The UCLA Football team marched into Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas and destroyed UNLV 37-3 in a game that woke up the Bruins.
The UCLA Football team was so close to a shut out. The last time the Bruins shut out an opponent was in 2007. It has been too long and I really wanted one.
Well now I will have to wait at least another week for that.
It was an interesting game out in the Nevada desert. The score shows a blowout, but in reality, the Bruins could have put up more on the Rebels. Not to harp on the negative, but there were a lot of things the Bruins did not do well tonight. Luckily, they had a second half to fix it.
UCLA Bruins
This game started with a bit of weirdness. It was hot and sticky on this warm September night. Lightning was crashing on the horizon. Parking was free. The cellular signal was atrocious. As I stated, it was weird.
Aside from these external problems, the game itself showed signs of being just a bit “off”, as Head Coach Jim Mora said in his post game presser.
Josh Rosen who was the talk of the college football world the last seven days came down to earth in an eye-opening first half that had the Bruins looking for answers. Both the run and the pass game stalled as the Rebels had the Bruins going three and out several times, they were missing assignments and occasionally UNLV would get into the back field and in Rosen’s face.
The Bruins lead 17-0 at halftime, but there was this feeling that they should have been up by a lot more.
That was remedied in the second half when UCLA put another 20 points on the Rebels. The Bruins seemed a lot more poised, focused and ready to go as they pushed around UNLV.
Sep 12, 2015; Las Vegas, NV, USA; UCLA Bruins running back Paul Perkins (24) runs the ball in for a touchdown against the UNLV Rebels during the third quarter at Sam Boyd Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joshua Dahl-USA TODAY Sports
UCLA finished with 526 yards, the second week in a row they eclipsed the 500-yard mark. The Bruins were pretty evenly balanced as they collected 253 passing yards and 273 rushing yards.
Rosen threw 223 himself, had 1 touchdown and 1 interception. Paul Perkins finished the game with 151 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns. One of those touchdowns was off a 56-yard run.
It was not a pretty game to start, but the Bruins got the win. That is the most important thing at this point. Now we can go how and get out of this heat.
Injury Notes
Jake Brendel Left the game in the first half (foot) and was held out for precautionary measure.
Tevita Halalilo suffered a leg injury. Needed to be carted off the field.