SMQB, Saturday Edition: UCLA Bruins Show Up Big Against Washington

UCLA's win over Washington sets up an even bigger game next week against Utah. Bruin fans need to plan on being in Pasadena next Saturday.

Joe Piechowski

Oct 1, 2022

Grayson Murphy (12) makes a tackle last night against Washington. (Photo Credit: Greg Turk/uclabruins.com)

One of the biggest knocks on Chip Kelly since he came to Westwood is that he hasn’t been able to win the Bruins’ biggest games. Indeed, UCLA is 3-9 versus ranked teams under Kelly’s tutelage.

Two of those three wins came as Washington State and Arizona State in 2018 when those teams were ranked 19th and 24th, respectfully. The third win against a Top 25 school came last season against LSU when the Tigers were ranked 16th.

So, last night’s win is easily one of the two biggest wins under Kelly.

Before Bruin fans decide that “UCLA football is back!”, it’s important to remember that the Bruins need produce a few more wins. UCLA is in the midst of the toughest stretch of their season.

Washington was the first game they’ve played against a ranked opponent this season, and they will sure be ranked in the Top 25 tomorrow as a result of last night’s win. But next week, they are playing the Utah Utes who were ranked 12th in the nation going into today’s game against Oregon State. The Utes made a statement today by beating the Beavs today, 42-16, and that sets up a Top 25 showdown next weekend at 12:30 pm PT.

If they can get past the Utes, the Bruins will then have a date with the Ducks, who are currently ranked 13th, on October 22nd. It’s a good thing that UCLA has a bye week in between Utah and Oregon. It will give the Bruins a chance to heal up and get two weeks of practice in before traveling to Eugene.

Last night’s win should give Bruin fans reason for optimism, but it needs to be tempered until they win the next two games.

If you were like me, last night I was wondering where the defense on display last night had been in the Bruins’ first four games.

After the big win over Washington, Chip Kelly spoke about the effort from the defense.

I thought our defense did a great job in the first half you know that Penix led the nation in passing coming into this game. For our guys to stake us that lead when we needed every inch of it to put them behind so it turned into a real big throw game them in the second half. We know how explosive their offense was but we generated a pass rush with our front. I thought our guys did a great job in coverage to get him to turn it over twice in the first half was really big for us on the defensive side of the ball. Then for us not to turn it over at all, I think that's the big thing we talk about all the time, winning that turnover battle. You got a shot when you're playing in conference games if you can win the turnover battle.

Jake Bobo, Dorian Thompson-Robinson and Stephan Blaylock were the players who spoke last night after Kelly spoke.

Thanks to UCLA Athletics on YouTube for the video of the postgame press conference.

Overall, it was a much better crowd at the Rose Bowl last night, but there were still just over 41,000 fans in attendance. That’s in line with the last time UCLA played a Friday night game in Pasadena under Chip Kelly. The date was October 26, 2018 and the Bruins were on a two-game winning streak after dropping the first five games of the Chip Kelly era. That game had the second lowest home or road attendance of the 2018 season, in front of just the Stanford game which ended the season. But that was a season which saw the Bruins open the Kelly era against Cincinnati and host Fresno State two weeks later. The next two games that season saw the Bruins draw more than 50,000 for games against #10 Washington and a night game against Arizona.

So, hopefully, Bruin fans will respond to the 5-0 start and probably Top 25 ranking by coming out for next weekend’s 12:30 pm PT kickoff against a highly ranked Utah team.

Winning cures most woes, especially attendance woes. If UCLA can win their next two games, they should win the following three. That would mean that a 10-0 UCLA squad would host Southern Cal at the Rose Bowl right before Thanksgiving. There’s a lot of football to play so, that‘s a really big if.

Of course, right now, the Utah game is the one that needs to be focused on and, regardless of your feelings about Chip Kelly, it’s time for Bruin fans to support this year’s team by showing up in Pasadena next Saturday.

Go Bruins!!!

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