In our special Bowl Edition of “Know Your Opponent” we will dive into UCLA Football opponent, Kansas State, in two parts. First up we take a look at how the Bruin offense should fair against the Wildcat defense.
On the arm of junior QB Josh Rosen, the UCLA Football offense experienced a major bounce back in essentially every offensive category from a disastrous 2016 campaign where poor schemes, poor personnel usage and predictable play-calling. The Bruins were explosive through the air which is understandable given the return of a QB the caliber of Rosen, but even their ground game found ways to improve.
The Bruins ranked 111th in 2016 with 13 scores on the ground. They averaged the second worst yards per carry (2.9) and averaged under 85 yards a game on the ground. Those numbers are absolutely pitiful and without a viable ground attack, defenses were able to tee off on Rosen. When he was lost for the season the Bruins basically abandoned the run game with backup Mike Fafaul at the helm.
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Flash forward to 2017 and with only one new starter on the offensive line the UCLA Football offense was able to improve in all three of those categories. UCLA averaged 120 yards a game on the ground, had 19 scores and improved their yards per carry by a full yard.
They’ll need to maintain their upward trajectory through the Cactus Bowl against a defense that won’t beat you with athleticism but is incredibly sound fundamentally.
This won’t be the first defense the Bruins have faced that’s limited athletically in the front seven but has a stronger back end. The Stanford Cardinal present, philosophically at least, the closest thing to the Wildcats in terms of a defensive game plan. Both want to be physical up front and constrict an offense.
Now if I gave you a mini heart attack by comparing this defense to Stanford’s you can start to calm yourself.
The Kansas State defense, while capable of making you earn every yard, isn’t nearly as daunting as the Stanford defense. Let’s take a deeper look.