UCLA Football Preview: Oregon State Defense Will Pose a Challenge for Bruin Offense
Dante Moore won't be able to make the freshman mistakes that he's made the past two games when UCLA plays the Beavers.
If UCLA wants to win tomorrow, the Bruin offense will have to find a way to win on the road tomorrow against a tough Beaver defense. That’s due mostly to the fact that the Beavers will bring a defense which is currently ranked 15th in the country in Rushing Defense and 30th in the nation in Total Defense. It’s really the stout rush defense which UCLA will need to overcome.
Overall, Oregon State will run a 3-3-5 base defense. Rather than having a fourth down lineman, the Beavers will stand him up as an outside linebacker and even drop him into pass coverage. I’m pretty sure that Chip Kelly has already figured out a way to exploit this defense, but then the Bruin offense will need to execute which is something it’s struggled to do so two games in a row now.
In both games, the UCLA defense kept the game close until the team could finally generate some offense. While they did a nice job stopping Cameron Ward last week, I’m still concerned that, eventually, the defense may have a bad game. If that comes tomorrow, it will be absolutely imperative that the Bruin offense finds a way to move the ball and get into the end zone.
As a whole, the Beavers have a lot of experience on the defensive side of the ball. Let’s look at Oregon State’s defensive personnel.
Defensive Line
The Beavers will start three upperclassmen on the defensive line. Both tackles are redshirt seniors. Joe Golden will start at one defensive tackle while James Rawls should start at the other. Isaac Hodgins, another redshirt senior, did get the start in place of Rawls last week, even though Rawls did play. This week, Hodgins is listed as an “OR” for Golden.
Golden seems to be the best of the tackles. He has 16 tackles and 1.5 sacks to go along with a quarterback hurry and a fumble recovery. Rawls has made 12 tackles this season including 2.5 TFLs and half a sack while Hodgins has made 11 tackles including 5.5 TFLs, which is second-best on the team, and three sacks, which is tied for the team lead.
Based on the starters for each of their other games, I fully expect to see Sione Lolohea get the start at defensive end. He’s tied for the fourth-most tackles on the team with 20 and he leads the Beavers in TFLs with 8.5 including 1.5 sacks and in quarterback hurries with four. But Lolohea is listed as an “OR” with Andrew Chatfield, who has 13 tackles including a team-leading three sacks. So, expect Chatfield to see significant playing time.
Linebackers
OSU relies on their inside linebackers to make a lot of the team’s tackles. Junior Easton Mascarenas-Arnold leads the Beaver defense with 51 tackles and two interceptions. The other inside linebacker is Calvin Hart, Jr., who is fourth on the team in tackles with 26. Hart didn’t start against UC Berkeley last week, but he did play. Instead, redshirt freshman Melvin Jordan started. He made five tackles last week and, while Hart did play, he only had one tackle. So, even though the OSU depth chart doesn’t have Jordan at the same linebacker position as Hart for this week, it is still possible that Jordan could see time there tomorrow.
Redshirt senior John McCartan will be the Beavers’ starter at outside linebacker. McCartan is tied for fourth on the team in tackles with 20 including three TFLs and two sacks.
Secondary
Through the first four games, the starters in the Beaver secondary reflected the names listed on the depth chart, but some changes started happening beginning with the Utah game. That’s when it looks like redshirt freshman Noble Thomas, Jr. got his first start at corner over junior Thrice Ivy, Jr. Thomas started against last week against UC Berkeley. He may have started due to an injury against Utah since Ivy didn’t play and last week’s start may have been because he was still limited by one. Ivy did see some action against the Bears, but he didn’t contribute much — just one tackle. So, if Ivy is still limited, look for Thomas to start again.
Two other starters were also missing last week. That was starting cornerback Jaden Robinson and nickel back Ryan Cooper, Jr. That duo is tied for the team lead in pass breakups with four. If they can’t go, look for freshman Jermod McCoy at the corner and redshirt sophomore Josiah Johnson to start at nickel.
There may not be much drop off from Robinson to McCoy. They both have 17 tackles and, while McCoy only has two breakups, he also has a fumble recovery, a quarterback hurry and an interception. On the other hand, there may be a drop off going from Cooper to Johnson. Johnson only has 13 tackles to Cooper’s 20 and only one pass breakup. Of course, that may be due to seeing less time to this point.
The safeties will be redshirt senior Kitan Oladapo and redshirt junior Akili Arnold. Oladapo is second on the team in tackles with 35 with two breakups, a QB hurry and a fumble recovery. In addition to 31 tackles and an interception, Arnold is tied with Cooper and Robinson for the lead in breakups. As a side note, he is the brother of Beaver linebacker Easton Mascarenas-Arnold.
Analysis
Eight of the probable starters look pretty solid. If the Beavers have a weakness, it would appear to be at the corners and nickelback, where the expected starters may be limited. If that happens, look for Chip Kelly to try to find a way to exploit it.
UCLA may need to go to the air tomorrow as a way of loosening up the defense to make it easier to run the ball against the Beavers’ tough run defense.
If Dante Moore can avoid making the freshman mistakes we’ve seen in the past two games, it will make for an easier game all around for the Bruins. On the other hand, if the Bruin offense struggles, it could be a long day.
Go Bruins!!!
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I'd say we need to pass on first down a lot.