UCLA Football: Bruins go 0-3 after uncomfortable loss to Fresno State

The UCLA football team is 0-3 to start a season for the first time since 1971 after they get blown out at home by Fresno State as nothing seems to be working for the Bruins under Chip Kelly.

It is one thing to lose, but it is another to lose big, especially to a team that you could have easily beaten, or at least put forth a competitive effort against. That is what happened with the UCLA football team on Saturday night as the Bruins took one on the chin against Fresno State.

From start to finish, this game was not pretty. The Bruins played nothing like they did against Oklahoma and that was a game where they were applauded for their efforts in that contest they lost by 28 points, 49-21.

This was nothing like that. With both the offense and defense making strides and special teams struggling last week, the script was flipped on Saturday. The Bruins did well backing up the Bulldogs on punts but were inconsistent on both offense and defense.

Three things, in particular, seem to be the cause of UCLA’s woes: (1) tempo, (2) favortism of freshmen and (3) play calling

On offense, we did not expect to see a huge jump in production and sure enough, it was more of the same. Dorian Thompson-Robinson got the call to start once again and made the most of what he was given. Unfortunately, he was not given a lot. Though he had his mistakes, most notably his inaccurate throws, he was able to connect a few times and bring hope to the fanbase, but that is tough to do when he only went 10/24 for 151 yards.

DTR was able to connect with Theo Howard for a passing touchdown, but it made no difference compared to the scores Fresno State was putting up, which I will get to in a second. Thompson-Robinson also had two unfortunate interceptions were the result of tipped passes. In those instances, you have to give it to the Bulldog defense for being so relentless and not giving up on these plays.

Fresno State might have only tallied one sack and four tackles for a loss, but they did well keeping the Bruins in front of them and limiting yards. UCLA could only collect 270 yards in this game, 151 passing, and a meager 119 rushing. Once again, the Bruins could not get anything going on the ground, which is a staple of Chip Kelly’s offensive genius. Part of the problem is that Kelly tried to send his ball carriers up the middle and it is not working, yet he continued.

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DTR had the most rushing yards of all the ball carriers, which says something about the strategy. And where was Joshua Kelley? Pegged as a starter, he did not see anytime on the field against Fresno State. Freshman Martell Irby got the majority of carries in this game, being favored over Kazmeir Allen, Soso Jamabo and Bolu Olorunfunmi.

Probably the most disappointing aspect of this game was the defense. Last week the Bruins did well limiting Oklahoma’s run game and though they held Fresno State to only 150 rushing yards, they did allow Marcus McMaryion four rushing touchdowns, most of which went virtually untouched as he waltzed into the end zone.

Even more disappointing was the pass defense which has been praised for their efforts for the last few seasons. This is a squad that was one of the best in the Pac-12 and McMaryion carved them up like a Thanksgiving turkey. Though he only threw for 270, the Bruins made him look like Kyler Murray out there as he was finding players in open space time after time.

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There is a lot more to fix than previously imagined. Three things, in particular, seem to be the cause of UCLA’s woes: (1) tempo, (2) favortism of freshmen and (3) play calling, which I will be getting into in more detail in the next week, but for now, it is apparent that this UCLA football team is going nowhere. Yes, we should be patient with a new coach and system, but that coach is not exactly implementing that system.