Bru-Wins, Again! UCLA Tops Michigan State, 38-13
Jalen Berger had a breakout day scoring three touchdowns against his former team.
The Bruin resurgence continued this morning as UCLA travelled to East Lansing, Michigan and, after they allowed a score on the Spartans’ first drive, they proceeded to completely dismantle Michigan State.
How easily did the Bruins win today’s game? The end of the game saw the team do something it hasn’t done in quite a while. UCLA sat down starting quarterback Nico Iamaleava with four minutes to go and sent backup Luke Duncan in for mop-up duty.
UCLA took the opening kickoff and the Bruins’ first drive was a quick three-and-out.
After a 34-yard punt by Will Karoll, the Spartans took over on their own 41. Aidan Chiles led Michigan State on a 10-play, 59-yard drive that ended with Chiles running the ball in from the two for the first score of the game.
The Bruins took over on their own 25 and they moved 46 yards on ten plays. Facing a fourth-and-four on the Michigan State 29, Tim Skipper opted to take the field goal and sent out Mateen Bhaghani for a 47-yarder, which cut the difference to 7-3.
On the Spartans’ next drive, they faced a fourth-and-one on their own 34. When Michigan State chose to go for it, UCLA’s defense stepped up and stopped Makhi Frazier for no gain to turn the ball over on downs. More importantly, the Bruins took over with great field position on the Spartan 34.
The first two plays of the Bruin drive saw Anthony Woods gain 17 yards first and another yard next. On second-and-nine, Jerry Neuheisel reached into his bag of tricks, lining up Iamaleava in shotgun formation with Jalen Berger in the backfield with him. Before the snap, Iamaleava and Berger shifted right and Berger took the snap and rumbled in for almost untouched for a touchdown. That was the first rushing touchdown of the season for a Bruin running back, and it gave the Bruins a 10-7 lead.
The Bruin defense held the Spartans to another three-and-out on their next possession and UCLA took over on the Bruins’ 37-yard line.
This time, the Bruins moved 63 yards on 10 plays and Barger scored again, this time on a three-yard pass reception from Iamaleava, and UCLA took a 17-7 lead. That score would prove to be the game-winner but the Bruins didn’t stop there.
The UCLA defense held the Spartans to another three-and-out, albeit an uncoventional one. On third-and-one from the Michigan State 34, Frazier picked up and eight yard gain and gave the Spartans a first down, but Chiles dropped back to pass on first down. While Devin Aiupiu was in the process of sacking Chiles, he knocked the ball out of Chiles’ hand and Siale Taupaki recovered the fumble, giving the Bruins the ball on the Michigan State 32-yard line.
With a short field to work with, Iamaleava went back to work. Following an incomplete pass, Woods picked up 11 yards on the ground. Six plays later, it was third-and-goal from the twelve after a false start call. That’s when Iamaleava found Titus Mokiao-Atimalala in the end zone for a 12-yard touchdown pass. That gave UCLA a 24-7 lead with just over four minutes to go in the half.
Again, the Bruin defense held the Spartans to three-and-out and UCLA took over on their own 42-yard line with 2:41 to go.
Iamaleava found Mikey Matthews on first down for a big 37-yard gain to give the Bruins the ball at the Michigan State 21, but holding calls on Courtland Ford and Kwazi Gilmer on two of the next three plays backed UCLA up to the 33. Three plays later, the Bruins were looking at fourth-and-five with 1:19 left. Tim Skipper decided to try to add on three more and sent out Bhaghani for a 34-yard field goal, but Bhaghani had a tough angle kicking from the right hash mark and he hit it off the left upright in a rare miss by the Bruin kicker.
Again, the Bruin defense held the Spartans to a three-and-out, giving UCLA the ball back on their own 35, but after a two-yard gain by Berger up the middle, Skipper opted to run the clock out and head to the locker room with a 24-7 lead.
The third quarter looked a lot like the first two. Michigan State got the ball to start the half and moved the ball more like their first drive of the game, but on the eighth play of the drive, Chiles took off to the right and spun right into Keanu Williams. That sent Chiles to the injury tent and Alessio Milivojevic took over at quarterback for the Spartans. On fourth-and-sixth, Andre Jordan, Jr. broke up a pass inside the five intended for Nick Marsh and UCLA took over on downs.
The Bruins proceeded to drive 62 yard on 12 plays with Javian Thomas scoring on a one-yard run to make it 31-7, Bruins.
Again, the Bruin defense held the Spartans. UCLA took over on downs after Michigan State went for it on fourth-and-one on the Spartan 34 and Frazier lost a yard.
Five plays later, Iamaleava tossed it into the flat to Jalen Berger who caught the pass at the 13 and he ran it into the end zone from there, giving UCLA a 38-7 lead.
Michigan State finally found the end zone again on a five-yard touchdown pass from Milivojevic to Marsh to cap a nine-play, 75-yard drive, but Martin Connington’s PAT was no good and the score was 38-13 with 13:09 left.
The Bruins only moved 28 yards on their next drive even though they managed to burn just over six minutes off the clock as Michigan State took over following the Bruins’ second punt of the day on their own 11. Eventually, the Spartans had a fourth-and-eight on the UCLA 42-yard line, but Milivojevic’s incompletion intended for Chrishon McCray turned it over.
When the Bruins took over, Luke Duncan entered the game at quarterback and Tim Skipper started to empty the UCLA bench a little while they ran out the clock.
Iamaleava finished the day going 16-for-24 for 180 yards with three touchdowns. Meanwhile, the Bruins gained 238 rushing yards on the day. Jalen Berger gained 89 rushing yards on 12 carries to go with his 24 receiving yards against his former team. Berger scored two receiving touchdowns and a rushing touchdown. Javian Thomas ran the ball well too, carrying 12 times for 54 yards and a touchdown. Mikey Matthews led the team with 46 yards on two receptions.
But the real story of the day was the Bruin defense, which held the Spartans to just 97 rushing yards and 166 passing yards for a total of 253 yards. More importantly, they got the stops they needed to get off the field all game long which prevented Michigan State from coming back the way Penn State did last week.
Now, this is still a relatively small sample size but the Bruins have looked like one of the better teams in the nation the past two weeks. If they had played like this during the first four weeks of the season, this team might actually be undefeated.
The next four games should be interesting. In two weeks, the Bruins travel to Bloomington to face the Indiana Hoosiers, who entered today ranked 7th in the nation. After that, they host Nebraska before heading to Columbus to play Ohio State. The games against Indiana and Ohio State now are starting to look interesting.
But, first, UCLA hosts Maryland at the Rose Bowl next Saturday. Kickoff is set for 4 pm PT.
Go Bruins!!!
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From the LA Times:
Things were going so well for the Bruins that UCLA athletic director Martin Jarmond came over to where a Times reporter was sitting in the press box late in the third quarter to discuss the changes he had made in the coaching staff that helped spark the team’s turnaround.
Can you believe this guy? SMH
U.C.L.A. Football is a freaking juggernaut!!!
Well...ok. Maybe not.
But this is a lot more fun than the first 3 and a half weeks of football. Kudos to the "new" staff for the fresh approach and for putting the kids in a position to succeed. Kudos to the players for not packing it in when things hit rock bottom and embracing a new opportunity. I am so happy for the joy they are experiencing now after such a brutal start.
I hope this team can keep the momentum going and salvage some of Foster's recruiting class. I hope that Coach Skipper and Little Neu retain their interim tags until a thorough and legit search of proper candidates is done. And I hope Jonathan Smith was thanked for his "interview" today but informed that we will not be extending an offer at this time.