UCLA Football: What we’ve learned through four games

The offensive line must improve.

The quarterback position is often referred to as the most important position in sports, and that may be true when it comes to being the face of a program and the captain of the offensive ship. In all actuality, however, no quarterback can do anything without an effective offensive line.

Against Utah, well, effective wasn’t nearly the right adjective for the Bruin line. Inept is probably a more apt way to describe Dante Moore’s protection on Saturday.

The quarterback was sacked seven times, and Bruin ball carriers were brought down in the backfield on another 11 runs. That’s 18 snaps of negative yardage, and it doesn’t even account for throwaways or positive scrambles due to pressure.

Now, yes, that was the best defense UCLA will play all year, but that performance really put a ceiling on how good the Bruins can be in 2023.

This unit has been good against FCS opponents and Group of Five competition, but it’s 0-for-1 against the Pac-12. If other conference opponents can have even a fraction of the penetration that Utah got on Saturday, then the Bruins are in for a long 2023.