UCLA Football Preview: Can the Bruin Defense Stop Wazzu's Cameron Ward?
The Cougars' junior quarterback is third in the country in passing yards per game.
Before Eric Morris became Jake Dickert’s offensive coordinator in December 2021, Morris had been the head coach of the University of the Incarnate Word Cardinals in San Antonio, Texas. When Morris took the job with Washington State, Cardinal quarterback Cameron Ward came too.
When Morris left after just one season in Pullman for the North Texas Mean Green, Ward decided to stay with the Cougars. Ward is probably glad that he stayed because new offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle tutored Austin Reed last season at Western Kentucky when Reed led the nation in passing with 4746 yards for the season.
After four games, Ward is on track to surpass that mark, having already thrown for 1389 yards. To be sure, that’s currently the 23rd most passing yards in the FBS, but Ward has only played four games while the 22 quarterbacks who have thrown for more yards have all played at least one more game than Ward.
Ward has also thrown for 13 touchdowns already this season which is more than half of the 23 he threw last season.
So, Ward is clearly a major threat for the Cougars, but he also needs to find his receivers. Let’s look at the guys he’ll be targeting.
Receivers
Ward has three primary targets he likes to throw to. His top receiver is senior Lincoln Victor. Ward has gotten the ball to Victor 24 times which is more than any other receiver. His longest catch of the season has gone for 50 yards and he’s averaging 84.3 receiving yards per game. Three of Victor’s catches have gone for touchdowns.
Despite catching three few passes than Victor, Josh Kelly, who transferred from Fresno State, has only one receiving yard less than Victor. Kelly leads the Cougs in receiving touchdowns with five and his longest catch went for 44 yards.
Junior transfer Kyle Williams joins Wazzu from UNLV. Williams is fourth on the team in receptions, but he is second on the team in receiving touchdowns with four. His 63-yard reception against Oregon State is the longest catch of the year for the Cougars.
There is one other receiver who has caught more than ten passes for Washington State. That would be freshman receiver Carlos Hernandez who comes from Monrovia. He has 18 receptions already this season. Despite having more receptions than Williams and almost as many as Kelly, he is more of a short yardage receiver. He’s averaging just 8.2 yards per catch while the other guys are all averaging at least 14 yards per catch. Hernandez hasn’t found the end zone yet this year.
While Victor, Kelly, Williams and Hernandez are clearly Ward’s most targeted receivers, 12 other receivers have receptions this year. Of Ward’s 15 touchdown passes, 12 of them have been to Victor, Kelly, and Williams, but three of the team’s other receivers also have one touchdown each. So, while the bulk of the team’s offensive production will likely come from the top guys, the Bruins cannot afford to sleep on the rest of the Cougar receivers.
Running Game
As if the passing game wasn’t enough for the Bruin defense to worry about, Cameron Ward has also gained more yards running the ball than any other Cougar. To be fair, he isn’t the team’s leading rusher, but that’s because in addition to running for 175 yards, he’s also lost 66 yards, giving him a net of 109 yards rushing. His 41 rushes does lead the team as does his three rushing touchdowns.
Redshirt senior Nakia Watson will start for the Cougs at running back. While Ward has gained more yards, Watson’s 128 net yards makes him the team’s leading rusher.
It’s easy to see that and think it’s pretty average for a good college running back, but we shouldn’t confuse Watson’s total net yards for the season with average yards per game. He has only gained 128 net yards for the season so far. That’s an average of just 32 yards per game.
By comparison, Carson Steele is averaging 68 yards per game for the Bruins while T.J. Harden is averaging 66 yards per game. And, while UCLA has run for 820 net yards, Washington State has only gained 506 net rushing yards.
In other words, the Wazzu rushing attack is nearly non-existent, and I expect the Bruin defense to make it an absolute non-factor on Saturday.
Analysis
Saturday’s game will be a big test for the Bruin defense. To this point, UCLA has had a very strong run defense, but the pass defense hasn’t really been tested.
This game will really put the Bruin pass defense to the test.
The question this game will answer is: Can the UCLA defense only good stop the run or is it equally capable of stopping the pass as well?
If the Bruins prove to be as adept stopping the Washington State passing game as they have been able to stop the run, they will still be able to contend for the Pac-12 title, even after losing to Utah two weeks ago.
Go Bruins!!!
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This game has me worried, as I have not been impressed at all with our secondary. If we continue to give 10 yd cushions and still get beat long, it'll be a very long game...