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.
Kansas State Defense
Naturally we are going to start up front with the defensive line. The Wildcats employ a four man front and keep to it. While four man fronts can give your defensive ends more favorable pass rushing situations since they typically see more one on one opportunities, the Wildcat’s aren’t much of a pass rushing threat. They just don’t have an elite edge rusher on the team. Sophomore DE Reggie Walker flashes the most consistent athleticism but has only found the QB in the backfield twice this year. Given how pass happy is the Big-12 is you’d think the edge rushers would have more production.
Right now the the defensive line as a group is accounting for 63% of the team’s sack production which is good but not great. In a 4-3 defense you’d expect that your defensive ends are winning more of their battles. However it isn’t the edge pressure the UCLA Football offensive line really needs to worry about. It all starts from the inside.
Senior defensive tackle Will Geary isn’t your prototypical DT (six-feet, 306 pounds) but what he lacks in pure stature he makes up for with the ability to penetrate into the backfield. Geary splits double teams, knifes into the backfield routinely or uses his hands to chop down those of offensive linemen and get to the QB which he’s done four and half times this year. He isn’t quite on the same level as another undersized DT in Aaron Donald but there are plenty of similarities in their game. However Geary does struggle to anchor and hold the point of attack especially against double teams.
Tanner Wood is a solid base end but offers little in the way of a pass rush and lacks enough sand in the pants and it shows when he occasionally is engulfed by offensive tackles. Bronson Massie is a long, lean, athletic and speedy DE but the red-shirt freshman relies on his speed too often. Like UCLA Football DE/LB Keisean Lucier-South in his earlier career, Massie has yet to develop much of a counter move to compliment his speed.
The Wildcats do have some beef up front in the form of Trey Dishon but they can be moved off the line of scrimmage by offensive lines, choosing to use speed and technique instead of bulk to stop run games. They’ll run some stunts up front to try help and create pressure. Najee Toran, Scott Quessenberry and Michael Alves will have to communicate effectively as they pass rushers off. When KSU played Texas, up and down sophomore OT Denzel Okafor had a good day outside of a couple plays. I think Kolton Miller is more sound at this point but he still has shown lapses. This entire group will need to play well if they want to keep Rosen upright and dealing.
We’ve already covered that Kansas State likes to play in a four man front. Traditional wisdom would tell you that if you play in a four man front you have three linebackers behind them. Well with the advent and massive success of spread offenses, especially in the Big-12, you’ll rarely see three linebackers on the field for anyone in college football. That includes Kansas State.
The big name in the group is Trent Tanking who, after walking on to the team as a freshman and red-shirting in 2013, has now become the Wildcat’s go to man. He’s not overly fast, big, or strong but he is instinctive in both the run and pass game. He’s rarely off the field for KSU and he makes the defensive calls when on the field. He’s a solid wrap-up tackler but his lack of rangy speed makes him a liability in man coverage although he’s very solid in zone. His four pass break ups despite having a broken hand in the latter part of the season show why he’s the heart and soul of this LB group.
In the 4-2-5 that KSU plays there’s tons of competition for the second LB spot. That has been held down in large part by Jayd Kirby. While another smaller LB, Kirby is your go-to blitzer from this group and his speed allows him to stay with backs and TE’s in coverage in man to man situations. He’s capable in zone but it’s clear his explosive speed is what makes him valuable to this group. When the Wildcats really need speed on the field or are in obvious passing situations where Tanking’s limitations could hurt them they turn to Elijah Sullivan who like another former KSU LB Elijah Lee, is an athletic LB who can run and isn’t afraid to stick his nose in.
The UCLA Football TE and RB groups should have an opportunity for success against this LB group. Because the Bruins have shown a “multiple” offensive strategy this year they can attack the Wildcats from a variety of formations without having to substitute which ensures they’ll be able to draw very favorable matchups for guys like Jordan Wilson, Soso Jamabo, Brandon Stephens and Bolu Olorunfunmi.
Now here’s where this defense makes it’s money. The defensive backfield is the strength of this team hands down. Especially at the corner positions. Duke Shelley isn’t a big corner but he’s sticky in coverage, willing to support the run and basically takes away half the field for the offense. If he can get his running mate back in DJ Reed then the Wildcats will be a much bigger challenge for Rosen and his receivers. Reed has missed the last couple games due to “undisclosed reasons” and it’s unclear whether he will suit up or not.
Rosen has really started to click with Jordan Lasley who is using his deep speed to get on top of defenders for big gains. Having safety help over the top will be paramount in slowing the UCLA Football passing attack. Except that this safety group seems live with their eyes in the backfield. That coupled with their willingness, if not out-right pleasure, to take on RBs makes them vulnerable to play-action. Denzel Goolsby was guilty of this at least three to four times in the games that I watched. However that’s a symptom of the entire defense.
The DB group as a whole is actually very good though and they’re able to play a variety of coverages from zero, cover one or cover two. While those work on plenty of Big-12 offenses, the best two QBs in the conference each threw for over 400 yards when they faced the Wildcats. Baker Mayfield threw two scores and one pick. Mason Rudolph tossed three scores but threw two interceptions. Rosen is head and shoulders above Rudolph, and you can quote me on it if you want, and I’m willing to say it’s 50/50 if Rosen matches or betters Mayfield’s stats.
Before we say goodbye to the KSU defense for now let’s not forget one very important phase of the game that many of these starting Wildcat defenders play. Special teams has not been a strength of this UCLA Football team. They’ve allowed some really big returns in really inopportune moments. They better figure out really quickly because they’ll be facing two very dangerous return-men in Dominique Heath and Byron Pringle. More on these two in our offensive preview.
Next: UCLA Football: Josh Rosen having to avoid hits on and off the field
The UCLA Football team will face a very technically sound Kansas State team but even with all the injuries they’ve suffered to their receiving groups they still have too much firepower with a stud QB for the Wildcats to overcome. Handling the early pressures from KSU will be key and if the Bruins find they can establish an early run presence look for play-action deep for big points. All the pieces are there and while this offense won’t blow KSU out of the water because trust me, this defense can play, UCLA shouldn’t have too much issue moving the ball. We will save our score prediction for the second half of our special Cactus Bowl 2017 edition of “Know Your Opponent” to follow shortly.