The UCLA Football team has faced plenty of peaks and valleys during the Jim Mora tenure. Last season was the first losing season for Jim Mora as head coach of the Bruins. With kickoff nine days away here’s a brief recap of the season.
The Bruins have had some strong seasons as of late but there have always been creeping doubts in the back of the minds of fans. Last season those doubts became realities for the UCLA Football team. Go Joe Bruin takes a dip into the past with the a recap of last season as the Bruins prepare for 2017.
2016 Result
4-8 overall, 2-7 PAC-12
RELATED-UCLA Football: Predicting the starting lineup for the 2017 season.
Game 1 – Loss at Texas A&M 31-24 (OT)
The Bruins came into Kyle Field knowing that they would be greeted by 102,733 screaming Aggies fans. Although Josh Rosen didn’t seem too concerned with the large crowd.
If it wasn’t the crowd, something else got into Rosen as he threw a season high 3 interceptions. The most costly one coming late in the fourth quarter as the Bruins were driving for a late, game winning score.
It wasn’t an inspiring offensive performance as the UCLA Football offensive line was beaten up all throughout the contest.
The game went into overtime and after the Aggies’ QB Trevor Knight scored on a sneak in their first possession of overtime the Bruins were unable to score and lost the game.
Game 2 – Win vs. UNLV 42-21
The Bruins took to the road again as they visited an improved UNLV teams. While the Rebels under second year head coach Tony Sanchez had improved their win total over the past two years, they were still a team in development and an opponent UCLA could use to remedy their loss to A&M the week before.
UCLA RB Soso Jamabo ended up having his best overall game of the season with 90 yards rushing and three touchdowns.
Josh Rosen also bounced back from his game against the Aggies by throwing for 267 yards, one touchdown, and (most importantly) no interceptions.
However the impressive offensive performance had to be taken into context and despite coming together, this team would hav
Game 3 – Win at BYU 17-14
The Bruins’ defense stepped up against an always tough Cougars team.
In the first half, the UCLA Football defense kept the home team off the scoreboard and held their leading rusher Jamaal Williams to just 12 yards.
The second half continued to be a defensive battle with both teams struggling to score. Josh Rosen threw his second touchdown pass of the day to Darren Andrews in the middle of the third quarter to make the score 17-0.
Then the Cougars’ offense woke up with Williams running for a touchdown and, with 37 seconds left in the game, BYU getting one more cutting the score to 17-14.
A failed attempt at an onside kick sealed the game for the Bruins and they left Provo with a well-deserved victory.
The biggest achievement of the game was holding Jamaal Williams to a season low 28 yards on 14 carries. Williams would go on to run for 1375 yards for the 2016 season.
It would be one of the best run defense performances of the season for the Bruins and unfortunately one they struggled to replicate.
Game 4 – Loss vs (7) Stanford 22-13
In recent years, when UCLA fans see Stanford on the schedule, a deep woeful sigh usually follows. In their past eight head-to-head meeting, the Cardinal have won all eight by an average margin of 18 points.
Unfortunately the game this year would not go any better.
Once again, the Bruins’ defense kept them in the game holding Stanford to just three points in the first half. But a struggling offense, for both teams, keep the game close at half.
In the fourth quarter, the Cardinals’ offense came alive just enough scoring the game winning touchdown with 24 seconds left in the game. A last ditch effort as time ran out by Josh Rosen and the Bruins resulted in a fumble that Stanford returned for a touchdown. But the final score did not reflect the game and how close the Bruins were to winning.
LB Jayon Brown and DB Jaleel Wadood would both lead the Bruins with 10 tackles a piece.
Game 5 – Win vs Arizona 45-24
The UCLA Football team started off slow against an Arizona Wildcats team that was giving up almost 40 points a game.
The Bruins took an early 14-0 lead but couldn’t seem to find a way to keep the momentum going.
The game really turned into a quagmire after a touchdown run by RB Bolu Olorunfunmi put the Bruins on the board and touchdown pass from Rosen to Darren Andrews as the quarter gave the Bruins the early lead.
The second half was a complete turnaround for the Bruins’ offense.
Rosen opened the scoring with a terrific pass to Theo Howard. The offense continued to roll and outscored Arizona 31-10 in the second half until Arizona scored a late touchdown.
Rosen had one of his best games going 20 for 37, 350 yards, and 3 touchdowns.
Nate Starks also had his best game of the season rushing for 80 yards and a touchdown.
Game 6 – Loss at Arizona State 23-20
The Bruins ran into a hot Sun Devils team on a warm Saturday evening. Arizona State was off to a 4-1 start with their only loss to USC the week before; although the early teams on their schedule had been less than stellar, Northern Arizona, a Texas Tech squad with a porous defense, and a rebuilding Cal Bears team.
Perhaps the Bruins thought Arizona State’s record was better than the actual team.
Once again, in a trend we saw in the 2016 team, the Bruins were involved in a slow first half. Both kickers on each team were the stars as field goals were exchanged for a 3-3 first half score.
