Almost sixty-one years. That was the last time UCLA played a football game which was tied 0-0 at halftime. On September 18, 1965, the Bruins played Oklahoma and there was no score at the half.
The Bruins won that game 9-0.
Tonight’s game wasn’t that close. UCLA scored four second-half touchdowns, three of which were scored by Wayne Knight, while allowing just ten points, all in the final quarter.
The real story of this game, however, was the Bruin defense. UCLA forced the Aztecs to punt on their first seven drives of the game before finally allowing a field goal on San Diego State’s eighth drive. By that time, the Bruins were already ahead.
With 11:17 left in the third quarter, UCLA took over on the Aztec 43-yard line after the Bruins forced SDSU’s fifth punt of the game. On that drive, Knight carried for three yards on first down before Nico Iamaleava scampered for 25, down to the 15. Knight ran for seven yards on the next play and he finished the drive with an 8-yard touchdown run.
It stayed 7-0 until Cooper DiLeva made a 46-yard field goal to make it, 7-3, Bruins.
After the ensuing kickoff, UCLA took over on their own 25 and the Bruins went on an almost four minute drive which saw Knight score his second touchdown of the game, this time on a 7-yard run. The Bruins now led 14-3 and that touchdown proved to be the game-winner.
The defensive dagger for UCLA came on SDSU’s next drive when, on the third play of the drive, Jalen Woods picked off a Jayden Denegal pass on the SDSU 19-yard line. Four plays later, Jaivian Thomas took it in for a one-yard plunge, giving UCLA a 21-3 lead.
The Aztecs finally scored a touchdown on their next drive when Denegal found Jackson Ford on a 19-yard pass for six to cut the Bruins’ lead to 21-10.
Following an onside kick attempt by San Diego State, UCLA began their next drive on the Aztec 42-yard line. Following a six-yard run by Knight on first down, Knight went through the middle of the SDSU defense for his third touchdown of the game, a 36-yard run. That was the Bruins’ tenth rushing touchdown of the season already.
That means that, in just two games, UCLA has already scored more rushing touchdowns this year than they did all of last season. That’s right. More rushing touchdowns in two games than all of last season. Wow!
And, of course, Knight’s exclamation point made the score 28-10, Bruins.
That’s how this one ended and UCLA is now 2-0 under Bob Chesney.
Knight finished the game with 97 yards on 13 carries while Iamaleava added 57 yards also on 13 carries. Meanwhile, Semaj Morgan led the UCLA receivers with 73 yards on six receptions and Brian Rowe, Jr made five receptions for 63 yards. Iamaleava was 14-of-22 passing for 151 yards with one interception.
UCLA’s next game will be next Saturday at the Rose Bowl against the Purdue Boilermakers. Kickoff is set for 8 pm and the game will be broadcast on BTN.
Go Bruins!!!
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Being at the Rose Bowl, IMHO, it seemed like early on the Bruins weren't exactly matching SDSU's intensity... for the Aztecs, games against the California schools from the Real Pac are pretty much their Super Bowl (note - they beat UCB 31-0 last year) both from always wanting to be a part of it as a program and players trying to prove they should have been recruited by the Cali Pac 4 but, as it went on, the offense caught up to the defense in showing them to be a bit light in the khakis... by mid-4th quarter at 21-3 we had more rushing yards than SDSU had total yards - and more passing yards than their total yards as well. Maybe not pretty but a good, solid grind of a win.
One other thing, in the 4th, Chancellor Frenk walked down the stairs next to our section on his way to the field and we all applauded him as he passed by. He smiled back and gave us a head nod - glad to let him know he's appreciated!
I am going to make comments based upon things I have read on various sites and not directed at anyone in particular on this one. First off, the level of criticism directed towards Nico is silly. Is he playing well? Not particularly. If you watched the postgame presser, he stated that he didn’t play well. It’s also true, that the success or failure of the passing game does not rest solely on the quarterback. That’s just what the average football fan, like you and me, tend to see. Nico is playing for his 4th head coach and 4th offensive coordinator in 3 years. By all accounts, he is a hard working leader and excellent teammate. He is playing with 60 new teammates and a new receivers group. We have played 2 games. We have won 2 games. It seems reasonable to me that improvement and growth are going to happen over the course of the season. I expect that we will utilize our running game all year which should lead to some great play action opportunities. We saw some success in the 2nd half last night. Sometimes, it just takes a slight adjustment for an athlete in many sports to go from looking bad to looking elite. I trust this staff to figure out how to get the best out of Nico. This team deserves better. Chesney is VERY impressive. He has a great mix of intensity and poise. We are poised to be the surprise of the Big 10. Our fans need to show some patience and class. The negative comments regarding a team that has 2 victories by 3 possessions each are absurd.