The Eye Test: UCLA Shows Growing Pains Against Coastal Carolina

There were bumps and warts throughout, but the Bruins did ultimately win the game.

Carson Steele had one touchdown on the day for the Bruins. (Photo credit: Scott Chandler/uclabruins.com)

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Well, that was certainly one way to start the season. You would think I would not be surprised by now, and yet.

The UCLA Bruins under Chip Kelly have a very frustrating tendency they do in the first few games of the year, where Coach Kelly seemingly treats these games with little care or focus, choosing to use them as a live practice of sorts to figure various things out. It creates an extremely frustrating viewing experience for fans as the team does not look fully cooked by any stretch of the imagination, and it causes a lot of heated discussion in the fanbase as a result. The whole thing is an exercise in futility for everyone involved.

But I’ll talk about that more in a bit, let’s get to the housekeeping first.

Welcome to the Eye Test! The Eye Test is our way to break down each UCLA football game to determine how the team performed on an individual and team-wide level, and gauge how the team is progressing throughout the season. The Eye Test is divided into five categories, shown here with a quick breakdown of what is in each grade:

• Offense - Fairly simple, this is just the offensive players and how they played. Scheme and playcalling are mostly ignored here, instead focusing on individuals.

• Defense - Same thing as offense, but with the defensive players.

• Special Teams - Same thing as the previous two categories, but this tends to be more of a pass/fail section. Still, special teams are important and can win or lose you a game, so they get their own section.

• Coaching - This gets into things like scheme, playcalling, roster management and the like, separated out into offense, defense, and overall.

• Vibes - A pass/fail category where I’m just measuring the feelings around the program both before and during the game. Quality of play from the team can influence the grade here.

Couple more bits of housekeeping before we get started. First, grades are up to my discretion and are completely arbitrary. I’m sure people will feel differently about certain things, and I encourage you to head into the comments to tell me I’m a big stinky doo-doo head, but I’m just putting it out there now so that people know what’s going on. Second, the detail in the write-ups will vary from time to time, mostly in the first few sections for the simple fact that I get bored writing the same thing over and over on a weekly basis. Assume that if I don’t talk about a specific player or unit, they were either fine or did not play, and I want to talk more about the players and units that did impact the game the most.

Alright, let’s get into the first Eye Test of the year.

Offense

Quarterback: C+

Cumulative grade here, and if I were to separate the two quarterbacks out, Ethan Garbers would have gotten a C- while Dante Moore would have been closer to a B.

Let’s start with Garbers since, well, he started the game. Garbers first drive was perfectly fine; he was off on a few throws but settled down and threw a nice ball to Carsen Ryan for the touchdown. The second drive similarly started out very well, as Garbers made a lot of really good decisions and strong throws to get Kyle Ford and J.Michael Sturdivant in space.

And then the first interception happened.

This was simply a bad decision by Garbers. He had plenty of time and a clean pocket, so you can’t blame pressure on this one like you could for his second interception. He also had options, so trying to force the ball into Kam Brown at that spot was a decision on his part. But it was a really bad decision that denied UCLA the chance to put more points on the board. Maybe more importantly, the decision caused Garbers to play much more tentatively for the rest of the game, as he refused to put the ball downfield, held the ball far too long, and did not play with any confidence for the rest of the game. This felt like a player who was pressing and trying not to lose a job rather than trying to win a job, and it showed - Garbers only completed three of his six passes after the first interception for only 19 yards.

Dante Moore, on the flip side, played like a guy trying to win the starting quarterback job. Moore is going to make true freshman mistakes - his lone interception came in part because he refused to just throw the ball out the back of the end zone and instead was trying to force something - but what stood out in this game was his willingness and confidence to keep trying big plays. Moore could have settled a number of times with simple check-downs but instead was willing to push the ball downfield, and you could tell on passes like his touchdown to Sturdivant that he trusts his touch and accuracy on those balls. That was one of his biggest strengths as a recruit, and if he can hit those passes with any sort of regularity, it should go a long way toward helping the rest of the offense work smoothly.

I think we’ll see another quarterback rotation this week, possibly with Moore getting the start instead of Garbers. I’d expect we will see Collin Schlee this week as well, but likely just for certain formations.

Running Back: B+

I will be honest and say I expected more from Carson Steele in this game. I tend to be a bit skeptical of players jumping up from the mid-major ranks to play Power Five football, as there is a bit of a talent jump, but this was a game against the type of mid-major opponent that Steele feasted on last year. Steele was fine - he ended the game with 76 yards on 13 carries for an impressive 5.8 Yards Per Carry - but he did not have the kind of explosion I was expecting for a guy with his pedigree. Hopefully, Steele’s strength translates further into the season, because he’s going to need to break tackles more often than not to have positive rushing plays. He did show solid hands coming out of the backfield, which is a positive.

