UCLA Football Preview: Bruins Head to the Birthplace of College Football
Today's game may be tougher than most expected when the Big Ten released the Bruins' first conference schedule.
It’s been a while since life got in the way and forced me to combine our usual three previews into one. Unfortunately, this week is one of those weeks when that’s become necessary. I hope to get back to our usual three preview articles next week, but that may be tough to do until the Wednesday of the week of the Iowa game. If you think about the Tuesday before the Iowa game, you can probably figure out why.
You might think that the school that was the “Birthplace of College Football” would have a very storied history of success. You would be wrong.
Despite being the place where the first college football game was played in 1869, the history of Rutgers football is filled with, well, mediocrity. The Scarlet Knights have an all-time record of 675-696-42.
The team never played in a bowl game until 1978 when they played in the Garden State Bowl against Arizona State. In fact, Rutgers had only two seasons prior to 1976 where the Scarlet Knights had finished the season in the Top 25. 1976 was arguably the best season ever for Rutgers, but even though the team went 11-0 they were still only ranked 17th in the nation due to a pretty weak schedule which was focused on playing smaller Eastern schools including three Ivy League schools as well as several Division II teams.
For most of the the team’s existence, Rutgers had been an independent. Prior to joining the Big East in 1991, the school had only been played four seasons as a member of any conference.
The most winningest coach in Rutgers history is Frank Burns, who led the team from 1973 to 1983 and who compiled a 78-43-1 record.
After joining the Big East, the team remained a perennial doormat in a conference which included Miami, West Virginia, Temple and Virginia Tech.
It wasn’t until the arrival of Greg Schiano in 2001 that the team started to have any success. Even then, it took Schiano until his fifth season to get the Scarlet Knights to a winning season. Starting in 2005, he led the team to a winning record in six of seasons. Schiano’s 2006 team won the school’s very first bowl game by defeating Kansas State, 37-10, and they finished the season ranked 12th in the country, which is still the highest-ranked Rutgers team ever. The Scarlet Knights won their next four bowl appearances under Schiano.
In 2012, Schiano was hired by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers but was fired after two losing seasons.
In 2016, Schiano was hired by Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer as the Buckeyes’ defensive coordinator, replacing Chris Ash who had left to take Schiano’s old job at Rutgers. Ash was the Rutgers head coach who made the decision to cancel the school’s previous home-and-home series with the Bruins.
Schiano was mentioned as part of the Penn State football scandal when Mike McQueary testified that Tom Bradley (yes, the former UCLA defensive coordinator) had said that Schiano “had come into his office white as a ghost and said he just saw Jerry doing something to a boy in the shower.” Both Bradley and Schiano denied this, but when Schiano was set to be hired by as Tennessee’s new head coach in 2017, the allegation was enough to cause Volunteer boosters to force Tennessee to not hire him.
In 2019, he appeared to be heading to the New England Patriots as their new defensive coordinator, but he stepped away from the team less than two months later. That December, he was hired to replace Ash who had been fired just four games into the 2019 season.
He spent the first three seasons of his second stint at Rutgers rebuilding the program and led the team to a 7-6 mark last season, which was his first winning season since he’s been back in New Jersey. He’s the all-time wins leader at the school, even though he still has an overall losing record of 91-97.
As for the rest of his staff, it’s an assortment of coaches without much notoriety. No one else on his staff has been a head coach, or even ever really made a name for themselves as an assistant somewhere.
Offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca was on Schiano’s staff during his first stint at Rutgers and he has spent a lot of time coaching with Minnesota’s P.J. Fleck. Ciarrocca was Fleck’s offensive coordinator at Western Michigan from 2013-2016. He followed Fleck to Minnesota but left in 2020 to become the offensive coordinator at Penn State. In 2021, he was an offensive analyst at West Virginia before rejoining Fleck’s staff in 2022. That was another short stay as Ciarocca re-joined Schiano at Rutgers last season.
