Indiana Thrashes Bruins in UCLA's Big Ten Debut, 42-13
Indiana Thrashes Bruins in UCLA's Big Ten Debut, 42-13
The Hoosiers opened the game with three consecutive scores and the Bruins couldn't recover.
The highlight of tonight’s UCLA football game against Indiana may just have been Mateen Bhaghani’s 65-yard kickoff which went for a touchback.
Why?
Because after that kickoff, things went downhill fast for the Bruins.
Indiana promptly moved 75 yards on 12 plays for the first touchdown of the game. The most frustrating part of this drive was that Indiana faced a third down twice and each time, they committed a false start, and rather than those penalties ending the drive, the Hoosiers responded by picking up the first down from five yards back.
On the first play after the ensuing kickoff, UCLA quarterback Ethan Garbers fumbled the ball on the Bruins’ 17-yard line. Three plays later, Indiana scored again and the game was over.
It only got worse from there.
The Bruins drove down to the Indiana 22-yard line. Then, Garbers was sacked for a loss of nine yards to set up third and fifteen from the Indiana 31. Garbers proceeded to throw to Moliki Matavao but Matavao failed to get to the sticks before the ball arrived, resulting in a gain of just eight yards. On fourth-and-seven, DeShaun Foster sent out Mateen Bhaghani for a 41-yard field goal attempt and he missed it.
After the teams traded possessions, UCLA’s next drive went three-and-out and Brody Richter seemed to pin the Hoosiers deep at their own 10.
It didn’t matter.
Indiana quarterback Kurtis Rourke drove his team 90 yards for the Hoosiers’ third touchdown of the game.
The Bruin offense finally showed signs of life as they drove 78 yards on nine plays. TJ Harden ended the drive with a one-yard touchdown run to make it 21-7, Indiana, and that’s the way the first half ended.
The second half felt like Karl Dorrell was back in charge of UCLA football. Why? Because he was always content to settle for a field goal while opposing teams would be scoring touchdowns.
That’s exactly what happened in the second half.
The Bruins got the ball to start the second half and promptly drove the ball down to the Indiana nine-yard. Again, the drive stalled. Again, DeShaun Foster sent out Bhaghani to kick a field goal.
Meanwhile, the Hoosiers responded with another touchdown to make it 28-10.
Eleven plays and 65 yards later, UCLA’s drive stalled again. This time, it happened on the Hoosier 16. Again, the Bruins kicked a field goal. This one was from 34 yards out.
Of course, Indiana responded with — you guessed it — another touchdown. By now, Indiana was up 35-13 and UCLA’s chances were fading fast. On the second play of the ensuing drive, Garbers threw an interception and the Hoosiers took over at the Bruins’ 40.
Four plays later, Indiana running back Elijah Green ran the ball in for a 14-yard score to put the Hoosiers up 42-13.
With the game effectively over, Justyn Martin came out at quarterback for the next drive and the Bruins ran the ball three times and Martin did complete the only pass he through, but UCLA needed eight yards but only picked up five on the pass play and punted it away.
Indiana got the ball back one more time and went three-and-out, leaving just 18 seconds left on the clock.
TJ Harden led the Bruins in both rushing and receiving. He gained just 48 net rushing yards on 12 carries and 41 passing yard on four receptions. Overall, the UCLA offense gained a total of just 238 yards compared to Indiana’s 430 yards.
If today’s game is any indication, this season may turn out to be longer than many of us thought.
Go Bruins.
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When does basketball start again?
Did any of us think it might be otherwise? Maybe closer?