For a UCLA defense with such high expectations, Saturday’s performance at Stanford left something to be desired.
The Bruins gave up 331 yards in the air to a Stanford aerial attack that is not supposed to be particularly good. And although some of that can be attributed to the Cardinal’s 59 pass attempts, it would not be an overstatement to say that the Bruin defense has something to prove next Saturday against BYU.
“I think we can do a lot better than that,” senior middle linebacker Christian Taylor said. “We’re not patting ourselves on the back for what we did. I mean, we won the game. That’s the most important part, but I thought we gave up three or four plays giving them the points that they had.”
The Bruins surrendered three pass plays of more than 40 yards and missed seven tackles that led in part to 95 yards gained after first contact.
Redshirt senior defensive end Bruce Davis saw limiting the opposition’s yards after contact and focusing on tackling as areas needing improvement but also noted positives to take away from last week.
“I think all in all it was pretty good,” Davis said. “We didn’t make any huge mistakes. We were in position to make plays. I think coach (DeWayne) Walker called a great game. It’s just on us to make tackles. We’ve set our standards so high within ourselves, it’s kind of a disappointment to go out there and get 17 points scored on you with those seven missed tackles. That was upsetting, but as a whole I think our performance was pretty good.”
For Davis, Saturday was a preview of what the rest of the season will likely be ““ double teams and line shifts his way. And although the “Sackmaster,” as he’s jokingly called in practice, did not have a sack at Stanford, he is fine with that as long as his teammates pick up the slack.
“It was cool,” Davis said. “I knew they were going to double team me the whole time. I had five QB hits and if my guys on the other side can come through and get sacks like they did, I’m fine with that. If they’re going to send two or three people my way, bring it on. You can take me out of the play but there’s 10 other guys that are playmakers just like I am.
“It’s kind of how last year started for me. I didn’t have a sack until the third game. I’m not worried about it. It’ll happen when it’ll happen.”
Going up against BYU will pose a different sort of challenge for the Bruins. The Cougars’ roster is significantly older than UCLA’s and they have a big, physical team. However, this does not change how the Bruins are preparing and they will not look at BYU any differently than any other team.
“We prepare the same as every other week,” Davis said. “They’re physical and we see that on tape. They’re more aggressive than most teams are but it is what it is. We’re going to come out there and do what we always do and use our speed against those big, slow guys.”
Although BYU’s physicality might be its greatest asset, they get no special treatment in the Bruin’s preparation for Saturday’s home opener.
“There’s not much difference between game to game,” Taylor said. “We treat every game like it’s the most important game so this week’s no different.”
As for looking too deep into the win at Stanford, last week is already off their minds.
“It’s over,” Taylor said. “Any team in this conference can beat you any day and you have to treat every team with the utmost respect. Once the game’s over, even if you had a great game, it’s over. And the next week you start over zero-zero. That’s the beauty of the game ““ you gotta do it again.”
And for the UCLA defense, another shot to prove itself worthy of all the hype couldn’t come soon enough.