UCLA Football gives away game in another mistake-filled performance

For the second week in a row, the UCLA football team are hamstrung by their mistakes and dashed any hopes for an upset win against Arizona State.

I was very close to copying and pasting my UCLA Football game recap from last week’s loss and replacing “Oregon” for “Arizona State” as these two games were carbon copies of each other, but what fun would that be?

Here, I can simply relive the torment that the Bruins have put me and their fanbase through in yet another temple-massaging game. Why? Because I’m a masochist.

More from Go Joe Bruin

The UCLA Bruins (2-8, 2-5) fell in a game that they could have easily won. Instead, mistakes have left them with yet another loss and gave Arizona State (6-4, 4-3) a win that has now made them bowl eligible. UCLA, who might have had to petition for a bowl berth if they would have won their last three games (including this one), is now out of postseason contention.

And it did not have to be that way.

A “UCLA Bingo” game made its way around social media this week as Bruins fans had a laugh after all the mistakes made against Oregon last Saturday. If you were playing this week, you would have probably won twice as a slew of mistakes plagued the Bruins once again. What was funny last week, has now turned into an overall feeling of melancholy.

Offense. Defense. Special teams. They all contributed to the team collectively shooting itself in the foot. Again.

For all of UCLA’s efforts, they were able to gain 439 yards, 335 through the air, yet only 104 on the ground. Though it is in the Bruins’ best interest to run the ball, they were unable to do so as the Sun Devils’ defense swarmed the Bruins every chance they got. Joshua Kelley, who had his fifth 100-yard rushing game last week, was only able to run for 79, averaging 3.8 yards per attempt.

Wilton Speight did a decent job throwing the ball going 26/35 for 335 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 1 interception. Caleb Wilson was the recipient of 164 of those yards, with 2 touchdowns in what was a very impressive individual game. The thing is, it could have been more. A lot more. On three different drives, UCLA went inside the ASU 30 and came away with no points on each.

It also did not help that the Jim Mora era run defense returned, giving up 281 yards on the ground, 182 which came from Eno Benjamin. Along with Manny Wilkins‘ 199 passing yards, UCLA allowed 480 total yards.

It was another game in which UCLA was subject to their own missed tackles, miscues, mistakes, and missed opportunities. And now they prepare for the Crosstown Showdown with USC and it doesn’t look promising.

Next. The 30 Greatest UCLA Football Players of All-Time. dark

As we have seen with many games this season, this is one we wish we hadn’t.