The Eye Test: UCLA Plays a (Mostly) Complete Game to Beat Nebraska

Are the Bruins turning a corner, or just catching some wounded teams late?

Kaylin Moore and Carson Schwesinger celebrate the game-ending interception. (Photo credit: Shayne M Smith/uclabruins.com)

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I don’t know what the statute of limitations is on referencing your work, but I’m going to find out. In the season preview, I said this about the Nebraska game:

This is also why UCLA gets to play them at as good a time as any. The Cornhuskers will be coming off a trip to Columbus, so there’s a decent chance they won’t be at full strength going into this, while the Bruins will be coming off their bye week, so this could be as healthy as they’ll be all season. It’s a recipe for a closer game than it looks on paper, the exact sort of game UCLA has to win for a bowl game to be a reality.

Wow, look at that! It’s exactly what happened! Nebraska came into the game mentally spent after hanging with Ohio State to the final drive and injured (quarterback Dylan Raiola was notably dealing with injuries heading into this game) and UCLA was able to pounce. There’s nothing wrong with that, and if anything it is maybe the best sign this season that UCLA can take advantage of weakened opponents.

But enough of that, let’s get into this (mostly-positive!) Eye Test.

Offense

Quarterback: A-

If you told me Ethan Garbers took the chatter after the Minnesota game as a personal challenge, I might believe you at this point. Garbers turned in his second-consecutive excellent performance in this one, and while he might not have hit the heights of his career day against Rutgers, this was still an impressive performance. Garbers was 17-25 for 219 yards and two touchdowns while also adding some solid situational runs with his legs, including a ridiculous 57-yard scamper where it kept looking like the run was going to end until he kept finding even more space.

Now, this was not a perfect day by any stretch; Garbers only had six pass attempts in the second half and connected on only two of them (though one of those was the touchdown pass to Kwazi Gilmer that Garbers took something off of to make sure Gilmer could make a play on it), and there were some passes that were off target here and there, but on the whole this is the type of performance that you want from your senior quarterback and should put to bed any lingering calls to switch to Justyn Martin.

Running Backs: B

83 combined yards on 24 carries isn’t going to set the world on fire, but you have to give these guys credit for continuing to fight through less-than-ideal circumstances. TJ Harden had by far the best day running the ball of the three, with a solid nine-yard run on the opening drive and an 18-yarder in the second half where it looked like he was stopped after about four, but he kept his legs moving and managed to break free to pick up a first down. That second run set up the long Garbers passing touchdown, so that’s nice. Jalen Berger had a touchdown on a screen pass.

Receivers: A-

Kwazi Gilmer feels like he’s poised for a bigger breakout game. The freshman has been good for a highlight play a game for weeks now, but this game felt like a coming-out party, with his three catches leading to a team-high 88 yards. The highlight was, of course, the touchdown grab, where Gilmer showed off great body control to readjust to the ball while keeping his momentum going for the score. Gilmer looks to be a real solid piece of the future for UCLA, so hopefully some money is allocated to keeping him around going forward.

Beyond Gilmer, the receivers again had a solid day. Moliki Matavao continued to find good spots in the middle of the field, leading to a team-high five catches for 52 yards. J. Michael Sturdivant did an amazing job of holding onto the ball after getting murdered on a catch, and ultimately was out for the second half. Logan Loya had a quiet day, but did a good job finding the space in the zone for a first-down completion.

Offensive Line: B-

From a pass-blocking standpoint, this was by far the best performance the offensive line has turned in this season. Nebraska has a good defensive line but the line was able to keep Garbers relatively clean, only giving up two sacks and another two QB hurries. Garbers responded to the increased time in the pocket with another excellent performance, so hopefully that creates a feedback loop where the line sees their good work paying off and can keep building on that. In fact, this was closer to a C+ performance but is getting bumped up for the pass blocking alone.

The run blocking…yeah it’s not good. At this point, running to the interior of the line is a lesson in madness, and the benefit of running to the outside is it at least gives the running backs more of a chance to make an individual play; I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Harden’s two best runs came on outside zone plays.

Overall: B

This was not as good an offensive performance as we got against Rutgers, but it was plenty good enough. The offense got points on their first three drives and was able to grab a touchdown in the second half which would ultimately prove to be the difference. Nebraska has a good defense, so this is nothing to sneeze at, but you’d have also liked for the team to keep things moving in the second half; instead, the team went into a shell. The other thing this offense really needs to figure out is how to gain one yard. Multiple offensive drives stalled out because the Bruins could not convert a 3rd and short, and at some point, the offense needs to figure out how to do that.

Defense

Overall: B+

The fact that this isn’t an A is because the defense just kept handing Nebraska extra lives that led to all three of their touchdowns. No, seriously - every one of Nebraska’s touchdown drives was aided by an unnecessary penalty by the Bruin defense that gave Nebraska a first down right when the defense had gained momentum. The taunting penalty in the first half on Oluwafemi Oladejo was annoying and a lazy home-cooking call from the officials, while the penalty against Sitiveni Kaufusi for pulling someone off the pile is one of those annoying “I know this is a penalty now but is still a pointless call” penalties that came at a terrible time considering UCLA had just forced a 4th and goal. The Ale Kaho penalty on the second Nebraska drive was, at least, a legitimate call and unnecessary on Kaho’s part.

