The UCLA offense is often a thing of beauty. Brett Hundley can take big yardage down the middle of the field with his legs or throw a bomb over the top of the defense for a quick strike TD. The Bruin receivers have regularly turned short catches into long TD’s and the Bruins rushing attack is leading the Pac-12. The Bruins are #1 in the PAC-12 in Total Offense and are #4 in Points Scored at 39.2/game. Those numbers are all the best numbers for the Bruins in the past 5 years, so why is everyone unhappy?
The problem is that the Bruins have not been as effective on 3rd down as they have been is years past. All to often Hundley and the Bruin offense have faced manageable 3rd and short opportunities only to come up, well, short. These failures have caused too many short drives or killed momentum on a productive drive. The 2014 UCLA offense may be the best statistically since Jim Mora, Noel Mazzone and Hundley started for the Bruins three years ago (or since Cade McKnown was playing for that matter), but this team is also the worst team on 3rd down under Mora.
Considering the progression that Hundley made from year 1 to year 2, the emergence of Paul Perkins as a physical option at running back, and the epiphanous discovery of Myles Jack as a short yardage juggernaut the Bruins should be absolutely unstoppable on any 3rd and short opportunity. However, all to often the Bruins have gone away from their strength in some of the biggest moments of the game. UCLA got too cute on 3rd and short in October, and it has cost them. Take a look at the UCLA short yardage meltdowns in October:
If they want to make the most of November, the Bruin brain trust of Mora, Mazzone and Hundley had better stop over-thinking the situation and go with what works. It seems like the Bruins have shied away from using Jack too much because they feel that teams have figured out the Diamond Formation or they don’t want to wear him out, but Jack’s physical running style and ability to move the line of scrimmage forward have been underused in 2014. Jack has 16 first downs on 20 short yardage carries in his UCLA career (2013: 11 for 14, 2014: 5 for 6), but he has too few opportunities in 2014. Take a look at how different Bruins have fared on these 3rd and short opportunities:
While it is totally understandable that Brett Hundley and Paul Perkins will get a large share of the 3rd and short carries, Myles Jack needs more opportunities. Noel Mazzone defended the 4th and 1 Vanderdoes run against Colorado by telling the LA Times: “We have been 100% in two years giving him the ball and having him make us a yard. . . We were playing the odds.” Mazzone was correct, but he failed to mention that the 100% was based on 1 successful carry by Vanderdoes; it was the last play of the Texas game, and was called right after a four yard run by Jack. From a strategic standpoint the play was a change of pace from Jack.
…Jack is not a gimmick, he is a force of nature…
The Vanderdoes failed run against Colorado exemplifies the Bruins struggle with 3rd down decisions this year. Using Hundley or Jack as a decoy before actually establishing them as a weapon both undercuts the attempted deception and under-utilizes the offenses best weapons.
Jack is not a gimmick, he is a force of nature. Its unclear if Mora and Mazzone are trying to keep Jack from wearing down, or if they just wanted to keep any possible Heisman focus on Hundley because he decided to come back for 1 more year. However, if they want to make it over the hump, the Bruins need to stop thinking and just go with what works.
What has worked in the past is a steady diet of Hundley AND Jack.