The UCLA Football team falls to crosstown rival USC 40-21 and lose out on a chance to win the Pac-12 South Division and to play in the Pac-12 Championship Game.
Things did not start out as the score suggests. the UCLA Football team had did a fine job controlling the game, yet that was entirely in the first quarter as the Bruins went up 14-10. The remainder of the game was a different story as USC had taken over and punished the Bruins on offense and defense.
Starting off, UCLA’s defense had a solid performance, unfortunately for them, USC was able to push past the Bruins, literally. USC had 120 rushing yards in the first half as the Trojans collectively found the holes through the Bruin offensive line and marched up the field on almost every drive.
The Bruin offense did not help things either. Though they did sustain a lead for the majority of the first half, their last 3 drives resulted in punts. One of them allowed Adoree Jackson to return the ball from midfield for a touchdown. It was UCLA 14- USC 20 at the half.
Unfortunately, it was more of the same for USC in the second half as the Trojans had only allowed one Bruin score, while they tacked on 20 points of their own.
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Josh Rosen had a particularly bad second half as he gave up the ball three times. The freshman QB had thrown two interceptions and fumbled the ball on a throw that was picked up by Rasheem Green of USC and taken back for a touchdown.
The Bruins had very few answers for the Trojan defense as the offensive line was pierced time and again. USC knew exactly where and when to stike to get at Rosen, who was rattled more often than the Bruins would like to see.
The Trojans also had control on offense as they continually ran the ball down the Bruin’s throat. USC had 236 rushing yards for the game as Ronald Jones, Justin Davis and Tre Madden had no problem finding the holes through the UCLA offensive line.
In the end, USC had wanted this game more and win the Pac-12 South because of it. They break UCLA’s streak of three straight wins and hand Head Coach Jim Mora his first loss against the Trojans as interim head coach Clay Helton wins this battle.
The UCLA Football team end the regular season 8-4 and now has to wait to see where the rest of the Pac-12 settles to find out where they go bowling. Las Vegas, anyone?