T.J. Harden was the better running back in this game, not by a huge amount but it felt as though Harden just had that extra gear that Steele does not possess. Part of it is speed; Harden is a faster running back but doesn’t sacrifice power in the process. Harden also finished with 76 yards but did so on only 11 carries for a 6.9 (nice) YPC on the day. If Harden can show off increased pass-catching ability, he should be in line to take over as the bellcow back similar to Zach Charbonnet.

Receivers: A-

It’s so nice to have a potential NFL-level wide receiver like J.Michael Sturdivant. I’m not talking a guy who can stick around an NFL roster like a Kyle Philips or a Jake Bobo; I’m talking about a guy who is going to be a clear Day Two draft pick with all kinds of talent. Similarly, Kyle Ford would have been the #1 option on last year’s team, so having both of them on the field at the same time makes this by far the best receiving room UCLA has had under Chip Kelly. These guys need to be on the field almost the entire time.

Outside of those two, I felt the receivers did fine. Logan Loya had a good connection with Garbers, which makes sense since they’ve been in the program together for a few years. Walk-on Ryan Cragun played a decent amount and had a catch, which is interesting but not something I would prefer to see much of going forward when there are more talented receivers on the roster. Carsen Ryan seemed to be the primary tight end, though the others did play a good amount as well. I think Ryan ended up in that position because he is the best pass-catcher of the group at the moment and UCLA was spreading the field more instead of using power formations.

Offensive Line: B-

This grade is a bit inflated, but that’s due to it being a largely new group and generally playing fine. The Bruins only had two returning offensive linemen in Duke Clemens and Garrett DiGiorgio, and both were solid. DiGiorgio had perhaps the best game of the Bruin offensive linemen and looks much improved to start this season, which is a good sign considering he was by far the weak link of last year’s starting group. Clemens was a bit more up-and-down, but that’s to be expected when he had a lot of extra responsibilities in calling things for a new group of linemen.

Of the new guys, I thought Josh Carlin had by far the best day. He was one of the surprise starters alongside Bruno Fina, and watching Carlin compared to Jake Wiley, it became clear why Carlin was getting the nod. Carlin looked confident in his movements and played like a veteran at times, while Wiley definitely looks like more of a work-in-progress as he unlearns some bad habits he picked up last year at Colorado. Bruno Fina similarly played well, though in his case it looks like Khadere Kounta is also a starter-level player who is simply shaking off some rust and getting acclimated to a new system. Finally, Spencer Holstege looked solid but unspectacular at left guard.

Now, all of this is not to say that the group did not struggle. Eventually, Coastal Carolina shifted their defensive philosophy towards sending more pressure, and the offensive line struggled to pick up where that pressure was coming from at times. It’s understandable - the line is new to working together and will need to develop their communication and teamwork over these next few games. But for a first outing, this was perfectly acceptable.

Overall: B-

This grade was really hampered by the play of Ethan Garbers after the first quarter and the general roughness of the offensive line, but if you’re judging the players on their own, I felt the group did a fine job. I came away from the game feeling very sure about who should be getting the lion’s share of snaps at various positions, and hopefully, the coaching staff feels the same way.

Defense

Front Seven (Defensive Line and Linebackers): A-

I went into this game very apprehensive on how the defense would look, partly due to the Bruins having a new defensive coordinator but also because Coastal Carolina has had a good offense these past few years with Grayson McCall running things at quarterback. But the departure of head coach Jamey Chadwell to Liberty combined with the hiring of Tim Beck as head coach shifted things for the Chaunticleers; while Coastal still ran some of the option concepts they had run under Chadwell, they were clearly shifting towards more of a traditional offense.

It’s in that context that I’m able to say the front seven did an excellent job in this game. They weren’t asked to identify where the ball was as much as they would have been against past Coastal teams, and that played to their advantage and allowed their talent to shine through. Laiatu Latu is still an absolute force, finishing with three sacks and a forced fumble on the day, while Jay Toia had by far his best game as a Bruin, looking like an excellent interior balance to Latu on the outside. Maybe the best sign was how often Carl Jones was on the field - the senior has long been a favorite of mine and many (look, we Bakersfield people have to back our own), but he was put on the field a large amount, and made an impact, which we hope is a trend that will continue throughout the season. The Murphy twins…well, they looked fine, but they also looked fine in the nonconference last year as well, when they got to play opponents at a level they were more comfortable with.

