UCLA Bruins Lose Hard Fought Game to the Washington Huskies, 31-24

I heard the Rose Bowl crowd in the third and fourth quarter!! Now that is progress for the Bruins, right? Sadly that is where the Bruins currently reside in the college football landscape, looking for moral victories, slivers of hope, but I think that we can collectively say that tonight was a fun night to watch UCLA football.

Let me rain on the celebration a bit though. Here is some perspective.

Well, now we must make that 4-24 for Chip Kelly as the UCLA Bruins fall to 0-5 for the first time since 1943. 1943 people, I’m not even going to go into what the world was like in 1943, but I can tell you this, they played with leather helmets in 1943.

It’s so hard to try and be positive when there are probably very few of us that were alive when that 0-5 season occurred. However, it is clear that UCLA has played some tough football teams this year, and with all of the bad, they play hard. Nobody is giving up, and tonight was definitely no different.

After a first half of football in which the Bruins played hard but trailed the Huskies 24-7, the Bruins effort surprisingly raised a level to start the second half, and the Bruins held the Huskies scoreless in the 3rd quarter, and the Bruins played one of their best quarters of the year. A quarter in which they went on an amazing 17 play, 90 yard drive, that was actually capped off in the 4th quarter when DTR passed in the flats to Caleb Wilson, and Wilson made the play of the year so far:

That drive made the score 24-17, and created an instant buzz in the Rose Bowl late in the game. UCLA’s defense continued the momentum and was able to hold the Huskies and force a punt that went into the end-zone, but UCLA could do nothing on their next possession and went three and out.

Washington then went on a 12 play 81 yard drive, with the big play being a 3rd and 6 yard conversion by Browning as he scrambled and picked up 14 yards all the way to UCLA’s 13 yard line. Washington then scored on a Myles Gaskin 2 yard TD as they attempted to put the game out of reach at 31-17 with 3:42 left in the game.

But UCLA was not finished as DTR orchestrated a beautiful drive as he lead the Bruins right down the field in 9 plays for 75 yards in only 2:04. DTR completed six passes on the drive that was capped off with a Joshua Kelley 2 yard TD to pull the Bruins within 7 at 24-31.

UCLA tried an onside kick, but the kick was recovered by the Huskies at the 1:38 mark, and they ran out the clock from there.

Final Thoughts

The Good

• The fight, especially during the second half for these Bruins. They have been getting blasted in games in the second half, and tonight they held their own and played some of their best football of the year, and won the half 17-7.
• Joshua Kelley with his second 100 yard game.
• The offensive line played out of their minds tonight against a tough Washington defense. They allowed ZERO sacks people, and opened lanes for Kelley.
• Dorian Thompson-Robinson, yes I am the President of the Fan Club, and tonight he played like our future quarterback. He completed 27/38 passes for 272 yards 2 TD and 1 interception. He grew in this game, and did everything that could have been asked of him tonight. He hit seven different receivers, and made really good decisions with some really accurate balls. So all the DTR haters can simmer down, at least for this week.
• 422 total yard of offense against the Washington defense.
• Adarius Pickett with 16 tackles, 9 solo tackles. That’s crazy!
• Krys Barnes as well, he had his best game of the year.

The Areas of Concern

• The defense could not hold Washington on crucial 3rd downs tonight.
• 462 yards is too much to give up. With UW having the ball 38:09.
• Offensive consistency was lacking at times as three and outs hurt.
• Defensive line did not muster a lot of pressure on Browning. He was able to sit back there and pick the secondary apart.
• Speaking of the secondary, they gave up what seemed to be too many plays in which they just could not turn their heads to pick up the ball.

I know this is not an exhaustive list of either area, so sound off below about the good that you saw and the continued areas of concern for the Bruins.

Up next for the UCLA Bruins, they travel to California Memorial Stadium next Saturday for a 4:00 P.M. tilt against the California Golden Bears.

Go Bruins!