Washington’s No. 1 defense next for offensively-challenged Bruins
Starting games strong has not been much of an issue for UCLA. It’s finishing that has vexed the Bruins through the program’s worst start in 47 years.
UCLA (0-4, 0-1 Pac-12) led in two different stretches at Colorado on Sept. 28, including 16-14 in the early third quarter. Then, the wheels fell off.
The Buffs scored the next 24 points, capitalizing on the Bruins’ season-long inability to mount a consistent offensive effort.
“We couldn’t sustain offensively. We need to stay on the field a little longer,” said UCLA coach Chip Kelly. “We left our defense on the field for too long.”
Colorado dominated time-of-possession, 34:47 to 25:17, and outgained UCLA 477 yards to 289. The Bruins return home to the Rose Bowl this week ranked worst among all Power Five conference programs at just 25:33 in average time-of-possession and 11th-worst in the Football Bowl Subdivision for total offense at 312 yards per game.
Expect no reprieve on Saturday with Washington coming to town. The Huskies (4-1, 2-0 Pac-12 Conference) moved to No. 1 in the nation in scoring defense at 11.6 points per game after holding BYU to just one score in a 35-7 thrashing last Saturday in Seattle.
Washington has held three of its last four opponents to single-score outputs, and the 21 points ceded in its opener against Auburn are the most the Huskies have allowed all season.
Washington has been stingy against the run, holding opponents to just 3.6 yards per carry, but is especially excellent defending the pass. Opponents have just one passing touchdown on the Huskies all season.
That does not bode well for the Bruins. UCLA established the run well at Colorado, producing season-highs of 151 yards and 5.4 yards per carry. But just as the ground game got going, however, passing became an issue.
UCLA managed just 138 yards through the air in the loss.
“The offense got put in certain situations where it’s hard to move the ball, especially with Colorado’s game plan,” quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson said. “They like to blitz on third down a lot and when you have to gain a lot of yards to push it down the field, it makes it hard.”
Another 60 minutes of consistent blitzing awaits the Bruins at the Rose Bowl. Washington has ranked among college football’s best in that category throughout defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski’s five-season tenure and had four of the team’s 39 sacks in last season’s blowout win over the Bruins.