Still, those penalties only served to highlight just how dominant the UCLA defense was in this game. True freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola entered the game injured but the Bruins were out for blood and never made him comfortable, getting penetration basically on demand. The constant pre-snap line shifts also messed with Raiola, as he never seemed to know where the pressure would be coming from on any given play (except for knowing that there was a good possibility that some pressure would come up the middle thanks to Jay Toia). That pressure and confusion ultimately led to Kain Medrano’s interception return for a touchdown, a capstone performance for the day.

The defense had to work harder in the second half with the offense choosing to sit on their hands and avoid making a mistake, which I’m sure was a fun thing for the defense, but they rose to the occasion. UCLA’s defense would eventually knock Raiola out of the game late, and unlike in the past where a backup quarterback would go on to some late heroics, the Bruins snuffed out the last gasp of a comeback pretty ruthlessly. I asked in the aftermath of the Rutgers game if that performance was a blip or a sign of things to come, but I’m more likely to believe it was a blip after this game. I think Iowa will present a much different challenge, especially with Heisman contender Kaleb Johnson on the other side, but at least I am interested in seeing how the defense stacks up.

Special Teams

Overall: B+

Keegan Jones Stop Running Out the Kickoff Challenge update: Cmon, you already know the answer to this one.

Outside of that, good special teams day. Mateen Bhaghani nailed both of his kicks (given Nebraska missed a PAT, not an automatic thing!), while Brody Richter had solid punts all day. Logan Loya actually got a punt return in and was able to grab 16 yards, which is a pretty good result all considered.

Coaching

Offensive Gameplan: B-

The first half was really good! Eric Bieniemy kept a lot of the short and intermediate routes that were working well against Rutgers and employed them in this game, helping keep Garbers upright and in rhythm for most of the half. There was enough of a mix in deeper passes to keep the safeties honest, and the run game, while not perfect, saw a bit more consistent success when used as a complement to the passing attack.

The second half was a classic case of NFL brain rot, as UCLA abandoned the pass for the most part in favor of trying to run the ball to chew the clock. The Bruins only gained 110 yards in the second half compared to 248 in the first, and a lot of that can be put at the foot of a wild swing in run-pass decisions. The first half featured an even 50-50 split in run-pass. The 3rd quarter featured more of the same, but it was as if the strategy suddenly flipped as soon as it got to the 4th quarter and the staff realized they were winning and decided to try and kill clock the rest of the game. I’m personally of the opinion that this was the bad strategy to employ - especially in light of the fact that the team did not kill clock at all - and it ended up taking the offense out of rhythm. Please just play the same way all four quarters and show a killer instinct.

Defensive Gameplan: A

Ikaika Malloe continues to show that he is the best coach on this staff with another excellent gameplan that made life hell for a true freshman quarterback. Malloe has figured out how to generate a pass rush with suboptimal parts, and the constant pre-snap shifts served to confuse Dylan Raiola and make him uncomfortable before he even got the ball. The touchdown drives that Nebraska did get were not due to poor alignment or defensive calls, but rather bad penalties that extended drives, so I’m not going to penalize the gameplan here.

Overall: B

But I am going to penalize the penalties here, especially after seeing head coach Deshaun Foster give an impassioned plea for the defense to clean things up only for them to immediately go back to committing dumb penalties. For a coach that is continually emphasizing DRE, the Discipline part of that routinely seems to fall by the wayside.

The fourth-down decisions in this game felt too conservative, especially early on when the Bruins drove the field only to get stopped and forced into a 4th and 1 inside the Nebraska 20. Again, this speaks to the offense’s inability to consistently gain a yard, but that is a spot that Foster should be willing to try and convert every time. The decision to punt at the end was a bit more excusable, but given the situation, I would have again liked the Bruins to try and win the game with the ball in their hands than without it (or, better yet, stop going conservative with a lead instead of pushing for more so you don’t end up in these situations).

Trending

Trend: Up

As I said in the beginning, I’m not sure Nebraska was in top form coming into this game, but that does speak to how UCLA is improving as a team that they can take advantage of those kinds of situations and turn them into wins. My main concern at this point is that the team appears to be a vibes-based bunch, and while there are plenty of good vibes at the moment, the gatekeeper of the Big Ten is coming to town this Friday, and I’m fascinated to see how that holds up.

Final Composite

Offense grade: B (3.0)

Defense grade: B+ (3.3)

Special Teams grade: B+ (3.3)

Coaching grade: B (3.0)

Trending: Up

Final grade for Nebraska Cornhuskers: B+ (3.2)

And as a reminder, here are the scores from other games this year:

Hawai’i Rainbow Warriors: C (1.9)

Indiana Hoosiers: F (0.6)

LSU Tigers: C (1.9)

Oregon Ducks: D+ (1.3)

Penn State Nittany Lions: C+ (2.2)

Minnesota Golden Gophers: C- (1.75)

Rutgers Scarlet Knights: C+ (2.3)

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Through eight games this year, my impression of this UCLA team is that it is more of a vibes-based one than a talent-based one. UCLA has the kind of talent that can win them games against most opponents still, but we’ve seen more than a few times what can happen if they get punched in the mouth. The Bruins have yet to really respond in those situations, so the game against Iowa will be a fascinating test case.

I called Iowa the gatekeeper of the Big Ten in the preview for a number of reasons, but the main one for me is that the Hawkeyes are not good enough to be considered a truly elite team but they have the kind of talent and coaching that leads to predictable results against either outmanned or outcoached opponents. To beat Iowa requires either a preponderance of talent or disciplined coaching.

Let’s see what UCLA has.

Go Bruins!

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