Every year it seems that the UCLA Football team loses a few games they should win. Does that change in 2016?
With 1:09 left in the fourth quarter, after UCLA Football quarterback Josh Rosen marched the Bruins 80 yards down field to take a 27-24 lead, the Washington State Cougars had one last chance to score and were ready to pounce.
It was the last 1:09 the UCLA Football team would be playing at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena that season, right before they begin a two-game road trip at Utah and USC to end the regular season.
At this point in the season the Bruins, Utes and Trojans were all in the running for the Pac-12 South Division, so to say UCLA needed a victory here is a bit of an understatement.
The Bruins were not exactly controlling the game, which was apparent by seven lead changes. Overall on defense last season, UCLA had been stellar against the pass and horrible against the run, so it seemed the Bruins would easily match up with the Cougars who barely ran and frequently passed.
Unfortuately, at this point in the game (and the season), the UCLA Football team waited too long to attack and made very poor choices in trying to execute their game plan. We saw that in the final 1:09 against Wazzu.
Washington State QB Luke Falk was quite efficient in this game as he made 38 of 53 passes (72%) for 331 yards. He had one touchdown at this point in the game and essentially took all the air out of the Bruins when his second TD was caught by Gabe Marks in the endzone with three seconds left in the game to give the Cougs a 31-27 lead.
With little time to counter, UCLA was going to lose this winnable game. It was another contest they should have won, but lost. Unfortuantely, that has been a black mark on Head Coach Jim Mora ever since he got to Westwood.
Next: Consistently Inconsistent
Consistently Inconsistent
There is no denying that the Bruins have made tremendous improvements since Mora got to town, but that has made Bruin fans a little over anxious in their expectations.
In all honesty, they have a right to.
Mora has said over and over that there is one goal he wants to acheive (among several smaller goals) and that is winning a national title. While that is a goal every coach should strive for, there are other things he needs to work on before an NC comes to Westwood.
To start, winning games against lesser opponents would help (and beating Stanford).
The loss to the Cougars was the third of the 2015 season. Though the Bruins were still in the running for the South Division, this loss made the Bruin’s 2015 campaign so much harder then it had to be.
Brutal does not begin to describe it. These losses are momentum killers, plain and simple.
The Bruins had already lost to Stanford (which seems to be a given every season). The week before that abomination, UCLA lost a head scratcher to Arizona State at the Rose Bowl, 38-23. That was to a Sun Devils team the Bruins had demolished 62-27 in Tempe the year before.
And speaking of that previous year (2014), UCLA gave up 10 sacks in a 30-28 home loss to Utah where anything and everything went wrong. Brutal does not begin to describe it. These losses are momentum killers, plain and simple.
As an example, going back to that 2014 Utah game, the #8 Bruins could have been a Top 5 team with a win over the Utes after several Top 10 teams lost that day. Instead, UCLA dropped to #18 heading into a home game against Oregon the week after (which they lost, sending them further down the polls). Momentum killer, indeed.
The point being is that if UCLA wants to be elite, one of the things they need to stop doing is losing to teams they should beat. They need to exert their will. They need to stop playing conservative against teams that have lesser talent on the roster and the coaching staff.
Now about that…
Next: Changes With Leadership
Changes With Leadership
In regards to the roster, there really are no complaints. Mora and his staff have been doing a bang up job recruiting and developing players. Proof of that was when eight players were selected in the 2016 NFL Draft (and a total of 12 former Bruins picking up NFL contracts).
In essence, the players have been really good (with a few exceptions) and have led UCLA to victory on many occasions. The coaching on the other hand has left much to be desired from time to time, but Mora is addressing that.
Related Story: The Philosophical Gamble That Could Define The Jim Mora Era of UCLA Football
Like many, I was concerned with the offense UCLA was displaying under former Offensive Coordinator Noel Mazzone. Admittedly, I had a very derisive tone towards Mazzone, claiming he “only runs five plays”. Joke as I may, I was not far from the truth.
Though Rosen had a fantastic 2015 season, the plays he was running via Mazzone were getting predictable. Not only were teams like Arizona State and Washington State able to beat the Bruins, but games against teams like Stanford, USC and Nebraska turned into bloodbaths.
UCLA Bruins
With five losses in 2015, the Bruins needed to make changes going forward. Out went Mazzone and up came Kennedy Polamalu in his place.
Polamalu immediately started making tweaks to the offense so UCLA could start playing a more “power” style of football. The hope is that it will prepare the Bruins to handle lesser opponents, but also do battle (and hopefully win) against the unconquerable Stanford and Oregon.
On defense, DC Tom Bradley is addressing his on squad’s issues. He has made the 4-3 formation a permanent fixture as the Bruins try to improve on their horrendous run defense, as well as improve the overall play on that side of the ball.
After losing an incredible amount of players to injury in 2015, Bradley now has a clean slate to work with and even gets back injured starters Eddie Vanderdoes and Fabian Moreau. This is just the start, but it looks to be something that will indeed improve the defense.
For the most part, the UCLA Football team looks a lot more stable heading into 2016. Mora noted during Spring Practice, the Bruins had some of the best chemistry he has seen since his first two years in charge of UCLA Football.
Now if all of this comes together in the fall, the way Mora and Bruin fans hope, UCLA can be a very good and consistent team. If that translates to winning all the games they are suppose to win and possibly beating the teams they cannot, then UCLA will most definitely be an elite team by season’s end.
Next: Ranking the 2016 UCLA Football Schedule by Difficulty
If they do not and continue to inexplicably lose 2 or 3 head scratchers in 2016, then expect the anti-Mora tirades to amplify next season.