Pregame Guesses: UCLA Bruins Host Alabama State Hornets
Can Kaz Allen fill the pass catching gap? What's the deal with those new twins on the Bruin defense? Can UCLA turn around its special teams? Oh, and the Alabama State Marching Band rocks!

Welcome to week two of the UCLA Bruin football season and week two of The Mighty Bruin’s Pregames Guesses! After falling behind 17-7 due in part to a pair of costly special teams errors last week (more on that later), UCLA found its sea legs and cruised to a 45-17 victory over Bowling Green. The Bruins outscored the Falcons 38-0 in the final 43 minutes of the game.
This week, UCLA will face Alabama State, and that contest is notable for two reasons, one good and one bad. First, the bad.
UCLA is one of the few FBS (formerly known as Division IA before 2005—has it been that long?) teams that have never played a FCS (formerly known as Division IAA) team. In fact, it appears that only UCLA, Notre Dame, and Southern Cal are the only FBS schools who have never played an FCS team. That will change tomottow and, next year, after Notre Dame plays Tennessee State, Southern Cal will be the only team to never have played an FCS team. In an era when many SEC schools fatten up against weak (and, oftentimes, FCS competition), UCLA (and the Pac 12 in general) have always been able to “claim the higher ground” from a scheduling standpoint by routinely playing a good and sometimes great non-conference schedule. It has been a source of pride. Unfortunately, that will no longer be the case.
For those who blame the administration for scheduling this game, refocus your ire toward the Michigan Wolverines. UCLA should have been in Ann Arbor this weekend, preparing to play in The Big House. Michigan cancelled the long-scheduled game three years ago and, although UCLA had three years to find a replacement, most schedules are filled well in advance of that and UCLA had to scramble to find an opponent who had a rare bye in week two of the season.
Now, the good. If you are going to play an FCS school, it is entirely appropriate and, in my opinion, amazingly awesome, to select a historically Black college (HBCU). This is especially true if you are UCLA, a school whose athletic program has produced countless Hall of Fame Black athletes including, Jackie Robinson, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Arthur Ashe, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Natalie Williams, Florence Griffith-Joyner, and Rafer Johnson, just to name a few. So, although I do have regrets about UCLA playing an FCS team, I am proud that the Bruins selected Alabama State. Going forward, I will always keep on eye on the Hornets and pull for them as underdogs against some of the more powerful HBCUs (like the Deion Sanders-led Jackson State).
Let’s get to the music. If you showed up today to hear Sweet Home Alabama, you will be disappointed. Not happening. Nothing against Skynard, but the music this week selects itself.
Alabama State has an incredible band. Incredible. Literally worth the price of admission into the Rose Bowl on Saturday. The football game might not be great, but the halftime entertainment will be. Here is a sample of what you might miss if you do not show up in Pasadena tomorrow:
That clip was from last weekend, so if you liked what you heard, get out to the Rose Bowl this weekend for an in-person performance!
On to the guesses!
Let’s start with the bad. Special teams was horrible last week. Putrid. The worst special teams performance I can recall from a UCLA team. The first sign might have been UCLA kick returner Jake Bobo having to change shirts because too many players were wearing number nine. This was a harbinger of doom. Of course, the first UCLA punt of the season was blocked and returned for a touchdown. That did not end it, as Bobo also muffed a punt return, leading to a Falcon field goal. Finally, UCLA kicker Nicolas Barr-Mira missed a 28 yard field goal and followed that up by missing a 44 yarder.
UCLA’s four “flubs” on special teams cost them 16 points (ten points more allowed on the block and muff and six points not banked due to the missed FGs) Although it did not make a difference, and should not make a difference against Alabama State, UCLA has to get better in this department before conference play. Pregame Guess Number One: Although the definition of a “flub” could vary from person to person (for example, in my book, a special teams penalty would not be a flub unless it extended a drive), how many “flubs” will UCLA commit in the special teams game versus Alabama State? How many points will those “flubs” cost UCLA?
I have a confession to make. Before Joe asked me to return this season to write this column for The Mighty Bruin, I had not payed a ton of attention to the UCLA football team’s preparation over the summer. As such, when the Bruins took the field last week, I was surprised by the number of defense players with whom I had no familiarity. There are a lot of new faces on defense and head coach Chip Kelly is trying to fill holes using the tranfer portal. While returning players like junior linebacker JonJon Vaughns and junior defensive back Kenny Churchwell III had very good games, some of the new faces caught my eye. One of those guys was Darius Muasau, a senior linebacker who transferred from Hawai’i. Two others were the Murphy brothers, twins Gabriel and Grayson, sophomore defensive linemen who transferred from North Texas. Between them, the twins had five tackles and two tackles for loss. Not bad for their first game in blue and gold. PGG2 is a two-parter. Pregame Guess Number Two: How many tackles for loss will the Murphy brothers have against Alabama State. Will either of them record a sack? Yes or no?
As pointed out by Dimitri in his Eye Test (always an amazing read), UCLA lost two of its key weaspons catching the football in Kyle Phillips and Greg Dulcich. Although it remains to be seen if UCLA can fill the gaps created by those guys’ departures to the NFL, one guy who did step up last week was Kazmeir Allen.
Allen is most defintely a different player than Phillips or Dulcich. Kaz, a California state champion in track in high school, had a huge game versus Southern Cal last season, scoring three touchdowns on 115 receiving and 163 yards returning kicks. He is a burner and could be a Tyreek Hill-type player for UCLA, if given the chance. Get him the ball in space and see what he can do. After being listed as a running back in his prior seasons in powderkeg blue and gold, the UCLA coaching staff switched him to wide receiver this year. He delivered in his new position last week, snagging ten passes for 85 yards and a touchdown. Pregame Guess Number Three: Predict Kaz Allen’s wide receiver stat line versus the Hornets (catches, yards, touchdowns).
Attendance at the Rose Bowl was embarrassing last weekend. It was hot. I get it. UCLA can make all of the excuses that it wants but scheduling THAT opponent at THAT time of day on THAT holiday weekend was never going to be successful from an attendance standpoint. It will be cooler on Saturday but there is a significant chance of rain due to Hurricane/Tropical Storm Kay. Rather than predicting the actual attendance, let’s just do an over/under. Bonus Guess: Last week’s attendance was 27,143, worst ever for the Bruins at the Rose Bowl. Will UCLA draw more or less fans this week?
Thank you for reading this week! Make your guesses and let us know your thoughs on all things UCLA football in the comments. And, of course...
Go Bruins!
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