UCLA Bruins Unable to Kill Ducks' Passing Game, Lose 34-31
The Bruin offense struggled for much of the game, allowing Oregon to go on a 34-3 run in the second and third quarters.
The UCLA defense held Oregon to 121 yards rushing. That's probably the best thing I can say about the defense. That’s because the Bruin defense also gave up a season-high 296 yards passing to Anthony Brown.
The offense started off the game by opening up a quick 14-point lead. On the opening drive, UCLA used a mixture of runs and passes to drive 75 yards over 5:15 and Brittain Brown took it in from the one, giving the Bruins the lead.
When the Ducks got the ball back, they drove down to the UCLA 34-yard line, but the Bruins held and the Ducks were unsuccessful on their fourth down conversion. It was a good start for the defense.
Though that stop was essentially nullified when Dorian Thompson-Robinson threw an interception on the very next play.
Again, the defense held. This time, they forced the Ducks to punt quickly and Martell Irby was able to block the punt to give the Bruins the ball on Oregon's 30.
Four plays later, Thompson-Robinson found Kazmeir Allen for a four-yard touchdown.
From that point forward, the Ducks scored 34 points to just three for the Bruins. That field goal came right at the end of the first half, giving UCLA a 17-14 lead at the break.
However, Oregon was just getting started. In the third quarter, they scored twice to re-take the lead for good.
The Ducks took the opening drive of the second half 75 yards right down the field for the 21-17 lead. Following bad snap on a punt,, Bruin punter Luke Akers fumbled and Oregob recovered. Four plays later, the Ducks led by 10, 27-17.
The Bruina couldn't capitalize on Oregon's mistakes. While they recovered a fumble on the Ducks' 30, UCLA came away with no points. In fact, rather than trying a long field goal on fourth and 18 from Oregon's 38, Chip Kelly opted to go for it instead.
This was UCLA's second blown scoring opportunity. Nicolas Barr-Mira has missed a 35-yard attempt in the second quarter.
A field goal attempt, or even a coffin corner punt, would have been better choices here considering the fact that DR'S pass accuracy was terrible all game and his pass wasn't able to be caught by the receiver he threw to.
In fact, the Bruin offense was unable to do much of anything in the third quarter and it hurt.
Finally, they managed to end the Ducks’ 34-3 run after a 75-yard drive that was capped by a 2-yard run by DTR.
On the ensuing drive, Anthony Brown had a pass picked off by Jordan Genmark-Heath to give UCLA the ball on the Ducks’ 20.
It took the Bruins six plays and nearly three minutes to move 19 of those 20 yards before Brown scored from the one.
That left UCLA down 34-31 and while they got the ball back, they weren't able to score. With a minute and 23 seconds left, DTR got hit hard and Ethan Garbers had to come in to try to finish the Bruin rally. He was able to move UCLA from their own 39 to the Oregon 39, almost in field goal range for one last try, but Barr-Mira never got the chance to tie the game due to the fact that Garbers threw an interception and the Ducks ran the clock out.
UCLA heads to Utah next week for a Pac-12 South game against the Utes.
Go Bruins.
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I am sick and tired of being sick and tired!! This Chip Kelly experiment has offered nothing but stagnant, lethargic, pathetic results. I am exhausted, and he offers nothing but arrogance in his demeanor which expands my frustrations further. Sir you and your defensive coordinator are not innovative, your food program isn’t elite, nor is your recruiting. The transfer portal has helped Chip, it couldve actually been worse. Smh.
UCLA could have won that game but will rue missed opportunities and there’s plenty of what if’s to mull. The loss is down to the Defense though, I think if you score 30+ you should win. DTR was DTR. He played a gutsy game (and he certainly has plenty of heart), but I thought very up and down. Missed some throws long (and a couple of wide open receivers), th generally was pretty serviceable. Held the ball too long in the pocket too often, which seems to be one of his long-standing issues. You do wonder if he could have pulled it off if he didn’t get hurt. Garbers was fine, but it just seemed like he didn’t have the whole playbook as it looked like the same play 3 times in a row, which is asking to be picked off. I wonder if he’s had enough reps to take over the offense as I felt like the wind went out of the sails at that point and the O didn’t have the same confidence. I thought Chip emphasized the run too much in Q2 and Q3 - it was like we were trying to pound it like it was late in the 4th and we just were trying to run the clock out. It made for too many 3rd and long situations.
I never like to blame the refs for a loss and I won’t do that here, but they were abysmal. Missed holding calls, missed PI calls, and some just embarrassing mistakes. It’s pretty bad when the commentators are making fun of how bad (and random) the officiating is. The whole situation with the Oregon Defense trying to induce false starts was crazy too. If you need the police to escort the officials into the locker room because of abuse from a coach, somebody should be ejected, but instead it seemed to have the effect that Oregon wanted and I’d say Oregon got a lot of favorable calls (or non calls really).
But, as we’ve come to get used to, it was the lack of Defense that killed us again. To someone who didn’t see the game, it might not seem so bad, but I think our terrible play was masked a bit by turnovers. While the secondary is really bad, and not helped by a scheme that doesn’t seem to know what it’s trying to do, this game made me think that a large part of the problem is the lack of a pass rush. Even so-so QBs can make plays when they have the time. In the first quarter I thought Oregon was trying to establish their run game, which played into our strength, but once they switched to short passing plays and screens they exposed the team badly. The announcers were carrying on about Dye having multiple TD touches in a row, which really just hammered home that it was all passing until they were a few yards out and the handoff for the TD. Lake’s interception that was nullified for OS was unfortunate (he stepped forward on the hard count), but it’s inexcusable to repeat that on the next play. Again, the lack of pressure is the real problem, leading the Bruins to try and get an edge by guessing the snap, but this kept backfiring. I feel like Oregon had picked up on this from previous games and had a plan to try and draw offsides, and on the flip side it’s something our coaches haven’t addressed.
So, 5-3, without really beating any good teams (It’s clear LSU is only OK and ranked preseason due to their name). I think this continues next week with a loss to Utah, and then 3 winnable games. 8-4 or 7-5 to finish, 3rd in the South, and a spot in the whatever bowl sponsored by meh.
I’d like to think Azz will go after the season is over, but I’m not holding my breath. I doubt Kelly goes anywhere until his contract is up. I have this feeling like he’s more interested in playing with Offensive concepts and play design more than winning, and certainly doesn’t seem interested in building a program. Still, unless the tooth fairy shows up with $9M, I foresee 12 more months of this.