The linebackers had a solid game as well, with Darius Muasau and Kain Medrano taking the bulk of the snaps while Oluwafemi Oladejo and Ale Kaho rotated in sparingly. It was interesting to see a shorter rotation with this group compared to the large rotations everywhere else, and specifically leaving Oladejo and Kaho on minimal snaps when I consider both to be better players than Muasau, but this could be a case of needing to get both players up to speed (Oladejo is a transfer and Kaho was out all of last year due to injury, only returning this fall).

Safeties: B+

I’m separating the safeties away from the cornerbacks because they do not deserve that grade. Kamari Ramsey looked really good in his first lengthy game action and probably has that one safety spot locked down for the foreseeable future. Across from him, Kenny Churchwell looked perfectly serviceable especially in run support, though his coverage ability could use some work. The depth behind was a bit questionable; Jordan Anderson did not seem to make an impact and I’ve seen enough of William Nimmo over the years to know he’s depth and nothing more. That said, the coverage breakdowns were not this group’s fault, so they get that grade.

Cornerbacks: D-

Here’s the big Achilles heel of the 2023 UCLA defense, just as it has been for the past few years.

In watching the game back, a lot of the problems with the cornerbacks come down to not understanding how to play the situation presented. Too often, the corner in question (and generally, this was John Humphrey and Devin Kirkwood) would stand at the yard to gain and immediately back up at the snap, giving the receivers a free release and a cushion to sit at the first down marker and make an easy conversion. These same bad habits existed under previous coaching staffs, and considering some of those coaches (namely, Brian Norwood) are still here, it’s not shocking to see those habits still around. This is where D’Anton Lynn and Kodi Whitfield are going to have to make their money, because if they can get this group to play with more physicality and better situational recognition, then the rest of the defense should be able to pick them up.

I do want to note that the reason this grade is not a complete F is that Jaylen Davies actually had a good game, and his interception really helped shift momentum right when the Bruins needed it. Davies is the only Bruin who has had a college coach other than Norwood and it showed in how he has adapted to the new scheme, showing a better feel for where he is supposed to be. Hopefully the rest of this unit can make the adjustments as well.

Overall: C+

Honestly, if UCLA can figure something out with the cornerbacks, this has the makings of a pretty good defense. The Bruins did an excellent job bottling up what has been a potent Coastal Carolina rushing attack, limiting it to 56 yards on 1.6 YPC. But the Bruins really struggled to stop the Chanticleers through the air until late, and a slew of penalties (four of which were offsides, and that doesn’t include the few that were declined) hurts this a bit. Still, this was an encouraging first game, all things considered.

Special Teams

Overall: A-

I had some questions about how this unit would look, and through one game things look mostly fine! RJ Lopez shifted over to handle field goal duties and calmly nailed every single kick, including a 47-yarder late that seemed as much an opportunity to let him try out his range in a game situation than anything else. With Lopez assuming field goal duties, Blake Glessner took over on kickoffs and, outside of his first kick that he sent out of bounds, did a good job as well. Will Powers was a revelation at punter, averaging 48.7 yards on his two punts, landing both inside the 20 and one of them pinning Coastal Carolina at the 1-yard line. Logan Loya did not get a chance to return punts, but he at least looked sure-handed in a situation where the Bruins were continually playing punt-safe to protect against a fake.

The one question remains Colson Yankoff as kick returner, a move that feels designed to give the redshirt senior something to do in his final year as a thank you for his constant positional shifts than anything else. Yankoff was fine on his returns, but it never felt as if there was a possibility of him breaking off a big return, as he’s more of a bruising runner than a speedster.

Coaching

Defensive Playcalling: B

This was the first time we’ve seen what a D’Anton Lynn defense looks like, and the early results are promising. The Bruins held Coastal Carolina to only 345 yards of offense and 4.5 Yards Per Play. The front seven in particular looked inspired, getting four sacks and 10 tackles for loss in the game, which is more than UCLA got in a single game last year. Part of this was just general improvement from a host of players, but Lynn and the defensive coaching staff were clever about when they were sending extra pressure and from what angles. There were multiple Coastal Carolina plays that got blown up immediately because a linebacker joined in on a rush and completely overwhelmed part of the Coastal offensive line. Grayson McCall’s fourth quarter in particular felt like the result of an aggressive defensive front getting home often enough to make a normally-composed quarterback feel uncomfortable. I also felt the run defense was pretty stout, impressive considering Coastal Carolina did not completely abandon the option concepts they have used in years prior. I think San Diego State will provide a stiffer test as to whether this is a mirage or not.

