UCLA’s Unit Keys Against Utah
Oct 3, 2013; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; UCLA Bruins quarterback Brett Hundley (17) is pursued by Utah Utes linebacker Trevor Reilly (9) and safety Eric Rowe (18) on a 36-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter at Rice-Eccles Stadium. UCLA defeated Utah 34-27. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Coming off a sterling performance in the desert at Arizona State, UCLA should carry over some of the fundamental themes from that game into its clash with the Utah this Saturday. A similar gameplan to the one UCLA employed for most of the game against the Sun Devils should lead the Bruins to another victory over the Utes.
Offense: Protect Hundley and points will follow
Going into the ASU game, I wrote (as part of my thankfully incorrect prediction of doom) that UCLA’s offensive line was a liability that wouldn’t be able to handle the exotic and numerous blitzes that ASU’s defense would bring. However, the much-maligned Bruins offensive line made a fool out of me; Brett Hundley was sacked once in the first quarter, but was almost unpressured otherwise by the Sun Devil defense. As a result, we saw what Hundley could do with time to pick apart a defense and, boy, could he do some things!
Utah won’t be as bad of a tackling team as Arizona State was; it’s inconceivable to think that any defense UCLA faces the rest of the season will regard tackling as optional like the Sun Devils seemed to do last Thursday. But the Utes and the Sun Devils are similar in that their respective secondaries are liabilities waiting to be exposed.
Utah will rely on its front four to generate pressure, and that’s the right move for a defense that has already notched 13.5 sacks from defensive linemen in its first four games (wrap your heads around that number, UCLA fans). Occasionally, the Utes will bring an extra linebacker and rush 5, but generally, it’ll be a battle exclusively between Utah’s DL and UCLA’s OL to determine whether Hundley remains upright on a given play. If UCLA can keep Hundley as well-protected as it did against Arizona State, then the offense will roll because Utah’s secondary isn’t good enough to keep Jordan Payton, Thomas Duarte, and company in check for 60 minutes. This is definitely a game in which the pass should set up the run, as Washington State showed to devastating effect in the second half of its upset of the Utes last weekend.
Defense: Make Travis Wilson win the game for Utah
UCLA’s defensive performance against ASU has already been dissected ad nauseum by various media outlets, including Go Joe Bruin. We’re not going to rehash too much of that in this column. What we will say is that UCLA’s strategy from the ASU game should be the same one it employs against Utah: neutralize the opposition’s star running back and make its inconsistent quarterback be the one to beat you instead. Instead of DJ Foster and Mike Bercovici in those roles though, it’s Devontae Booker and Travis Wilson respectively this week.
For those who don’t know Booker yet, get to know him: he’s a fantastic back who’s simultaneously a home-run threat every time he touches the ball (like Foster) and a sturdy, every-down back (unlike Foster). Booker is averaging 6.5 yards a carry and 7.1 yards a touch this season and it’d be even more if he had a better offensive line opening holes for him and a better quarterback keeping defensive players out of the box against him.
Unfortunately for Booker, his quarterback is the ever-maddening Wilson, who has not performed well in his two games so far against Power 5 defenses. Against Washington State especially, Wilson was sub-par, completing less than 50% of his passes, averaging a pitiful 4.3 yards per attempt, and generally looking lost in command of Utah’s offense.
Reflective of Wilson’s poor play, in two games against Power 5 teams (Michigan and Washington State), Utah has managed to score only two offensive touchdowns, one of which was a 76-yard touchdown run by Booker. For all intents and purposes, Utah has scored only one offensive touchdown on a sustained offensive drive in two games against Power 5 opponents.
UCLA’s defensive specialty this season has been stopping the run, holding opponents to 3.8 yards per rushing attempt and 137 rushing yards per game. Where UCLA has faltered defensively is in pass defense, where it has generated an inconsistent pass rush and allowed 313.8 passing yards per game (including an incredible 488 passing yards to Bercovici and ASU last week). Thankfully for UCLA, its strengths line up with Utah’s main strength and its weaknesses line up with Utah’s main weakness.
UCLA is likely to concentrate its efforts on stopping Booker on the ground, letting Wilson air it out, and living with the results of Wilson’s throws. If the last two weeks of Utah game film are any indication, Wilson is likely to make multiple mistakes on which the Bruins defense can capitalize, leading to another positive turnover margin and highly-valuable short-field scoring opportunities for the UCLA offense.
Special Teams: DO. NOT. KICK. TO. KAELIN. CLAY.
It’s safe to say that the vast majority of UCLA fans know the remarkable return-game skills of Ishmael Adams very well by now.
What they might not know (unless they read Go Joe Bruin, of course) is that Utah’s Kaelin Clay is an even better return specialist than Adams, having already run back four kicks for touchdowns in the first four games of the season.
A tip for Ka’imi Fairbairn, Matt Mengel, and Adam Searl: don’t kick to Kaelin Clay. Just don’t do it. Make your lives better and your teammates’ lives easier.