Bru-Winning Streak! UCLA Wins Third in a Row on Bhaghani Field Goal; Beats Maryland, 20-17
It wasn't pretty, but it's another W for the surging Bruins.
In 2023, the Pac-12 Conference fell apart. In case anyone was missing the officials who used to call the Pac-12 games, it sure looked like the former Pac-12 officials were found tonight on the field in the Rose Bowl calling tonight’s game between UCLA and the Maryland Terrapins. They certainly missed a good game, especially the Field Judge who effectively killed a fourth quarter UCLA drive with a phantom illegal block in the back call on Kwazi Gilmer. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
If the goal was to start fast, both teams failed to accomplish that.
The first quarter saw three punts. Two were from UCLA and one was from Maryland. Each team went three-and-out on their first drive. The Bruins moved the ball decently on their second drive. They drove 29 yards on nine plays before they punted from the from the Maryland 41.
The Terrapins’ second drive saw Maryland start on their own nine-yard line and they drove deep into UCLA territory. With 32 seconds left in the quarter and the ball on the Bruin 17, Rodrick Pleasant was called for pass interference in the end zone, setting the Terps up with a first down on the Bruin two-yard line. But the UCLA defense held and Maryland opted for a 24-yard field goal to take a 3-0 lead.
UCLA’s next drive was a quick one. The Bruins returned the kickoff to their own 29. On the fourth play of the drive, UCLA had a first down on their own 45 when Anthony Frias broke through a hole and scampered for a 55-yard touchdown run, giving the Bruins a 7-3 lead.
The next four drives saw each team punt twice.
The Terps were able to move the ball well on their next possession, moving the ball 31 yards down to the UCLA 34. When Malik Washington threw a short pass to DeJuan Williams, the ball popped out and JonJon Vaughns recovered the fumble, giving the Bruins the ball on their own 32.
After a short loss by Anthony Woods on a first down run, Nico Iamaleava found Kwazi Gilmer for a big 33-yard gain and a personal foul on Maryland’s Trey Reddick tacked on 15 more and the Bruins were in business at the Terrapin 36. Three plays later, UCLA had a first down on the Maryland 25 when Iamaleava was intercepted on the Maryland eight-yard line.
With 55 second left, the Terrapins took over and move 51 yards on ten plays, eventually throwing a Hail Mary which fell incomplete as time expired to end the first half.
The first four drives of the second half saw the punt fest continue.
The Terps started their third drive of the second half with very good field position on their own 48. On third-and-six from the Bruin 48, Maryland quarterback Malik Washington found DeJuan Williams on a pass and Williams took off for a 41-yard gain to the UCLA seven. Three plays later, they faced a fourth-and-goal from the Bruin two.
Rather than trying to run it in, Maryland went back to the pass, but Andre Jordan, Jr. broke it up and UCLA took over on downs.
After Jalen Berger gained a couple on first down, Iamaleava threw a pass right into the hands of Maryland’s Jamare Glasker who took it in for a pick-six and the Terps led, 10-7.
The punt fest continued on the next four drives as the game entered the fourth quarter. UCLA ran siz plays before punting. Then, Maryland went a quick three-and-out while UCLA’s drive was stalled by the phantom illegal block called on Gilmer, except as replays on both TV and in the Rose Bowl clearly showed Gilmer hadn’t even touched anyone on the play, much less blocked anyone in the back.
The Bruins took over on their own ten with 12:10 left in the game. While they were able to move the 52 yards, the drive stalled on the Maryland 38 and Tim Skipper opted to send out Mateen Bhaghani for a 56-yard field goal with 7:44 left instead of going for it on fourth-and-two.
But the usually reliable Bhaghani’s kick went wide left and the Bruins still trailed.
After another Maryland three-and-out, UCLA got the ball back on their own 20 with 5:40 to go. Nine plays later, Iamaleava found Mikey Matthews in the end zone from 14 yards out and the Bruins took a 14-10 lead.
When Maryland got the ball back, it looked like UCLA was about to seal the game when Scooter Jackson intercepted a Washington pass on the Terps’ 20. On the second play of the drive, Garret DiGiorgio moved and was called for the false start, backing up the Bruins five yards. Two plays later, Bhaghani gave the Bruins a seven-point lead with a 42-yard field goal.
But before Bhaghani nailed it, there was a collective sigh in the Rose Bowl as Iamaleava was hit from behind and went down with what appeared to be at least a game-ending, if not a season-ending knee injury.
At this point, the game looked over even though there was 2:04 left.
But the UCLA defense allowed Maryland to move down the field easily, proving once again that the only thing the prevent defense does is prevent you from winning. On the tenth play of the drive, Washington found Jalil Farooq for an eight-yard touchdown. Rather than go for the two-point conversion and the possible win on the road, Maryland head coach Mike Locksley opted to kick the extra point to tie the game, 17-17.
After the ensuing kickoff, the Bruins had the ball on their own 27 with just 34 second left.
Then, the unbelievable happened.
Iamaleava was seen on the sideline with his helmet on ready to come back out for a game-winning drive. Following an incompletion on first down, he found Titus Mokiao-Atimalala for 14 yards. Then, he found him again for 19 more. On first down from the Terrapin 40, Frias scampered for another big gain. This time, he ran for 35 yards before being caught at the five.
UCLA let the clock run down to four seconds before calling their final timeout of the game. In came Bhaghani for a 23-yard field goal attempt to win the game. Of course, from that distance, he was money.
The uprights came down as the fans began to celebrate another Bruin win, but a replay review showed the ball went through the uprights with two seconds left.
So, back up the goal posts went and the Bruins had to kick it off, giving Maryland one chance to pull off a UC Berkeley-style return, but the Bruin Marching Band managed to stay off the field and UCLA hammered the Maryland returner, sealing the 20-17 Bruin win.
Frias led the Bruin rushers with 97 yards even though he only carried four times and one touchdown. Iamaleava finished up going 21-of-35 for 221 yards with one touchdown pass and two interceptions.
Now, UCLA heads to Bloomington next week to take on the Indiana Hoosiers in what will be a big game for both teams. Kickoff is still TBD.
Go Bruins!!!
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Thank God they fired Foster.
The vintage unis were cool…the football was pretty brutal, but a win is a win. Maryland was pretty bad, and the Bruins were fortunate that the calm, true freshman Terp QB that the TV guy kept raving about was wildly erratic and inaccurate most of the evening. Also, a few ghosts of Bruins past…multiple false starts, some disjointed play calling from little Jerry, and strange field goal follies courtesy of Tim Skipper. But again, a win is a win - but this one also reminded us that this team is far from the upper echelon, and are capable of being competitive only when they combine perfect execution with solid game management. Will be interested to see how they handle Indiana; at least we can assume they’ll see more competent officiating.
Final note - did agree with the analyst on one thing: Mikey Matthews is a decent receiver, but an exceptional actor…extracted two important PIs from this admittedly inept crew…although one of them felt like a obvious makeup call for the phantom block in the back. Well, as all the announcers seemed to be trained to say: You gotta love college football !