The Eye Test: A Slice of Heaven for UCLA Against Washington
The Eye Test: A Slice of Heaven for UCLA Against Washington
The Bruins had their best performance in the Chip Kelly era right when the lights shone brightest.
I tried to put together some initial thoughts on this game. You can read them over here. Now to try and analyze the whole thing.
Offense
Quarterback: A+
You could quibble on a few things if you really wanted to, but this was by far the best game of Dorian Thompson-Robinson’s career. Sure he’s had better games statistically, but this was a game where he got to showcase his absolute command of the offense. If you’re grading this game at home, don’t look at completion percentage (though at 24-33, it was really good!) but rather the throws he didn’t make; the times he looked at where the play was supposed to go, realized that Washington had the play covered, and instead moved to the next option quickly. The hurdles were nice, but it was more his confidence to make throws to the inside and outside the numbers. His best play was on an incomplete pass, when he ran forward and blasted a defensive lineman that was in the process of getting a tipped-pass interception. A Dorian Thompson-Robinson that plays at this level can keep UCLA competitive against any team.
Running Back: A
Wide Receiver: A
Combining these two, as the two groups did a great job with what they were asked to do. Zach Charbonnet started a bit slow as Washington keyed in on the run, but once the offensive line got into a groove, Charbonnet was off to the races. Charbonnet had 124 yards on 22 carries, and also chipped in three catches for 56 yards. It was an excellent performance, more than enough to cover for another subpar Keegan Jones outing. I imagine the coaching staff is considering sitting TJ Harden for the rest of the year to save his redshirt, but I would personally just start running him as the second option going forward.
Jake Bobo had a statement game. He had six catches for 142 yards and two touchdowns, and at no point did it look like Washington would be able to cover him. Bobo is an excellent route-runner, and has developed a really good connection with DTR in a short amount of time. Kam Brown was great as a supplement, looking much better as he works his way back from a hand injury. Nine players in total caught passes, which speaks to the depth of pass-catching options on the team.
Offensive Line: A-
This was by far the offensive line’s best performance of the year, and it came against their best opponent so far. Washington entered this game with a defensive line that had been playing well, and they got completely shut down. The line struggled to handle the blitz on the first goal-to-go series, but after that it was smooth sailing, with Thompson-Robinson only getting sacked once and hurried a few times. The run blocking got stronger as the game progressed, and the Bruins ended the game at a strong five sack-adjusted yards per carry.
I think I’m finally comfortable being ok with both tackle spots on the line. I’m not saying that Raiqwon O’Neal and Garrett DiGiorgio are good, but they are passable, and as long as they can remain so against tougher competition, that should be more than enough to let Thompson-Robinson and Charbonnet cook.
Overall: A
UCLA failed to score points on four of their 10 drives. Of those four, two were turnovers on downs deep in Washington territory, one was a punt, and the last was a kneel-down at the end of the game. This is my way of saying the UCLA offense was ridiculously efficient for most of this game, really only slacking for one late drive that made the game seem closer than it actually was. The Bruins had a mind-boggling 16 explosive plays, seven of which were rushing plays of 10+ yards and nine of them passes for 15+. The Bruins were relentless on the attack in a way that feels pretty repeatable, even considering the terrible quality of the Washington defense. This was the UCLA offense ascending to final boss status; beware to everyone else.
Defense
Pass Defense: B-
I’m not going to talk much about the run defense because Washington is not a good run team and did not call many run plays in general. It was good, that’s all.
The pass defense is more interesting because there were positives and negatives in this performance. On the positive side, the pass rush looks to be much-improved over the past four seasons, especially with Laiatu Latu wrecking things on the interior. When the pass rush is successful, even if it means getting the QB to move their feet, UCLA was usually able to find success in defending the pass. If the rush did not get home in time, it was a different story, as UCLA’s corners continue to look poorly coached. It’d be one thing if they were just getting beat on solid routes, as happened to Devin Kirkwood on Washington’s first touchdown. But the corners continually fail to understand down and distance, giving up easy routes to the sticks even with safety help. The safeties have been perfectly fine as well, so it’s not as if the corners are cheating back to protect them. Brian Norwood has been at UCLA for two years now, and he’s happened to coincide with a sharp downturn in secondary play. If Chip Kelly survives into next year, I would hope the Bruins look elsewhere in this spot, especially for how many titles they have given him.
Overall: B+
It’s not that I think the UCLA defense was bad in this game - overall they were fairly good - but I think they got helped by a Washington team that had not played on the road yet this year. The safety wasn’t caused by any real pressure by the defense, just a terrible pitch and ball security by the Huskies near the end zone. They played great in forcing the two interceptions from early Heisman candidate Michael Penix, but there were other times that they clearly got bailed out by a misread or a dropped pass. Late in the game, Washington was able to move the ball methodically, which let things get much closer than they really were. Things to improve on, but this game did show that the UCLA defense has some signs of life.
Special Teams
Overall: A
The special teams were good, but I was more shocked at how bad Washington’s special teams were. Kazmeir Allen was a red-card-worthy tackle away from returning a kickoff for a touchdown (PS, if you’re the Washington kicker, you commit that penalty 10 times out of 10). Keegan Jones ran backward to field a kickoff, caught it at the goal line, and still managed to run it past the 25. Washington had bad coverage and return units, which did not help them in the slightest.
