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Junior defensive end Justin Hickman had what he called “a career game” Saturday with

PALO ALTO — UCLA junior defensive end Justin Hickman called the game the best game of his career, recording three key sacks late in the fourth and overtime period of his team’s dramatic 30-27 win over Stanford on Saturday. With the offense rolling as it was midway through the fourth quarter, the defense, especially Hickman, took it upon itself to give the ball back to the offense. “We knew we had to make some stops,” Hickman said. “We saw how the offense was just moving it in the fourth, so we wanted to get the ball back to them and it ended the way it did.” After the Bruins tied the game up at 24-24, Stanford had the ball with less than 35 seconds remaining. Cardinal quarterback Trent Edwards was scrambling to find an open receiver only to have the 261-pound Hickman drag him down for a 9-yard loss. The sack pushed the Cardinal out of field goal range, effectively sending the game into overtime. “Coach (Larry Kerr) just called a defensive line stunt, and the defensive tackle next to me, Chase Moline, did a great job of occupying the guarding tackle, and I just came free and made the play,” Hickman said. In the overtime period, Hickman once again came up big when the Cardinal were on UCLA’s 18-yard line with a third-and-three conversion. Hickman read Edwards’ eyes perfectly and was able to sack him for the second time in the game. It was a 7-yard loss, and Stanford had to settle for a field goal. “They were killing us in short yardage and on third downs they were running the naked bootleg, and (Kerr) said the backside would be responsible for the quarterback,” Hickman said. “I had a feeling they were going to call the naked boot, so when he turned around, I was right there and caught him good.”

FOURTH QUARTER CLAMP: The Bruins’ defense stepped up again in the fourth quarter, registering two three-and-out possessions by Stanford. UCLA gave up 51 yards of total offense in the final regulation period and allowed just one third-down conversion to the Cardinal in four tries. Before the fourth quarter, Stanford was 5-for-10 on third-down conversions. “There’s only one word that sums up the whole thing – heart,” sophomore defensive end Bruce Davis said. “We believe in each other and we played for each other. “It seemed like (Stanford) was just holding the ball the entire time, trying to run the clock. We wanted to stop them on defense.”

CABLE’S LINE: After only having 147 yards of total offense, UCLA offensive coordinator Tom Cable called the offensive line “really, really bad up front.” “Our tempo was so out of whack,” Cable said. “Kind of moseying around the line of scrimmage, moseying on our routes, moseying all over the place. It looked like we didn’t prepare properly. ... We were the Bad News Bears.”

CLOCK MANAGEMENT: After Edwards was sacked by Hickman, the Cardinal had 21 seconds remaining in regulation with the game tied at 24 apiece. Stanford was on its own 32-yard line with one timeout remaining, but elected to let the clock run out. The crowd began to boo Stanford as players went to their sideline.

BELL IS BACKUP: Freshman Kahlil Bell, who recorded seven yards on two carries, was given the nod as backup running back for the Bruins because of Chris Markey’s loss in the family earlier in the week. Markey flew out to New Orleans to attend the funeral of his cousin Gale August, 39. Markey arrived at the San Francisco International Airport around 11 a.m. Saturday and played in the game behind Maurice Drew and Bell. “I’ve grieved; I’ve cried,” Markey said. “I’m not going to let it get to me. I have to put it behind me sometime.”

INJURY TIME: Starting running back Drew suffered a knee contusion midway through the fourth quarter, but eventually returned to the game. His first rushing touchdown moved him into the top-10 all-time at UCLA in scoring after rumbling in for a 6-yard touchdown with 7:04 remaining in the fourth quarter.

NOTES: At the end of the second quarter, kicker Justin Medlock pushed a 32-yarder left of the goal post. This was Medlock’s first missed field goal between 30-39 yards. He is now 10-14 on the season for field goals converted ... Stanford had its longest win streak since 2001 of three games snapped with the loss on Saturday ... 42,850 were on hand to witness the Bruins’ come-from-behind victory. ... Cardinal senior J.R. Lemon made his first start of the season as running back and scored two touchdowns, including his first career receiving touchdown. Lemon recorded a season-high 53 yards on the ground and 50 yards in the air as a receiver.