SMQB: Why Didn't UCLA's Zach Charbonnet Play Last Night?
It was the question everyone was asking, and Chip Kelly actually answered it...sort of.
There was one big question that everyone seemed to be asking during last night’s UCLA football game against Arizona State: Why isn’t Zach Charbonnet on the field playing?
Some thought maybe it was an uncharacteristically violation of team discipline, but no one really knew for sure. After all, when FS1 pointed the camera towards Charbonnet on the sideline, it looked like he was ready to play. He even had his helmet on at one point.
So, why didn’t he play?
Well, UCLA head coach Chip Kelly answered the question in his post-game interview. In fact, it was the first question Kelly was asked and it came from Ben Bolch of the LA Times. Kelly’s responded to the question this way:
Zach was unavailable. He tried to go in warm-ups and then just couldn't go. So, he was unavailable tonight.
That might be the closest Kelly has come to acknowledging that one of his players was too injured to play. Normally, Kelly limits his responses to something akin to the first sentence of his response. This time, he actually offered the detail that Zach had tried to play in warm-ups, but wasn’t feeling well enough to play in the game.
It might very well have been the most informative post-game interview Kelly has given since arriving in Westwood, even though he didn’t specifically say what the injury was or how bad it is.
Here’s Kelly’s complete post-game interview, courtesy of Tracy Pierson of BruinReportOnline:
Kelly’s disclosure aside, Kazmeir Allen offered one of the biggest revelations of the post-game interviews. When asked how much time he had spent at running back in practice this week, Allen matter-of-factly said, “One day. One day. Like a few reps.”
That goes to show just how talented the Kazmanian Devil is. He spent one day practicing as a running back and he was able to run the ball 11 times for 137 yards and a touchdown.
The post-game interview with DTR and Kazmeir Allen is also courtesy of Tracy Pierson of BruinReportOnline:
The final post-game interview featured safety Mo Osling discussing the Bruins’ defensive performance.
Osling spoke about the play of ASU quarterback Trenton Bourguet and how the defense stuck together until the end of the game.
Mo Osling’s interview is also courtesy of Tracy Pierson from BruinReportOnline:
The bottom line with this team remains simple: As long as UCLA is able to score touchdowns and get ahead early, the strength of Chip Kelly’s offense is likely to prevail.
The Bruins return home on Saturday for another night game. This time, they will host the Arizona Wildcats at 7:30 pm PT and the game will be broadcast nationally on Fox.
Go Bruins!!!
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I think the fact that Kaz only got a few reps at RB does show that Zach was a last minute scratch.
The offense was terrific, but the D, frankly, not unexpected. You can't beat the best playing just one quarter. This will probably be the difference when SuC comes around.