’re going to win the game to them blocking the field goal it’s tough, really tough. Especially for seniors. But that’s football.”

Although the season has ended, the coaching search continues. Rick Neuheisel remains the favorite, especially among alumni, but Walker is expected to advance to the next level of the process and have an audience with UCLA Chancellor Gene Block this week.

Markey is optimistic that the program he leaves behind is in good shape, regardless of the next coach. The future for UCLA, he said, “is only up. UCLA’s a great program and we’re going to be a force to be reckoned with in years to come.”

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Helene Elliott can be reached at helene.elliott@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Elliott, go to latimes.com/elliott.