It’s been the Demetric Felton Show so far against Arizona at the Rose Bowl. (Photo Credit: @5thDownCFB)
If Chip Kelly hadn’t shown himself to be so stubborn over the past two years, some Bruin fans might think that DTR’s absence due to contact tracing might just make him UCLA’s version of Wally Pipp.
That’s because the Bruins’ offense has looked good with Chase Griffin running it — and Griffin has proven to be an accurate passer.
In the first half of tonight’s game, Griffin was 9 of 13 for 96 yards with one TD pass.
But the passing game has almost been an afterthought compared to the Demetric Felton Show. Felton already has 20 carries for 134 yards and one score on the ground.
The most noticeably absent thing from tonight’s game has been Bruin turnovers. There weren’t any in the first half, unless you consider Kelly’s decision to go for it on fourth and one from UCLA’s 25 on the Bruins first drive a turnover. That bad coaching decision resulted in Arizona’s only touchdown four plays later from the UCLA three-yard line. The lack of turnovers has been responsible for the Bruins domination since that Wildcat touchdown.
In fact, UCLA finished the half scoring 20 consecutive points. On the Bruins’ first scoring drive, they drove 62 yards on ten plays, but were forced to settle for a field goal. A little later, they drove 52 yards on nine plays with Griffin throwing a 16-yard pass to Brittain Brown to put UCLA ahead, 10-3.
Arizona’s next drive ended when the defense dropped backup quarterback Will Plummer for a loss on fourth and one. The Bruins took over on the Arizona 43 and, six plays later, Felton plunged in from the one.
UCLA’s final drive of the half was an 81-yard drive that took 4:11 off the clock, but the drive stalled on the Wildcat 11-yard line and Chip Kelly showed he isn’t always inflexible when he sent out Nicholas Barr-Mira for another field goal to end the half with the Bruins up, 20-7.
Meanwhile, the UCLA defense has taken care of business, starting with Arizona quarterback Grant Gunnell. The Bruins paid Gunnell back for torching them last season on the very first play from scrimmage when Bo Calvert knocked him into the turf and appearing to injure Gunnell’s shoulder.
While UCLA hasn’t sacked Plummer yet, the Bruin defense had two tackles for loss and two QB hurries in the first half. Overall, they held the Wildcats to just 152 yards in the half.
Listen to the Game With TMB!
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This is your Arizona Wildcats at UCLA Bruins 2nd half thread.
Go Bruins!!!
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Phillips really has to catch that one. Those are the plays that separate meh teams from great teams. Like Dulcich last week v Oregon. Both were tough plays for sure, but those are the things that make the difference.
UCLA is playing really conservative on offense, which is fine since UCLA's defense has been excellent, but still I'd love to see them actually go out and win the game rather than play the game out.
Nice solid workmanlike game with no big mistakes tonight. Go Bruins!!
Have a great night everyone!
Ballgame! Have a great rest of your Thanksgiving weekend! Go Bruins!
Yes!! Should griffin be starter going forward?
Picked!! Ballgame!!
A score that is meaningful to some.
AZ has 154 rushing yards tonight (atm); Felton, 206
Word, Brady. Word.
TD, Brown!
That’s how to finish a run.
Touchdown!! Man run!!
Hopefully just a cramp. Hopefully. Hopefully. Hopefully.
Felton gimps off that last run-- ouch!!
Aw hell is that a hammie?
Hard to believe this is the same team that hung 35 on Oregon.
Perfect pass by Plummer to a wide-open Blaylock!
Interception!!
The AZ QB is a tough kid. He's been impersonating a tackling dummy a lot tonight.
Phillips really has to catch that one. Those are the plays that separate meh teams from great teams. Like Dulcich last week v Oregon. Both were tough plays for sure, but those are the things that make the difference.
Dangerous pass by Griffin! We dodged a bullet on that one, throwing into double coverage
Bad decision.
A couple big runs from Felton, right when we needed some momentum and possession. Nice...
Burning clock now.
How can we look so good the first half and so discombobulated the second half?
False start in an empty stadium. Ugh.
Does anyone know is the band there? Or is that soundtrack?
Run up the middle from the shotgun again...grr...
Lots of patience by Griffin on that one.
What the hell was that, Kelly??
False start...
Ugh. What happened to your offense?
Lucky. We need to make a play.
Now we need to capitalize on their mistake, get the momentum back!
Let’s go!!!!
Lucky.
What a huge break!
Come on d!!
141 rush yds this half for AZ, and like 36 for us -_-
Az has flipped the script in 2nd half....running all over our D...our offense is doing nothing.
Playing like we don’t trust our QB.
Great 3rd down stop by our boys on D!
That was good pass D and not even close to PI
I’m a little tired of 3 and out...
Geez, another blocked punt.
OMG that pass was needlessly terrible
Offense is stagnant.
Whatever adjustments the AZ D made for our run game, it's time for our run game to counter
It's hard to criticize Kelly for going for it after how many years of criticizing Mora for not going for it on 4th downs.
The SPTRs giveth, and the SPTRs fail to call any easy PI
UCLA is playing really conservative on offense, which is fine since UCLA's defense has been excellent, but still I'd love to see them actually go out and win the game rather than play the game out.
The AZ receivers are not doing their freshman QB any favors