To paraphrase from Lou Brown in Major League, we won two weeks ago and we won again last week. That was two in a row. UCLA won again tonight. That’s called a winning streak. It has been done before.
In fact, the last time UCLA began a season with three wins in a row, it was 2023. But in 2023, our opponents were much weaker than this year’s first three opponents.
Much more importantly, the Bruins have already matched last year’s win total. I could go into superlatives through the first three games, but I’m not going to. I want to focus on tonight’s game.
The good news is that the Bruin offense looked the best it has looked all season. Nico Iamaleava played his best game of the season, going 19-of-31 for 276 yards and three touchdowns.
While this game was about a play or two away from becoming a complete shootout, UCLA only trailed for two minutes and 34 seconds of this game and that was after Purdue scored a touchdown on the opening drive of the second half.
Even better, the running game showed up strong again. UCLA ran the ball 48 times for 369 yards. The last time UCLA ran for more than 300 yards rushing was against North Carolina Central, but NC Central is an FCS school. Tonight, the Bruins ran for more than 350 yards against a conference opponent. Digest that for a minute, mostly because the bad and the ugly are still coming.
The bad in this game showed up on Purdue’s very first play from scrimmage. The Boilermakers went into a trips right set and the Bruins countered with man-to-man coverage and eight men stacked in the box to pressure Purdue QB Ryan Browne. Browne found Xavier Townsend coming across the middle and since none of the eight guys in the box dropped into pass coverage, just in case, Townsend took it all the way to the house to tie the game, 7-7. It was the first indication that UCLA would give up almost 400 yards passing to Ryan Browne.
As far as the ugly goes, there are two things which qualify. The first and probably most concerning thing in this game were the penalties. While Purdue was flagged six times for 50 yards, the Bruins were flagged 12 times for 103 yards. There were a lot of bonehead flags in this game and only really one penalty can be excused. That was a delay of game call on fourth-and-four when the Bruins took the penalty and sent in the punt team after initially lining up to go for it.
The second ugly item in this game was the Bruins complete inability to defend a fake punt. With a fourth-and- eight on their own 45, Purdue punter Dylan Drennan found Antonio Harris streaking down the sideline at the 50 and he wasn’t brought down until he got all the way down to the Bruin 8-yard line.
The only good thing to come out of this was the fact that the Bruin defense actually managed to hold Purdue to a field goal, rather than giving up a touchdown.
The final piece of good news is that because this one ended at 11:37 pm PT, almost none of the pollsters actually saw this game. Sure, some of the West Coast guys might have stayed up to see it, but no Eastern voted stayed up till 2:30 in the morning because they really wanted to see it.
Everyone who went to bed or fell asleep watching this one will just see the final score and the stats in the morning and not hold it against the Bruins in the weeks ahead.
Wayne Knight led UCLA in rushing with 18 carried for 177 yards and two TDs. Anthony Woods and Jaivian Thomas each added a rushing touchdown.
Semaj Morgan led the Bruin receivers with four receptions for 72 yards and two TDs while Brian Rowe, Jr. grabbed two balls for 65 yards. Landon Ellis had UCLA’s other touchdown reception.
Defensively, UCLA turned the ball over three times. Sahir West recovered two fumbles and Rod Pleasant picked off a pass from Browne late in the fourth quarter to seal the win.
UCLA now heads to Maryland next week to face the Terrapins. Kickoff is set for 10:30 AM and the game will be broadcast on Big Ten Network.
Go Bruins!!!
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