The second half, well mostly the third quarter, saw most of the scoring. Rosen hit Lasley for a 52 yard touchdown and JJ Molson was good on a short field goal. Unfortunately, the Sun Devils’ offense struck with two touchdowns building a 10 point lead.
The Bruins were able to as close a 23-20 early in the fourth but that would be the end of the scoring for both teams.
This would be Rosen’s final game as a shoulder injury would sideline him for the rest of the season.
Game 7 – Loss at Washington State 27-21
Turnovers doomed any chance of a UCLA victory up in Pullman. Two interceptions thrown by Mike Fafaul in his first start and two fumbles were too much for the Bruins to overcome.
Down 24-7 entering the fourth quarter, Fafaul threw a touchdown pass to Jordan Lasley and then connected with Darren Andrews. In between UCLA’s two scores, Washington State kicked a 36 yard field goal making it 27-21.
Lasley then fumbled the ball on their next possession and, after forcing a Cougars punt, Fafaul threw his second and most costly interception.
Fafaul didn’t look too bad in his first start throwing three TDs but his interception late in the game ended a possible game winning drive.
Turnovers would turn out of be a costly UCLA Football trend in 2016.
Game 8 – Loss vs (19) Utah 52-45
The Bruins came out guns blazin’ against the Utes with Mike Fafaul throwing the ball 70 times. Half of the plan worked with Fafaul tossing five touchdowns. Unfortunately, with the high amount of passes came some poor decisions resulting in four interceptions.
It also didn’t help that Utah’s running back Joe Williams came out of retirement to run for 332 yards and four touchdowns. (Side note: Williams’ 332 rushing yards was more than UCLA’s leading rusher, Soso Jamabo 321, had for the entire season)
The Bruins had no answer for Williams and Utah kept feeding him the ball. His 29 carries were five more than the number of passes attempted by Utes’ quarterback Troy Williams.
Fafaul had another productive game, excluding the interceptions, but the Bruins’ defense just didn’t have any luck stopping Joe Williams.
Game 9 – Loss at (21) Colorado 20-10
With Colorado having their most success in years and UCLA having a tough season, this game looked like it could get ugly for the Bruins. Coach Mora went back to a more balanced attack from the previous week where Mike Fafaul threw the ball 70 times. UCLA’s defense also stepped up allowing just one touchdown and two field goals.
The problem was that UCLA also had trouble getting the ball in the end zone. Fafaul’s first quarter pass to Darren Andrews would be their only touchdown of the game.
The game was decided on one punt in the fourth quarter when Colorado’s Isaiah Oliver returned the kick through the middle of the field and then broke to the right side for a touchdown. That score put the game out of reach for the Bruins.
Too bad because UCLA’s defense had a great game intercepting Colorado’s quarterbacks three times (Liufau 2, Montez 1) in the first half. They also held Colorado to just 20 points when they had averaged 35 points a game up to that point.
LB Jayon Brown would again lead the defense with 19 total tackles including 13 solo and two for losses.
Game 10 – Win vs Oregon State 38-24
After losing four straight games, a visit from Oregon State was exactly what an ailing Bruins team needed. The Beavers came in losers of six out of their last eight with one of those two wins coming against Big Sky member Idaho State.
Mike Fafaul was not as sharp as other games, barely connecting on 50% of his passes. Luckily the Bruins got off to a good start and didn’t a sharp Fafaul taking a 24-14 lead at halftime.
Even though Oregon State got within three points at 24-21, the Bruins regained control and ended up winning by two touchdowns.
Bolu Olorunfunmi had a nice game breaking off a few big runs for a total of 65 yards and a touchdown.
Game 11 – Loss vs (15) USC 36-14
This year’s crosstown rivalry game didn’t have the same feel as other years. The Bruins came in winners of just one of their last five while the Trojans entered the game winners of their last six.
UCLA got on the board first with a 56 yards pass from Mike Fafaul to Jordan Lasley. USC quickly answered to tie it up but another Fafaul to Lasley touchdown gave the Bruins a 14-7 lead. That would not only be the last lead for UCLA, it would be the last time they would score. USC went on to score 29 unanswered points to crush any hope the Bruins had in getting bowl eligible.
The Bruins couldn’t get their running game going with Jalen Starks and Bolu Olorunfunmi both rushing for 20 yards apiece.
Fafaul was decent, but inaccurate, going 15-31 for 181 yards and two touchdowns and no picks.
Game 12 – Loss at Cal 36-10
With the loss to USC last week, a lot of the Bruins’ wind was knocked out of their sails for the game against Cal. Mike Fafaul never got going, completing only 12 of 30 passes. The Bruins didn’t even get on the board until the beginning of the third quarter with a touchdown pass from Fafaul to Kenneth Walker III.
The only other points UCLA could manage was a field goal by JJ Molson.
The game itself was almost demoralizing to watch. This UCLA Football team didn’t show any major signs of fight and seemed resigned to the fact that they would miss bowl season.
Next: UCLA Football: Offensive starters thriving, 2nd/3rd string struggles
Cal continued to score as the game, much like the Bruins’ season, just got away from them.
The only bright spot might have been a season long quiet Nate Starks showed what he was he is capable of by rushing for 73 yards.