UCLA Football Preview: Can the Bruin Defense Stop Caleb Williams?
UCLA will need to hold the Heisman Trophy winner at bay if they hope to win back the Victory Bell.
For the past few weeks, when the topic of UCLA and Southern Cal football have come up, I’ve said to my friends that, if we combined the Bruin defense and the Trojan offense, we’d have a potential national championship football team.
While that may be true given how the Southern Cal defense has played most of the season and how the UCLA offense has sputtered of late, it doesn’t change the fact that the best parts of these teams will face each other come Saturday.
Let’s look at the Trojan offense.
Quarterback
Of course, one of the biggest reasons for SC’s offensive success has to be last year’s Heisman Trophy winner, quarterback Caleb Williams.
There’s little doubt that Williams has been one of the best players in college football since he followed Lincoln Riley to Southern Cal. At the same time, his stats are down slightly from a year ago when he won the Heisman. Last season, he threw just five interceptions in 14 games while, this year, he’s already thrown four in 11 games.
He’s thrown just 29 touchdowns this year compared to 42 last year. He’s averaging just 295.4 passing yards per game after averaging 324.1 last season.
Interestingly, his completion percentage ticked up slightly from 67% to 68% and his average number of yards per completion is also up a little from 13.6 to 13.8.
Williams also hasn’t put up rushing numbers close to what he did last year. His average yards per carry has dropped substantially. Last season, he averaged 3.4 ypc but this year, he’s only averaging 1.4 ypc. Though he does have one more rushing touchdown than last year after just 11 games this year.
The bottom line here is pretty simple: Williams is still a force to be reckoned with despite the fact that he hasn’t played as well this year as last year, and UCLA will have to find a way to stop him if the Bruins want to win tomorrow.
Running Game
The Southern Cal depth chart lists Austin Jones and MarShawn Lloyd as the co-starters at running back, but the fact of the matter is that Lloyd has about 50% more carries than Jones and nearly twice as many yards. Lloyd has gained 803 yards on 108 carries while Jones has gained 411 yards on 68 carries. Lloyd has scored nine rushing touchdowns to just six for Jones.
So, while these guys can pack a 1-2 punch, it’s clear that Lloyd is the guy UCLA needs to be most concerned about. Regardless, I expect the Bruin run defense to do a good job of shutting both of these guys down.
Passing Game
Not surprisingly, Caleb Williams likes to spread the ball around — a lot. Last week in a losing effort against Oregon, Williams completed 20 passes to nine different receivers. Over the course of the season, ten receivers have caught at least ten passes.
His favorite target has been redshirt senior Tahj Washington, who has made 47 receptions for 915 yards and six touchdowns. His average of 19.47 yards per catch with a season long reception of 76 yards makes him the Trojans’ biggest play guy.
That said, Colorado transfer Brendan Rice, son of Hall of Famer Jerry Rice and half-brother of former Bruin Jerry Rice, Jr., has been the team’s biggest scoring threat. He’s scored 11 touchdowns this year, almost twice as many as Washington, even though he’s only made 37 receptions for 644 yards.
Beyond those guys, Southern Cal has four guys who have each made at least 23 receptions. Mario Williams has hauled in 28 receptions for 301 yards and two touchdowns while Dorian Singer has made 23 catches for 276 yards and three scores. Zachariah Branch has grabbed 24 balls for 260 yards and two touchdowns while tight end Lake McRee has also caught 24 passes for 245 yards and a touchdown.
Analysis
The Bruin defense has their work cut out for them tomorrow against one of the most prolific offenses in the country, but that doesn’t mean the Trojan offense cannot be stopped. Both Notre Dame and Oregon held Southern Cal under 30 points. While UCLA may be entering tomorrow’s game on a two-game losing streak, it’s worth noting that the defense has only allowed more than 30 points once this season against Oregon State.
So, holding SC to less than 30 points is definitely going to be a key to the game tomorrow. If the Bruin defense can do that, it will be up to the offense to score enough points to win the game. Of course, that’s a big if.
Go Bruins!!! Beat $c!!!
Thanks again for supporting The Mighty Bruin. Your paid subscriptions make this site possible. Questions, comments, story ideas, angry missives and more can be sent to @TheMightyBruin on Twitter.
Chip Kelly sucks.
Finally, the dreadful U$C defense will face an opposing offense they could actually look good against. Hope the rain messes up the L.A. Mausoleum to make it close game.
Go Bruins! (not Chip)