The UCLA Football team heads to Boulder, CO for a Thursday night clash with the first place Colorado Buffaloes. In what could be described as a “must win” for UCLA, the Bruins look to salvage their season.
This 2016 season beamed bright with potential for the UCLA Football team as they returned their star quarterback and plenty of young but unproven playmakers on offense and had the chance to get leaders on defense healthy again.
If we had a crystal ball we would have tempered our expectations greatly.
After a season opening loss to the the Texas A&M Aggies, the Bruins have found themselves on the wrong side of four more contests and still have four more games left in the season. This, without a doubt, has been head coach Jim Mora‘s most disappointing season in Westwood.
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The Bruins have been without star QB Josh Rosen for the past two weeks as he deals with a nerve injury in his throwing shoulder. In his absence backup Mike Fafaul has battled valiantly but has failed to win against both Washington State and Utah which drops the Bruins to 1-4 in the Pac-12.
Colorado on the other hand is enjoying their best success on the gridiron since the ’90’s behind their starting QB Sefo Liufau who despite missing essentially three games with an ankle injury has thrown for seven scores with no interceptions. He’s led this team to perhaps its signature victory this year when they knocked off Stanford in Palo Alto.
The Bruins had a chance to rest during their mini bye week but likely will be without Rosen again. A win this week gives them the slightest of chances of still being able to win the Pac-12 South but they’ll need a mountain of help. Just securing a bowl game should be the goal for this point in the season and that road starts in Boulder.