UCLA Football and the Putrid Offense

UCLA Football Head Coach Jim Mora is finally seeing what Bruin fans have been seeing for the last few weeks. His offense is putrid.

“Putrid”.  Those were the words UCLA Football Head Coach Jim Mora used to describe his offense. He is not wrong.

What is happening with this UCLA team? Sure, they started off slow with their new offense (which was to be expected), but they have also shown a few glimmers of dominance. In Week 5 against Arizona, the Bruins put on an offensive clinic and scored on every drive in the second half on their way to a 45-24 win.

This past Saturday, UCLA’s offense made Arizona State‘s defense look like Alabama’s defense. At least in stopping the run.

It was a painful game to watch. The fact that it was 3-3 at halftime shows how offensive this game was, pun intended.  The awkward part was that there were both good and bad aspects to this game. But seeing as UCLA lost, the bad aspects are amplified that much more.

Related Story: UCLA's Backup QB Issues Are a Symptom of a Bigger Problem

Here are a few examples of the yin and yang of UCLA Football against ASU:

• RB Soso Jamabo had a good game… as a receiver. He only had 9 yards rushing, but 85 yards receiving.
• QB Josh Rosen had 400 passing yards in the game. He was also knocked out of the game twice.
• Despite having time in the pocket to throw, Josh Rosen was aggressively hunted down by ASU and got sacked multiple times. He accumulated -31 yards rushing.
• Despite several drops, four players had over 60 yards through the air.
• UCLA passed for 444 yards. They ran for -1.

Putrid, indeed.

From A+ to Not So Much

Mora was high on this offense early in the season. He even said that Offensive Coordinator Kennedy Polamalu received an A+ for his play calling. That has surely changed in the last four weeks, especially with the way the running game is.

Currently, UCLA is dead last in the Pac-12 in total yards rushing with 99.2 per game. That is 41.6 less yards than the 11th best Pac-12 rushing team, Stanford. STANFORD!

Why this is happening is a mystery, but not as mysterious as the running back rotation. Just as Jamabo and Nate Starks collectively missed a few trips or did not dress for games, it seems that it was Bolu Olorunfunmi‘s time to take a seat. He did not make the trip out to Tempe.

Why? No one will ever know.

Maybe the running backs are on double secret probation, I don’t know. It is perplexing. They could have used Olorunfunmi’s skills this week, but I guess the UCLA coaches don’t seem to have an urgency and improving the run game.

And not to get into this topic (we will soon enough), but what is going on with the offensive line? Anyway…

Next: Bruins Lose to Themselves, ASU Involved

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Moving forward, UCLA has to learn how to finish what they started. Whether it be a drive or a game itself, the Bruins need to get into the end zone and put points on the board and not just rack up yards. As impressive as that is, it is less impressive when they have more losses than wins.