UCLA is desperate for a victory this week as California comes to the Rose Bowl with a 5-1 record. Here are the Bruins keys to beating Cal with impunity!
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Find an Identity –
The Bruins are caught between two worlds. They came into the season built to control the ball with a balanced rushing attack and play great defense with a cadre of super star players. Unfortunately, after a gaggle of injuries to the defense and offensive line the Bruin don’t really know what they are anymore. Should they let freshman quarterback
Josh Rosen
sling it 40+ times and see what happens? Should they commit to blitzing more to manufacture more pressure and force the issue? Or should they try to protect the defense and the young quarterback by taking the air out of the ball and controlling the time of possession? Can they still do that with the recent injuries on the offensive line? Whatever they decide to do the Bruins need to pick something and go with it. They have had to change on the fly after losing an important player virtually every week of the season, but at some point they need to settle on a strategy and build an identity from it.
Get Consistent Offensive Line Play – With Conor McDermott and Alex Redmond injured, the UCLA offensive line will be shuffled a bit, and it looks like Kolton Miller will be on the field for a third consecutive game. Miller played bravely in his time so far this season, but he has been physically overpowered on numerous plays. If the Bruins can’t get whoever is out there playing well, the Bruin run game will continue to be inconsistent and Rosen will continue to throw under duress.
Saturday Blitz
Make Cal One Dimensional –
Although Cal runs the Bear Raid offense and junior quarterback
Jared Goff
will throw the ball a ton against the Bruins, the Bears do try to run the ball. This would be unthinkable at the beginning of the season, but Cal actually runs the ball more times per game than UCLA (slightly more – 37.5 per game as opposed to 37.33).
Daniel Lasko
, who is coming back from injury, is a dangerous back, and the Bruin run defense has been horrible for the past three games. If they want to avoid getting sliced and diced by Cal they need to start by stopping the run and keeping Goff in medium to long passing situations.
Bonus Key – Stop the Penalties and Stop Giving up Huge Plays on Special Teams!
Go Bruins
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