Jake Dickert said Washington State’s play-call on a crucial fourth down late in the 25-17 loss to UCLA was simply a case of wanting to get the best play for a critical situation.

With Cougs trailing by eight and less than two minutes on the clock, Washington State was in a must-go situation. A third-and-5 pass to Billy Riviere came up just short of the sticks and Wazzu faced a fourth-and-1 from the UCLA 40.

The call was a designed quarterback keeper for Cameron Ward. UCLA stone-walled the play, stuffing Ward at the line of scrimmage and giving the ball back to the offense to kneel out the rest of the clock.

“You know, we called the timeout and we said best play,” Dickert said after the game. “We thought we could get them in an unbalanced (look) where they were normally a pretty basic defense. They stayed in their pressure situation and they won that play.”

You can certainly understand the thinking. Ward is the best player for Washington State, and he’s slippery with the ball in his hands.

But the Cougs have been a poor rushing team all season. Against UCLA — the nation’s stingiest defense — Wazzu had only 37 rushing yards if you account for sacks. The offensive line was not a strength.

For his part, Ward shouldered blame.

He said the two interceptions he threw were a large part of why Washington State lost.

“Our defense normally does the job. We have one of the best defenses in the Pac-12 and country, for sure,” Ward said. “They’re always going to put us in a situation to win, we just didn’t help them out as much as we needed to today. We’ll go back to the lab.”