Defense Stops Ward, Wazzu as Bruins Win, 25-17
The pass defense proved itself today against the third-ranked passer in the country.
Coming into today’s game Washington State quarterback Cameron Ward had been averaging more than 347 yards per game. Today, the Bruin pass defense held him to just 197 yards passing. More importantly, Ward threw more passes into the hands of Bruins than he got into the end zone, throwing two picks to just one touchdown pass.
Not surprisingly, UCLA held the Cougars to just 12 net yards rushing on 19 carries. That’s an average of 0.6 yards per carry.
Yes, my friends, the Bruin defense is for real, and the rest of the Pac-12 will need to take notice.
How big was the play by the defense today?
Of the Cougars’ first ten drives, six of them ended in a punt, three ended in a turnover with two fumbles and an interception, and one ended in a field goal.
In fact, all ten of Washington State’s first half points came as a result of Bruin offensive miscues.
After the Cougars went three-and-out to start the game, Dante Moore threw an interception on the Bruins’ third play from scrimmage. That gave Wazzu the ball on the Bruin 19, but the defense held strong and forced the Cougars to take the three points and like it, even if it took three attempts due to penalties.
On the ensuing drive, UCLA drove down to the Washington State 29, but RJ Lopez missed a 47-yard field goal attempt.
Washington State drove into Bruin territory but Choe Bryant-Strother forced a fumble which was recovered by UCLA, giving the Bruins the ball on the Washington State 37-yard line.
That led to a 9-play, 63-yard drive that ended in an 11-yard touchdown pass from Moore to Logan Loya. The extra point by Lopez was no good and UCLA led, 6-3.
With 4:54 to go in the half, the defense intercepted a pass from Ward. This time, the offense drove 46 yards on 9 plays, but the drive stalled on the WSU 19-yard line and Lopez made the 37-yard attempt to put the Bruins up, 9-3.
Following another three-and-out by the Cougars, Moore led the offense down to the Wazzu 5-yard line. On 3rd-and-goal, Moore threw his second interception. This time, Washington State’s Kapena Gushiken took it to the house for an 88-yard pick six, putting the Cougars ahead 10-9 at the half.
The second half began with the teams trading four punts. UCLA’s third drive of the second half saw the Bruins move 29 yards before a pair of incomplete passes brought up a 4th-and-8. Lopez made the 32-yard field goal as UCLA re-took the lead, 12-10.
Washington State’s next drive was the only drive where the Bruin defense gave up a touchdown. Ward moved the Cougars down to the UCLA 9 on just two plays before finding Nakia Watson for a 9-yard touchdown, putting Wazzu back up 17-12.
UCLA’s next drive ended with a 33-yard field goal attempt by Lopez which was blocked.
Following another punt by the Cougs, the UCLA offense finally put a complete drive together, moving 63 yards on nine plays. On the tenth play of the drive, Moore handed off to Keegan Jones, who did his best impression of Demetria Felton by scampering 13 yards for a touchdown.
When Washington State got the ball back, the defense came through again, picking off another pass from Ward on the first play of the drive. The Bruins took over with a short field on the WSU 36. On the fourth play of the drive, Chip Kelly went back to the same play that Jones had scored on the drive before. This time, it resulted in a 22-yard TD run by him.
That put the Bruins ahead, 25-17.
With 4:17 left, Washington State took over following a UCLA punt. The Cougars moved the ball well, marching 33 yards on eight plays. That left Wazzu with a 4th-and-one on the Bruin 40. But, again, the Bruin defense held strong by stopping a rushing attempt by Ward to turn the ball over on downs and the Bruins won, 25-17.
Go Bruins!!!
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This is the best defense in years, maybe decades. I saw DTR at the game and wondered how much different his record and legacy would have been with a defense like this one.
I'm not a "South Campus" guy :) but the Transitive Property is always interesting when applied to college teams - Wazoo beat Oregon St, who beat Utah, who beat UCLA, who beat... Wazoo. What do all those wins have in common? The home team won. Now, that said, unlike those other 3, we're growing behind a true-frosh QB & defense travels, especially a physical defense like we showed out yesterday, so if the O-Line is up to the challenge in Corvallis, I like our chances to go get the big road win that so many others haven't been able to pull off. Great scheme and effort in the heat yesterday!