Coaching
Offensive Playcalling: A-
This was as close to a playcalling masterclass as we’ve seen from Chip Kelly. Outside of the opening red zone trip and one super-conservative drive late (that still got a few first downs), UCLA was phenomenal on offense, picking apart all the weaknesses in the Washington defense and creating new ones in the process. I’m also perfectly ok with the decision to go for it on 4th down near the end of the 1st half - I like aggressive calls in general, the offense was rolling, and there was so little time left on the clock that it was unlikely to hurt them if it failed.
If we’re nitpicking, we are still getting moments of the cutesy playcalling at times. This really showed up on the 1st red zone trip, where UCLA ran Charbonnet for four yards on 1st and goal, then immediately went to the passing game from the three-yard line. The good news is Kelly learned his lesson, and on the very next drive, he just ran Charbonnet until he scored. There were also the same weird personnel choices, like again having Keegan Jones try to pick up yards close to the goal line, but at this point, we just have to assume Kelly is not going to change his ways.
Defensive Playcalling: A-
So, good news: the defensive staff can adjust things based on the opponent.
There was a common thread in UCLA’s first four games where the defensive staff would keep things as vanilla as possible, mostly because they had a clear talent advantage and there was no point in showing anything before they absolutely had to. That thought almost cost them against South Alabama, but UCLA fans clung to the hope that this was just a result of the easy schedule and not who this defensive staff was.
That’s why it was good news to see UCLA doing some new things in this game. There was much more pressure applied from the Bruin defenders, mixing up blitz packages and throwing different looks at Washington, which helped to slow down Michael Penix and the Husky attack. Washington had not faced much pressure all year - this was the first game all season where Penix was sacked - and so they were not ready for that pressure, with Penix throwing two costly interceptions in the second quarter to allow UCLA to explode their lead.
What I’d like to see going forward is this level of aggression increased. This is going to hurt some people, but the Bruins should really take a cue from Southern Cal in this regard. The Trojan defense is not very good, but the Southern Cal offense is excellent and forces opposing teams to press in an attempt to keep up with them. That allows the defense to be more aggressive, and they’ve been rewarded with one of the best turnover ratios in the country. UCLA could mimic this pretty well, with an offense and defense that can play better than Southern Cal.
Overall: A-
It’s not often you see a coaching staff get a shot at redemption in this way, but the non-DTR story of this game was Chip Kelly and his staff getting revenge against Kalen DeBoer for what he did to them while coaching Fresno State last year. DeBoer and his staff coached circles around UCLA for most of that game, which was about the point where I finally became convinced that Kelly would not be a long-term answer for UCLA. This game did not change my opinion on that front, but I do respect Kelly and his staff taking out a year’s worth of frustration on Washington in this game. Even when Washington cut into the lead late, it never felt as if UCLA was going to lose, which is not something I’ve been able to say much of during these last five years.
A quick note on the conservatism in the second half: I thought it was generally a fine decision. The offense really did not get much of a chance to be conservative; they scored a touchdown to put the Bruins up 40-16, came back on the field for a six-play drive with UCLA up 40-24, and then never gave up the ball during their final drive with the lead cut to eight. The defense similarly started giving up long drives late, but two of those three drives took about six minutes each, eating up a ton of time that Washington could ill-afford to waste. Would I have liked to see UCLA play more aggressively in finishing the game? Sure, but it was not the worst decision in the world.
Vibes
Vibe check: Joyous
Y’all, the vibes inside the Rose Bowl were on a different level during this game, which was insane because the pregame vibes were not it. I had a conversation with some coworkers before the game, and the general consensus was UCLA would keep it close but ultimately lose. That seemed to be the general consensus at the various tailgates as well. And then the game happened and UCLA, to be blunt, beat that ass for a majority of this game. It was an absolute party in the stands, and even if things got nervous at the end, it was still a euphoric outing.
If UCLA as an athletic department is going to course-correct from the poor attendance figures we’ve seen this year (even the Washington game only saw an attendance of 41,343, a result of the late Friday kickoff), then they will need more nights like this one. Games where UCLA looks like a team that can make actual noise at the national level and not just cosplay as an average team at best. I am hesitant to say the Bruins can do this in the future, but let’s try living in the moment for now.
Final Composite
Offense grade: A (4.0)
Defense grade: B+ (3.3)
Special Teams grade: A (4.0)
Coaching grade: A- (3.7)
Vibe check: Joyous
Final grade for Washington Huskies: A- (3.71)
A reminder of the previous grades:
Bowling Green Falcons: B- (2.76)
Alabama State Hornets: B+ (3.47)
South Alabama Jaguars: C (1.91)
Colorado Buffaloes: B+ (3.38)
And now for the encore.
I usually use this section to preview the next game to come, but I don’t really have much to say at this point. This game won’t make or break UCLA’s season - there’s still too many cupcakes on the remaining schedule for UCLA to fall below seven wins, for example - but it could be a bellweather for the continued run of the Chip Kelly era. This is supposed to be the team Kelly was building toward, with a fifth-year quarterback at the height of his powers. If UCLA can’t win against Utah with this team, then I’m not sure what the plan would be going forward.
Go Bruins!
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Joyous? Yes, but remember the "Lucy" themed piece?
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