Schiano’s defensive coordinator Joe Harasymiak also spent time working with Fleck. He was Minnesota’s defensive backs & safeties coach in 2018 and 2019 before being promoted to the team’s defensive co-coordinator in 2020. He joined Schiano’s staff in 2022. Prior to Minnesota, he spent eight seasons at Maine including three seasons as the team’s head coach.
Special Teams
Junior Jai Patel has been an awful field goal kicker this season for Rutgers. Through six games, Patel is just two-for-six. He missed both of his attempts that were greater than 50 yards as well as two more which were from 35 and 36 yards, respectively.
Patel won’t handle kickoffs for the Scarlet Knights, however. Those duties will fall to Irish freshman Jack Scullion. Scullion has kicked off 27 times this season for an average of 58.4 yards per kickoff. Twelve of his kickoffs have gone for touchbacks.
Rutgers went in the other direction for their freshman punter. Jakob Anderson is another Aussie punter. Anderson has punted a total of 28 times this season including nine times against Wisconsin last Saturday. Half of his punts have been fair caught while five have been for more than 50 yards. His longest went for 61 yards and only four have landed in the end zone for a touchback.
Senior receiver Christian Dremel has been the primary punt returned for the Scarlet Knights. He’s returned three of the team’s four punt returns this season. He’s averaging 17.0 yards per punt return and his long went for just 20 yards. So, he doesn’t appear to be a particularly dangerous return man. Senior linebacker Jamier Wright-Collins is the only other Scarlet Knight to return a punt this season. His only return went for 11 yards.
Rutgers has only returned three kickoffs this year. Freshman receiver Ben Black has returned two of the team’s three kickoff returns. His longest was just 20 yards while the other was 18 yards. Dremel returned Rutgers’ other kickoff return for 18 yards.
Offense
Even though the Bruins didn’t win last week’s game against Minnesota, it may have been the perfect preparation for this week’s game. That’s because Minnesota tendency coming into the game was to run the ball, even if they ended up throwing a lot more than normal because they were playing from behind most of the game.
Not only does Rutgers have P.J. Fleck’s former offensive coordinator, but the Scarlet Knights actually run the ball more than the Golden Gophers do. Rutgers has run the ball nearly 60% of the time. As a result, they are averaging just under 200 yards rushing per game.
While they may only pass about 40% of the time, they are still gaining an average of 175 yards passing per game.
Quarterback
True senior transfer Athan Kaliakmanis will start at quarterback for the Scarlet Knights. Unsurprisingly, Kaliakmanis transferred from Minnesota to rejoin his former offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca. His completion rate is 52.1% and he’s found the end zone twice as often as he’s been picked off (8 to 4).
Running Game
Senior running back Kyle Monangai is the Scarlet Knights’ starting running back. He’s carried more than all the other rushers on the team combined. Monangai has carried 135 times for 739 net yards. That means he’s averaging 5.5 yards per carry. He’s averaging 123.17 yards per game and he’s scored seven touchdowns running the ball.
His backup is Samuel Brown V. Brown has carried just 40 times for 201 net yards and three touchdowns.
Passing Game
Kaliakmanis has two primary targets he likes to throw to. Senior receiver Dymere Miller has 21 receptions this season for 279 yards and a touchdown while junior tight end Kenny Fletcher has made 20 catches for 137 yards and two touchdowns.
Sophomore receiver Ian Strong has also made 13 catches for 197 yards and one touchdown while Rutgers final starting receiver Chris Long is the only other receiver with more than 100 receiving yards. Long has made nine catches for 132 yards and a touchdown.
Offensive Analysis
When you run 60% of the time, the passing game is really an afterthought. If the Bruins can score early like they did last week, they can force Rutgers to throw the ball a lot more in order to play catch up. It will get the Scarlet Knights into an area where they are clearly uncomfortable—and that could go a long way towards UCLA’s second win of the season.
