UCLA, in two quick games, has gone from the darling of preseason predictors, to a team filled with questions.
And the Bruins — picked by several high-profile analysts to make the four-team College Football Playoff and produce a Heisman winner (quarterback Brett Hundley) — aren’t even the highest-ranked team in its city.
USC is No. 9 after beating Stanford. UCLA dropped to 12th after unexpected close calls at Virginia (28-20) and vs. Memphis (42-35).
“We enjoy the role of the underdog,” coach Jim Mora said on Tuesday’s Pac-12 coaches conference call with the media. “We’re back to where we want to be.”
Well, that’s one way to look at it.
“People are doubting us, and there’s a reason for that,” Mora added.
That’s more like it.
Good news for the Bruins is that it is playing a game this Saturday against a team in worse shape than they are — Texas. The game will be played in Arlington, Texas.
The Longhorns, making a transition to first-year coach/disciplinarian Charlie Strong, are coming off a 41-7 home loss to BYU. Texas has lost starting quarterback David Ash (concussion) and center (Dominic Espinosa) to injury, and both starting offensive tackles are suspended in Strong’s wave of cleaning house.
He has dismissed eight players and suspended four others.
UCLA, meanwhile, still has Hundley and most of the pieces that should lead to stronger play in the trenches, which has been a problem area early in the season. Mora said he saw improvement in the offensive line against Memphis, despite not being able to close out the win with a first down late in the game, when everyone knew the Bruins were going to run.
“I felt like we were more settled,” he said of the line.
“The ball was snapped and we were moving together like you are supposed to. I thought the protection was excellent. We got sacked early in the game, but that was more of a coverage sack than anything. I felt like we opened up holes in the running game. We will go back and look at that last series where we needed to run the ball and get the first down.”
