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UCLA Football: Growing Pains in the Passing Attack

By James Puryear

September 10, 2016; Pasadena, CA, USA; UCLA Bruins quarterback Josh Rosen (3) speaks with head coach Jim Mora and offensive coordinator Kennedy Polamalu after a touchdown scored against the UNLV Rebels during the first half at Rose Bowl. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
September 10, 2016; Pasadena, CA, USA; UCLA Bruins quarterback Josh Rosen (3) speaks with head coach Jim Mora and offensive coordinator Kennedy Polamalu after a touchdown scored against the UNLV Rebels during the first half at Rose Bowl. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports /
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The UCLA football season has started with some growing pains, as drops and missed targets have stymied the offense.  Looking forward, executing on offense will be a crucial factor in how successful the Bruins are this season.

The UCLA Football team has thrown the ball for an average of 305 yards in the first two games of the season and quarterback Josh Rosen is currently tied for 17th place in the 2016 season in passing yards.

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While both metrics are well above average, the stats don’t tell the story of how UCLA’s offense isn’t clicking as well as it could be.  Dropped passes and missed throws are keeping UCLA’s offense from being elite.

Growing Pains

Against Texas A&M in particular dropped/tipped passes lead to drives being stalled, a turnover, and points crucially being left of of the board.  Rosen didn’t have his best game either, missing receivers and throwing three interceptions.

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Had the offense been executing to it’s potential it’s hard to think that an overtime loss at A&M might have had a different result.

In addition to last season Jordan Payton, Thomas Duarte, and Devin Fuller led in all purpose yards by receivers in both the 2014 and 2015 seasons. Fuller and Payton were also the second and third leading receivers, behind Shaq Evans in the 2013 season.

This offseason presented a huge a turnover at the wide receiver position, that there hasn’t been in several years. Just like any other position, youth and inexperience always come along with hiccups.

Looking back, it would have been rather optomistic to think that new receivers were immediately going to match the production of three NFL draft picks.

This is combined with the fact that it’s still early in the season.  Last year the Stanford offense was awful against Northwestern when it first debuted, scoring only 6 points.  The Cardinal would go on to average 37 points a game, and never scored less than 30 after that first game.

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Additionally Stanford didn’t make a dramatic change in scheme and kept the majority of the key skill position players from the previous season.  UCLA experienced dramatic change to both.

With a combination new receivers, a new offense, and a new season, you’re looking at a potpourri of potential factors that could lead to a rough start.  Pragmatically speaking, it would have been miraculous if the new season got off without a hitch given the circumstances.

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