The UCLA football team lead Kansas State at halftime of the 2017 Cactus Bowl with some offensive prowess on the part of the Josh Rosen-less Bruins.
It was a game that had both teams looking for some offense. Luckily for the UCLA football team, they were the ones with the talent to take the 17-7 halftime lead.
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The first quarter did not have a lot of fireworks until there was a minute left. Until that point, the biggest highlight was UCLA freshmen CB Darnay Holmes snagging an interception on a dangerous Kansas State drive that proved, if anything, you should always run on UCLA. That theme will come into play later in the first.
UCLA was able to get on the scoreboard first, though late. The Bruins were not able to get anything into the end zone, thusly relied on kicker J.J. Molson to get points through the uprights with a minute left in the first quarter.
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Unfortunately, the Wildcats struck back very quickly. After a kick return that brought the ball out to the Kansas State 32-yard line, KSU head coach Bill Snyder switched up quarterbacks and on his first play, Alex Delton ran 68 yards to end the quarter with a touchdown. Kansas State wads up 7-3 heading into the second quarter.
On their first drive of the second quarter, the Bruins slowly got out to midfield after eight plays, but it was worth it with a pass to WR Jordan Lasley who took the ball down the left sideline, gifted with a beautiful block by Christian Pabico, which allowed him to go 52 yards for the score. UCLA went up 10-7.
On the next Bruin drive, Modster hit WR Theo Howard in stride for an untouched 70-yard touchdown pass. If you have not been paying attention, Howard is a huge threat and will be someone to focus on in Chip Kelly’s offense next season.
As it stands, UCLA leads Kansas State, !7-7 at halftime of the Cactus Bowl.