UCLA Football Preview: Can the Bruin Defense Stop Southern Cal's High-Powered Offense?
Southern Cal's offense is extremely well-balanced between the run th
It’s feels pretty safe to call the Southern Cal offense high-powered. After all, they have scored more than 30 points seven times this season and more than 40 points in three of those contests. If that’s not enough, they’ve been held under 25 only twice.
At the same time, the word which best seems to describe the Southern Cal offense is the ever popular “multiple.” A look at the Trojan offensive starters this season supports this description. Lincoln Riley has started a second tight end in four games this season, though that has only happened once since Week Four, he’s started a third receiver six times this year, and he started a second running back against Illinois.
Overall, the Southern Cal offense is very well-balanced. They have run the ball only eight more times than they have thrown it. For that to be the case this late in the season might be as close as possible. They have run it 50.5% of the time and thrown it 49.5% of the time.
Let’s look at Southern Cal’s offensive personnel.
Quarterback
Redshirt junior Jayden Maiava will start at quarterback for the Trojans. Maiava has completed 226 passes out of 344 attempts. That gives him a 65.7% completion percentage, which is a little low for an elite quarterback. He’s thrown 21 touchdown passes this season while eight passes have been intercepted. That seems a little high and it could be one of the reasons why Southern Cal has lost three games and, subsequently, won’t be headed to the CFP this season. Maiava is averaging 288.55 passing yards per game.
Maiava is tied for the third-most carries on the team with Eli Sanders. Both have 47 rushes. He has run for 140 net yards, which averages out to just 3.0 yards per carry.
More importantly, Maiava likes to run the ball close to the goal line. He leads the team with six rushing touchdowns.
Running Game
In addition to Maiava, the Trojans may have a 1-2 punch at running back. Their starter will probably be redshirt freshman King Miller, who became the starter when Waymond Jordan went down with an ankle injury against Michigan. Miller has carried 114 times for 749 yards with five touchdowns. Meanwhile, before he got hurt, Jordan had carried 88 times for 576 yards with five touchdowns. Interestingly, Miller is averaging 6.6 yards per carry while Jordan is averaging 6.5 yards per carry. So, they have both been very effective running the ball.
Now, it was thought that Jordan might not be available for tomorrow’s game, but Sports Illustrated is reporting that Jordan has practiced in full pads this week. So, he may be able to go tomorrow.
Speaking of injuries, Sanders will be out tomorrow because he suffered a season-ending knee injury against Michigan. As a result of the injury situation, sophomore Bryan Jackson may see some time as the Trojans’ number two back. Jackson has carried 35 times this season for 126 net yards. That’s an average of just 3.6 yards per carry. So, eve though he has scored four touchdowns, he is a considerable drop-off from Miller and Jordan.
Passing Game
It feels like Southern Cal has traditionally been known for having a stable of very good receivers. For this year, that guy is junor Mekai Lemon. He’s pulled in 78 receptions for 1124 yards with 10 touchdowns. That’s more receptions than the next two guys combined.
Those guys are junior receiver Ja’Kobi Lane and redshirt senior tight end Lake McRee. Lane has caught 46 passes for 693 yards with four touchdowns while McRee has made 27 receptions for 420 yards with three TDs. So, combined, they have almost as many catches and as many yards as Lemon has.
The only other Trojans with more than 100 receiving yards are true freshman Tanook Hines, who has 25 receptions this season for 367 yards with two touchdowns, tight end Walker Lyons, who has 17 receptions for 201 yards and two touchdowns, and the injured Sanders.
Analysis
When you factor in that the UCLA defense has allowed an average of 45 points per game over the last four games, it’s easy to question whether the Bruins have the ability to stop Southern Cal’s offense. Heck, even against Penn State, UCLA gave up 37 points.
As a result, the only conclusion you can come to is that the Bruin defense is going to have its hands full tomorrow.
The saving grace might end up being the fact that tomorrow’s game is the Crosstown Showdown. So, throw the records out and have a little more pride than most weeks. After all, a win tomorrow will go a long way toward redeeming what has been the worst UCLA season since 2018.
Go Bruins!!! Beat $c!!!
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Ucla's defense sucks. They cannot stop a nose bleed.
Anybody have status on Jaivian Thomas, and why he's not playing tonight?