Tonight’s game against Stanford was over by the end of the first quarter. That’s because the UCLA defense kept the Cardinal out of the end zone until deep in the fourth quarter.
In fact, Stanford did manage to take a brief lead early in the game after kicking a field goal on their first possession, but then it was the “DTR and Charbonnet Show” as the duo took over the game once UCLA got the ball.
On the Bruins’ first drive, they began on their own 25. Chip Kelly immediately dared the Stanford defense to stop Zach Charbonnet and they couldn’t do it as he ran three consecutive plays, gaining a total of 36 yards and picking up three quick first downs. By the time Dorian Thompson-Robinson ran the ball in from three yards out, Charbonnet had already racked up 44 yards rushing.
On the first play of the Cardinal’s second drive, Darius Muasau intercepted a pass from Tanner McKee and the Bruins took over on the Cardinal 23. Naturally, Chip Kelly called Charbonnet’s number and he broke free for a 23-yard touchdown as UCLA took a 14-3 lead. That score proved to be the game-winning touchdown as the extra point sealed the deal for the Bruins.
The Bruins tacked on ten more points including a one-yard TD run by Charbonnet to finish the first half ahead 24-6.
After the teams traded punts on each team’s first two series of the second half, UCLA got the ball back and, twice on fourth-and-one, Kelly dared David Shaw to stop Charbonnet, but Stanford’s depleted defense couldn’t. The first fourth-and-one saw Zach gain three yards to keep the drive moving. On the second fourth-and-one, the Bruins had the ball on the Cardinal 37-yard line and Charbonnet took it to the house for his third touchdown of the game.
The Cardinal started the fourth quarter with a short, five-play drive that ended with another punt that gave UCLA the ball on their own one. Was 99 yards a problem for the Bruin offense? Of course, not. In fact, they needed just six plays to drive the entire length of the field including a big 72-yard run by the fastest man in California, Kazmeir Allen, who broke free and was off to the races.
With the score now 38-6 and firmly in hand, UCLA gave up a garbage time touchdown drive for the Cardinal’s only touchdown of the game. But this game was already over and the Bruins went home happy tonight with a 38-13 win over the CardinalThe UCLA defense held Tanner McKee to 13 of 29 and 115 yards passing while Stanford only rushed for 145 yards total. The Bruins only gave up 270 yards total tonight.
Offensively, Charbonnet carried 21 times for 198 yards and three touchdowns. He was also the Bruins’ top receiver with five receptions for 61 yards. Meanwhile, Thompson-Robinson completed 18 of 29 for 199 yards passing and he ran 13 times for 50 yards and a touchdown.
UCLA is back on the road next week for a game against the Arizona State Sun Devils. Game time is not yet announced.
Go Bruins!!!
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Good news to wake up to. It looked to me like our linemen on both sides were stung by last week and picked up their game.
Nice! We even left a couple a tds on the field.