UCLA Bruins Narrowly Avoid Upset by South Alabama, 32-31
The Bruins barely avoided becoming the Sun Belt Conference's fourth Power 5 victim this season.
The UCLA Bruins were outcoached and outplayed for most of today’s game and they almost became the Sun Belt Conference’s fourth Power 5 victim of the season.
In fact, the Bruins trailed for much of the game as the South Alabama offense stifled UCLA’s offensive attack and held them to field goals, rather than touchdowns, on four drives.
By comparison, the Jaguar offense seemed to move the ball down the field easily on most drives.
The Bruin defense actually started the game off strong when JonJon Vaughns intercepted a Carter Bradley pass on third and three from the Jaguar 28. That gave UCLA the ball on the South Alabama 35.
But three plays later, the Bruins had moved the ball just a yard and they settled for a 38-yard field goal by Nicholas Barr-Mira.
After the ensuing kickoff, South Alabama moved the ball 75 yards on nine plays as they took the lead, 7-3.
When UCLA got the ball back, they were able to move the ball 59 yards, but again, the drive stalled and they settled for another Barr-Mira field goal. South Alabama matched the Bruins with a 38-yard field goal to make it 10-6.
The next Bruin drive saw UCLA move the ball well. In fact, they got the ball deep into Jaguar territory. On first and goal from the 7, Dorian Thompson-Robinson threw a pass to Zach Charbonnet, which was initially called a touchdown, but a replay review clearly showed that Charbonnet’s knee was down at the one and the call was overturned. The next play resulted in a Charbonnet fumble into the end zone that was recovered by the Jaguars, who proceeded to march 80 yards down the field, it was South Alabama 17, UCLA 6.
The Bruins closed the gap to 17-13 when DTR found Jake Bobo for a 9-yard TD pass with 3:25 left in the half.
While that ended the scoring in the first half, UCLA did get the ball back one more time and, rather than trying to get some points on the board with 17 seconds left from their own 20, the Bruins took a knee to end the first half.
The first drive of the second half result in a quick Bruin touchdown from DTR to Cam Brown after an 8-yard pass to Bobo, and a pair of 8-yard and 20-yard runs by Charbonnet. That gave UCLA a 20-17 lead.
A South Alabama fumble set up another Bruin field goal, this time from 28 yards out, but the Jaguars responded with an 8-play, 67-yard drive to retake the lead, 24-23.
On the first play of the next Bruin drive, DTR fumbled and South Alabama punched it in two plays later and their lead was eight, 31-23.
UCLA closed it to 31-29 on a 10-play, 68-yard drive which saw DTR hit Logan Loya for an 8-yard TD. Looking to tie the game, Chip Kelly went for two after that touchdown, but Thompson-Robinson couldn’t get in the end zone and the Bruins trailed by two with 12:25 left.
After the teams traded punts, South Alabama got the ball back with 9:08 to go and the Jaguars went on a long, clock-consuming drive which lasted 11 plays and got them down to the UCLA 22. On fourth and two from there, the Jaguar coaching staff one of their few mistakes of the game. Instead of kicking the field goal to go up by five and force UCLA to score a touchdown to win, they went for it and Tanner McGee was sacked by Carl Jones for an 11-yard loss.
The Bruins methodically moved the ball down the field on what would prove to be the final drive, needing only a field goal to win. DTR found Titus Mokiao-Atimalala first for 29 yards and then for nine more before an illegal substitution penalty gave the Bruins a 1st and 10 from the Jaguar 24.
Chip Kelly pounded the ball on the ground at this point with Keegan Jones and Charbonnet until it was fourth and three from the Jaguar 6-yard line. He called timeout with just three seconds left and Barr-Mira connected from 24 yards to win the game, 32-31.
Go Bruins!
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I hate the way he and Deshaun utilize the running backs. Charbonnet could be the best back in the Conference, but on way too many “important” downs, Jones was in the backfield. And, he had more carries than Charbonnet.
Don’t even get me started on our defense.
Go Bruins!
We hired a retread coach who dreads recruiting, whatever the rationale. He counts on transfers. Troy Aikman was a transfer from Oklahoma back in the day. But to think lightening always strikes twice is unrealistic. Additionally, his play calling is questionable in many ways. I sincerely hope he is gone after this season.