Defense
Defensively, Rutgers will play a 4-2-5 Nickel defense as their base defense. As a result, the Scarlet Knights are one of the worst defenses in the country against the run. Rutgers is ranked 109th in rushing defense. That makes them the second-worst rushing defense in the conference.
Now, the fact that Minnesota had been the fourth-worst rushing defense in the Big Ten didn’t change anything for the UCLA offense last week. So, I’m not sure that is going to matter today, but if there is a team the Bruins should be able to run the ball against well, Rutgers might be it.
Conversely, playing a nickel as their base defense, Rutgers has given up the 29th fewest passing yards in the country. They are averaging just 187 yards passing allowed per game. Against Minnesota last week, the Bruins effective utilized short passes to move the ball well against the Golden Gophers. I expect to see more of that again today.
Defensive Line
Senior defensive tackle Kyonte Hamilton leads the defensive line in tackles with 22 including two TFLs and a sack. He also has one quarterback hurry while the other starting defensive tackle is senior Malcolm Ray. Ray has made 15 tackles including 1.5 TFLs and a sack. He’s also QB hurry and recovered a fumble.
On the outside, seniors Aaron Lewis and Jordan Thompson will start at the defensive ends. Lewis has made 16 tackles including two TFLs and a sack. He has also broken up one pass and had five QB hurries. Thompson has made eleven tackles including three TFLs and a sack. He also has one pass breakup to go with four QB hurries.
Linebackers
Junior linebacker Dariel Djaborne leads the team in tackles with 56 including 1.5 TFLs and a sack. He has also has four QB hurries and he’s forced two fumbles. The other starting linebacker will either be junior Moses Walker, who has 23 tackles including a TFL and a QB hurry, or senior Tyreem Powell, who has made 14 tackles including two TFLs along with two pass breakups and a QB hurry. Walker started the first two games of the season as well as last week’s game against Wisconsin, but Powell started against Virginia Tech, Washington, and Nebraska.
Powell seems to be the starter but he’s been recovering from an achilles injury all season, but if he can’t play, Walker will get the start.
Secondary
Rutgers may be without starting cornerback Robert Longerbeam who missed his second game of the season last week. He’s made 16 tackles including half a TFL and he’s broken up three passes and intercepted a pass. If he can’t play, look for sophomore Bo Mascoe to start in his place. Mascoe has made 19 tackles this year and he’s recovered a fumble.
At the other corner, look for senior Eric Rogers to be the starter. Rogers has made 21 tackles including a TFL and a sack. He has also broken up two passes, intercepted one pass and forced a fumble.
The Scarlet Knights will start three safeties. Senior Desmond Igbinoson is second on the team in tackles with 35 including three TFLs. He has also broken up two passes and he has one QB hurry. Senior Shaquan Loyal is third on the team in tackles with 31 including a TFL. He also leads the team in both interceptions with two and pass breakups with five. The third safety will be Flip Dixon. Dixon is fourth in tackles with 25 and he has an interception, a pass breakup and a blocked kick.
Defensive Analysis
Don’t be surprised to see UCLA throwing a lot of short passes like last week against Minnesota. The Bruins are just not able to effectively run the ball but last week they proved that a good short passing game can effectively replace the running game. They moved the ball well with lots of short passes against Minnesota. If UCLA can do that again like last week, they could have a shot to win one on the road.
While the Scarlet Knights have traditionally been a perennial doormat, Schiano has the team playing well this year with a 4-2 mark.
This game may be tougher to win than many of us thought when we first saw the schedule, but if the Bruins can build on last week and not having the coaching staff make dumb decisions like allowing 30 seconds to run off the clock without calling a timeout at the end of the half, UCLA could win this one today.
Go Bruins.
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Tuesday before the Iowa game... I assume you'll be busy trying to figure out the permutations of the first 12-team playoff rankings before and after their release, right? 🤣