UCLA Football: Can Rosen stay golden against Arizona?

There weren’t too many positives to take away from the 2016 season. The UCLA Football team won just four games and lost their starting QB to injury haflway through the season. Before he was knocked out for the year though he made sure to keep his streak alive.

UCLA Football QB Josh Rosen has done plenty of amazing things in his time. As a freshman he overcame a three interception first half to lead the comeback against BYU. He would go on to shred the PAC-12 with six 300 yard games including a 399 yard outing against Cal.

As a sophomore Rosen managed to notch his 10th 300 yard game with a 400 yard performance against the ASU Sun Devils before injury forced him from the game. Despite not having great protection from his offensive line and dealing with drops from his wideouts, Rosen would certainly have put up eyebrow raising numbers.

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This year in his third year as the leader of this offense Rosen has put up some ungodly numbers. He’s averaging over 420 yards per game though the air and has thrown 17 scores to just five picks. He hasn’t been perfect and has gotten away with a few throws that he shouldn’t have but the exceptional talent has been on full display this year. Two weeks ago Rosen had his most pedestrian game of the year so far with only one scoring toss and an interception.

To get back on track Rosen needs an opponent he’s dominated again and again. Enter the University of Arizona. In his two starts against the Wildcats Rosen has thrown for a combined 634 yards, five scores through the air and another two on the ground. He’s also managed a very respectable 60% completion percentage. He’s done this with two different OL groups and two offensive coordinators. It just seems like Rosen owns the Wildcats.

The Bruins come into this game fresh off of a bye week where they hoped to get a few guys healthy and create a successful gameplan for this upcoming contest. The gameplan should be simple. This UCLA Football offense should easily be able to attack the Arizona secondary. The Wildcats rank 81st in the country allowing over 250 yards per game through the air.

That has to have the Bruins licking their chops. Arizona hasn’t faced any QBs near the caliber of Rosen and allowed Colorado’s Steven Montez to pass for 251 yards and three scores. He’s going to be a player moving forward but is no Josh Rosen.

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The strength of this Arizona team is on the ground which ironically might force the Bruins to pass more to maximize their offensive opportunities. Make no mistake about it, UCLA plans to take full advantage of their opportunities.