The secondary scheme did not seem to match this aggressiveness, but I’m not sure if this was a scheme issue or if the corners just did not understand what they were supposed to do. I get the feeling that, defensively, Lynn and the staff treated this similarly to Kelly on offense, seeing what his players could do, what their strengths and weaknesses are, and if they could adapt to the game. There have already been practice reports from this week that UCLA is working heavily on press coverage and being more physical, which would line up with this train of thinking.

I think we’ll see some adjustments with this group in the coming weeks, but if UCLA can shore up the secondary schematically so that it better complements the defensive front, this has the makings of a solid defense. Just need to get off the field quicker.

Overall: C+

I’m eschewing the offense this week because, by and large, Chip Kelly kept things as vanilla as possible. But I did say I would talk about Chip Kelly’s frustrating habits in regard to the nonconference schedule, so this is as good a spot as any.

Chip Kelly often uses the first few games of the season to help him evaluate talent and get players’ reps throughout the depth chart. This is smart in some regards, as it allows the team to build playable depth should they be needed later in the season and takes advantage of the current redshirt rules, but there’s a flip side to this as well. Specifically, it feels as though a number of position battles were taking place on the field in this game when they should have been settled in practice by now, or evaluations were being made mid-game. Just running down the list:

• Quarterback. I’m not going to expand on this one, we’ve talked about it already and it’s the most prominent example.

• Running back, where Carson Steele and TJ Harden essentially rotated quarters.

• Offensive line, where it appears there is still an open battle for both guard spots and the left tackle position.

• Wide receiver, which saw a large rotation of players taking snaps despite new rules incentivizing playing your best players as often as possible.

• The secondary felt like an open evaluation period for what this group can and cannot do all day.

On top of all that, Chip Kelly had a halftime interview where he lambasted the new rule changes which work to shorten the amount of plays in a given game while not actually working to shorten the length of a game itself. On its face, again, good job speaking out against the obviously dumb thing, Chip. But the lashing out at the big corporations at that moment seemed a reaction to the fact that Kelly and his staff seemingly weren’t prepared for the game to move at that pace. Kelly clearly wanted to get Dante Moore into the game earlier but waited until Garbers had gotten three drives in. Unfortunately, that meant that Moore was limited to only one drive in the first half, and when the game resumed to start the third quarter, Garbers was back on the field (Moore would not return until the fourth quarter). A lot of the rotations similarly operated with this mindset that there would be plenty of time, but the Bruins instead failed to maximize the time they had.

But, despite all that, this is still the first game, and Kelly teams tend to improve as the season goes on. Just once, I’d like for him to act like a normal coach.

Vibes

Vibe Check: Content but unsatisfied

So, funny story: Joe and myself sit in the same section of the Rose Bowl, and we usually chat a bit before the game. Both of us agreed that there was no way that UCLA was covering the spread in this game, and lo and behold we were right. I should honestly take these prognostications to Vegas.

But that moment of levity underlines this feeling that floated throughout the stadium. There’s a lot to like about this UCLA team, from an exciting true freshman phenom of a quarterback to a ridiculously talented wide receiver tandem to an excellent defensive front, and UCLA fans clearly want to root for this team. But at this point, so many fans are numb to the Chip Kelly Experience that they seemingly don’t want to emotionally invest in the team. There were various chants inside the Rose Bowl calling for Moore to take over (and of course, a brief return of “Fire Kelly”) and even the eventual win did not deter people from feeling some kind of way about the whole proceedings. You combine that with having to watch every other Pac-12 team (except Arizona State) look excellent out the gate and yeah, there’s going to be some grumbling from a fan base that is already preconditioned to give up on the current regime of UCLA football.

Actually, I can’t think of a better example of this idea than to reference a post I made on Twitter X about Chip Kelly seemingly wanting to get fired with this performance and not getting a single bit of pushback. That’s not a great sign.

I said in this year’s Opener that this may be the most important season in Chip Kelly’s tenure, and it’s hard to say this was a perfect start. Yes, it can get better, and nothing was lost in this game, but I can’t imagine the Athletic Department was thrilled with that outcome, and the combination of all that new Big Ten money and Kelly’s diminished buyout is going to make it much easier to justify a change if things do not improve.

Final Composite

Offense grade: B- (2.7)

Defense grade: C+ (2.3)

Special Teams grade: A- (3.7)

Coaching grade: C+ (2.3)

Vibe Check: Content but unsatisfied

Final grade for Coastal Carolina Chanticleers: B- (2.66)

For an opener, not a bad grade, and something that I assumed would be worse in the immediate aftermath of the game, but on rewatch there was a lot to like. And, hey, this is absolutely a game that Chip Kelly would have lost in his first few years, so if nothing else this is a sign that the Bruins have indeed improved since the start of his tenure. But now the Bruins need to refine those good things and minimize the bad.

Go Bruins!

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