UCLA is being patient with junior college transfer quarterback Kevin Craft, who's had one brilliant half in two games this year.

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Kevin Craft was a mess in his first-ever half as UCLA's quarterback, a hero in his second.

He threw four first-half interceptions against Tennessee, but rallied the Bruins for two fourth-quarter touchdown drives and a win on Sept. 1.

Then in Game 2, the Bruins were destroyed at BYU 59-0.

You would think Craft's head — and UCLA in general — must be spinning.

Right?

"I don't think that we're too worried about who we are," the junior college transfer said softly Wednesday.

Entering Saturday's home game with Arizona, the Bruins have chosen to put blinders on.

In a good way, they hope.

Before the season, UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel received a letter from legendary basketball coach John Wooden.

"Long before any championships were ever won at UCLA," the letter read, "I came to understand that losing is only temporary, and not all-encompassing. You must simply study it, learn from it, and try hard not to lose the same way again. Then you must have the self-control to forget about it."

Neuheisel, who visited Wooden's apartment after being hired, has spent the week preaching optimism to his team.

"It just goes without saying that this guy has got more wisdom than any combination of 100 people you can imagine," Neuheisel said. "If you break down his axioms, his principles of coaching and life, they make all the sense in the world. None of them say anything about panic, quick fixes, knee-jerk reactions."

The Bruins have problems. They have rushed for 47 yards on 38 carries this season behind a makeshift offensive line. They have turned the ball over eight times — including three fumbles in a second quarter Saturday that saw BYU score 35 points.

"The scoreboard looks like a slot machine when that happens," Neuheisel said.

The UCLA coach said he thought Craft's decision-making, "with a couple exceptions, was better" against BYU. But throwing 39 times, as the Bruins did Saturday, "is probably too much to ask of our line in terms of protection," Neuheisel said.

Craft knows the Bruins need balance.

"We got down pretty fast and we got out of our gameplan," he said. "It kind of limited what we were doing. As an offense, you want to have a running game, an even offense where you can run and pass."

Against Arizona, and every team, all the first-year coach asks is for his team to have a chance to win in the fourth quarter.

He has hung a sign in the UCLA locker room that reads "Relentlessly Positive."

"This was one game," cornerback Alterraun Verner said. "It was a minor setback."

In the preseason, UCLA fans would have been happy to start 1-1 against Top 25 teams.

"There's a tendency — at least from outside — that there needs to be an overreaction," he said. "We need to guard against that."

Neuheisel has talked to Craft about expectations. He quoted his former UCLA coach, Terry Donahue, who said players are never as good as they think they are, but never as bad, either.

"It might not have the pop of coach Wooden's peaks and valleys," Neuheisel said. "But it's all the same."

● Senior running back Kahlil Bell "probably could play" Saturday after suffering an ankle injury in Week 1, Neuheisel said. The coach has not ruled him out, but said "maybe the smarter thing is to rest him."

● Middle linebacker Reggie Carter has been moved to the weak side for Saturday's game, replacing Kyle Bosworth, who will miss at least two games with a sprained knee. Carter played the weak-side spot last season. Freshman Steve Sloan will play in the middle and call plays.