SMQB: Get The UCLA Bruin Bandwagon Ready

Yesterday's win indicates that these Bruins could be for real.

Logan Loya twists himself around to catch a touchdown pass from Dante Moore. (Photo Credit: Shayne M. Smith/uclabruins.com)

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I’m going to say it.

I wasn’t sure what was going to happen this season with UCLA.

Admittedly, I was never a big fan of DTR. To be sure, he made plenty of exciting plays, but I was always concerned that he might fumble the ball away without being hit or severely overthrow his receivers right into the waiting hands of opposing players.

But despite that, I wasn’t particularly optimistic that this year’s team could potentially be better than last year’s team. In fact, I thought it was more likely that these Bruins would play more like Chip Kelly’s first few teams than last year’s team.

Now, of course, anything can still happen. There are ten games left, after all. A few key injuries could send this season south quickly.

However, after the first two games, I’m decidedly much more optimistic than I was just a few weeks ago.

There are two reasons for that, which should be obvious to anyone who’s watched either game.

One, of course, is Dante Moore. The other is the Bruin defense.

Moore has been spectacular so far. Last week against Coastal Carolina, Moore was the second quarterback into the game for the Bruins. Chip Kelly announced on Monday of last week that Ethan Garbers would start the game, but that all three Bruin quarterbacks would play.

Now, to be sure, Garbers wasn’t awful. In fact, he did a nice job moving the Bruins downfield on offense. When Kelly rotated Garbers out and Moore in, the difference was noticeable. He looked like an upperclassman with the way he could get the ball to his receivers for some big plays.

But despite that, Chip Kelly was still insistent this week that “all three quarterbacks would play.”

Wait. What?

Was Chip watching a different game than the rest of us last week?

Well, never fear, Bruin fans. It turns out that Kelly did see the same game the rest of us did at the Rose Bowl and the result was that Moore earned his first collegiate start yesterday against the Aztecs.

More telling was how much Moore played yesterday. Unlike the previous week where Kelly rotated Moore and Garbers as if to see what they could do, Moore played the first three quarters and, when Collin Schlee did finally see his first action as a Bruin, the game was firmly in hand, 35-10.

Again, Moore wasn’t perfect, but he didn’t have to be.

He made a bad throw to a wide open Logan Loya in the end zone that Loya had to contort his body in ways few guys could do just to catch the ball that Moore had thrown. Thankfully, Loya did make the catch for the score. But even before then, this game was already over.

Regardless, I’m pretty confident that Moore will continue to get better as the weeks progress and I can’t wait to see what he does against Utah in two weeks.

While I’ve certainly been pleasantly surprised by Moore’s play so far, I’m almost in complete disbelief at the play of the Bruin defense.

After years of raising expectations under Chip Kelly, only to have those expectations completely shattered, I’m on board with D’Anton Lynn’s defense.

Last week, the Bruin defense held Coastal Carolina to just one touchdown and 56 yards rushing. Yesterday, they held San Diego State to just one touchdown and 63 yards rushing, just a week after the Aztecs ran for more than 200 yards against Idaho State.

But, even more impressive than that, is what the Bruin defense did on the goal line yesterday. Following a fumble by Dante Moore which gave SDSU the ball on the Bruin one, the defense shined. Jay Toia stopped Jaylon Armstead for no gain. Then, John Humphrey and Laiatu Latu stopped Martin Blake for no gain. Finally, Darius Muasau grabbed a pass which had been tipped by Blake to get the ball back for the Bruins.

While the Bruins had a comfortable 28-10 lead at that point, that sequence of events was a game-changer for the Bruins. If the Aztecs had scored there, SDSU could have narrowed the deficit to 11 or even 10 points. Who knows what could have happened from there?

Instead, the Bruin offense drove 80 yards down the field for their fifth touchdown of the game, all while eating up valuable clock time. Does that still happen if Blake catches that pass or if either run had gotten the ball across the goal line? Maybe, but it could have shifted momentum in San Diego State’s favor, rather than being the nail in the Aztecs’ coffin.

All told, two of my three keys to the game yesterday revolved around the UCLA defense. First, I said that the Bruins needed to stop SDSU’s rushing attack. 63 yards rushing certainly qualifies as doing that. The second was winning the turnover game. The Bruins picked off three passes and lost two fumbles. That’s a +1 on the turnover ratio. So, the defense accomplished that.

The third key was to light the scoreboard up for more than 24 points. Dante Moore and the offense achieved that yesterday.

Next week, the Bruins host the North Carolina Central Eagles, which shouldn’t be a particularly difficult game since the Eagles are an FCS team. In fact, UCLA should be able to sleepwalk through it while looking ahead to Utah the following week and still win. After all, the real test for these Bruins will be in Salt Lake City in two weeks when they face the defending Pac-12 champion Utes.


Go Bruins!!!

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