UCLA Football: What we learned in Bruins’ loss to Colorado

3. Demetric Felton must step up in new role

With Joshua Kelley gone to the NFL, UCLA Football called upon senior Demetric Felton to be the new feature back.

Let’s just say that despite two touchdowns in the loss, Felton’s impact was not near the level that it should’ve been.

Starting with kick returning, where Felton had excelled in his collegiate career, especially last season. Colorado did a solid job of kicking the ball away from Felton, with the exception of a dismal nine yard return on his single opportunity.

Felton carried the ball ten times for 57 yards and a touchdown, however, his performance at running back should come with an asterisk, as UCLA was playing from behind for the majority of the game.

At receiver, where Felton experienced the majority of his work last season, it was a different story. Felton caught seven passes for 46 yards and a score, averaging 6.6 yards per catch. The biggest problem with this is that Felton averaged over ten yards per catch in the last two seasons. Whether it be that Colorado’s defense did an excellent job of identifying Felton as the focus of the offense, or the amount of check-downs to his running back position killed his average, or some other variable, Felton was not the receiver in this game that he was the last two seasons.

Finally, Felton lost a fumble in the first half, one that would lead to a Colorado touchdown. As the focus skill player in the UCLA offense, Felton must do a better job of ball security and efficiency.

UCLA will have five games to shore up their many issues that contributed to the loss against Colorado, with their first opportunity coming against Utah on Saturday night in the Bruins’ home-opener.