They say you shouldn’t write angry, but screw that.
UCLA went up to Palo Alto to face a team that hadn’t won in the United States yet in 2017 and which was just coming off a deflating loss to San Diego State, and they got beat in every phase of the game.
With any other program, a performance like this would lead to some changes. With UCLA, it’s going to lead to a Jim Mora press conference where he angrily yells about targeting and then gets upset at any reporter who dares to ask him to defend his coaching ability.
Seriously, you have no idea how hard it is for me not to drop some swear words in here.
Here is a fun stat from Pacific Takes editor Avinash Kunnath. Note that this was in the middle of the 4th quarter:
UCLA's defense just conceded 38 points in 30 minutes to a Stanford team rolling out their 3rd string QB.
— Avinash Kunnath (@avinashkunnath) September 24, 2017
Fun story about that stat: those 30 minutes cut between two halves. Defensive coordinator Tom Bradley couldn’t even be bothered to make anything that looked like adjustments at halftime. And after that tweet, UCLA allowed another touchdown. That’s just some A+ coaching.
I’m not really sure how one even goes about recapping a game like this. A game where the deficiencies of the program and of the head coach are laid to bare. So I’m just going to throw some stats at you:
58 points allowed
405 rushing yards allowed
3rd string QB K.J. Costello: 13/19, 123 yards, 2 touchdowns
Bryce Love: 30 carries, 263 yards
Stanford: scored on their last 8 possessions (7 touchdowns)
I don’t know how you even take positives from this game. Josh Rosen threw for 480 yards! He also had to throw it 60 times because the defense couldn’t stop a Pop Warner team. Soso Jamabo actually broke the century mark rushing, the first UCLA RB to do that since Paul Perkins (I assume, since I’m not bothering to check that at this point). The offense actually drove fairly well whenever they got out of their own way.
But none of that matters, because this loss was an indictment of the program. Jim Mora’s UCLA has regressed to near-Neuheisel levels. There are no ways of putting lipstick on this pig anymore. Doing something like firing Tom Bradley doesn’t solve anything, it only prolongs the inevitable.
Dan Guerrero fiddles while UCLA football burns.