UCLA Football: The Bruins beat themselves whilst Oregon watches

The UCLA football team had a mistake-laden performance which Oregon capitalized on to get the win in Chip Kelly’s return to Eugene.

I knew this game was going to be a weird one. What I did not know is that it would be painfully discomforting. It rivaled my appendicitis during my sophomore year at UCLA, but make no mistake, that was a lot more unbearable, which tells you how bad this UCLA football loss was.

If you look at just the stats, the Bruins should have won this game, or at least made it closer than the score indicated. UCLA had an impressive 496 yards on the night with Dorian Thompson-Robinson and Wilton Speight sharing 297 passing yards whilst Joshua Kelley contributed 161 to the team’s total 199 rushing yards.

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The Bruins averaged 6.1 yards per passing attempt and 5.2 to their run. The defense was not bad either. As horrendous as the run defense has been in recent weeks, they limited Oregon to 146 rushing yards and 3.6 yards per attempt. That was until Oregon’s Tony Brooks-James rattled off a 54-yard run with just over two minutes left in the game to put the Ducks up 42-21. After that, the numbers jumped up to 200 rushing yards and 4.8 yards per attempt.

But that is not the story of this game. The story of this game has to do with the plethora of mistakes the Bruins committed which not only put them in a hole early but kept them down the entire game.

Oregon’s first four scores were a direct result of UCLA giving away the game. Let us recap.

Oregon’s 1st touchdown: a punt return for a 56-yard touchdown, 7-0.

Oregon’s 2nd touchdown: Dorian Thompson-Robinson throws a touchdown in the end zone after orchestrating a beautiful 9 play, 61-yard drive. Oregon scored on the following drive but almost didn’t. After going three and out at the UCLA 29, they faked a field goal, completing a pass to Jacob Breeland with Krys Barnes making a tackle. Actually, he did not. Breeland ran past him and down to the 1 with Oregon scoring on the next drive,14-0.

Oregon’s 3rd touchdown: Adarius Pickett muffs a punt for the second week in a row, giving Oregon the ball at the UCLA 11, leading to another touchdown, 21-0.

Oregon’s 4th touchdown: After UCLA scores twice, they allow pressure on DTR who is sacked and fumbles. That leads to another Oregon score, 28-14.

Do you see how infuriating this is?

But it was not just the execution, it was the play calling. On that DTR end zone INT in the first half, the Bruins were actually running the ball very well on that drive, yet they went to the pass. Why? Who knows? Maybe it’s because of the time change, I don’t know.

But the same thing happened in the 4th quarter. After Speight came in for DTR, who was injured on that sack-fumble, he did a decent job of leading the offense. After Oregon’s 4th touchdown, UCLA answered back on the next drive, bring the score to 28-14. After forcing Oregon to punt on their next drive, UCLA was marching down the field backed a solid run game similar to that of the Allied army into Germany in 1942 (sorry, I have no idea why I went there).

And then the Bruins decided to switch it up and pass the ball when they made it to the Oregon 31. They went to the pass three times and failed on each. It gets better (from a made-for-TV movie perspective) after that.

UCLA’s kicker JJ Molson was called upon for the field goal (sidebar – Molson could have brought UCLA closer in the waning moments of the first half with a 51-yard attempt, but the offensive line was called for offsides, putting the Bruins back five yards and on the ensuing kick, which caused Molson to miss it by about five yards, the second time in two games that has happened) and was not able to get the kick off because the snap was too low and UCLA’s 3rd string QB Matt Lynch tried to scramble for the pass, but to no avail. Incomplete, and the circus kept on rolling.

The Ducks scored on the next drive to make it 35-14 when Oregon QB Justin Herbert, who finished the night with 264 yards, connected with WR Dillon Mitchell (both of whom were in concussion protocol this week) for a 67-yard bomb. 35-14, Oregon.

UCLA scored after that, but it was too little, too late.

With that, UCLA drops, like so many of their passes, their seventh game of the season.

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It was frustrating, but what hasn’t been this season? And yes, we need to trust the process, and honestly, I can see a lot of good coming from this, but it is not good for a Bruin fan’s sanity at the present moment. The weird thing is, like so many things this season, UCLA still has a shot at the South Division. If they win out (doubt it) and the other teams meltdown in epic fashion (I could see it), the Bruins could be in the running to lose to Washington State in the Pac-12 Championship Game. It is a lofty goal, but a goal nonetheless.