Turnovers defined the first quarter of Arizona and UCLA’s matchup Saturday at the Rose Bowl.
The Arizona defense was offside on UCLA’s first two offensive plays.
UCLA’s Chane Moline gained nine yards on his first carry, and lineman Scott Glicksberg pumped his arms in celebration.
Aaron Perez’s first punt was a perfect, 59-yarder that Courtney Viney downed at the Arizona two yard line.
A mistake that brought back vivid memories from last week; Terrence Austin fumbles an Arizona punt, giving away great field field position and eventually three points to the Wildcats.
Redshirt freshman Akeem Ayers is one of the Bruins’ quickest linebackers and he showed it when he tracked down Arizona’s Nic Grigsby on third down and nine.
UCLA committed a costly false start penalty on third and one, but Kevin Craft made up for it on the ensuing play with his 11 yard run. Sometimes it’s hard to remember how fast Craft is, but he showed some solid speed on that scamper.
Welcome to college football, Derrick Coleman. The true freshman got a few carries, and caught a reception on his drive. Then he missed a block on Arizona’s Ronnie Palmer, and Palmer was able to sack Craft. The sack pushed UCLA to third and long, and they were unable to convert.
Another flawless Aaron Perez punt, downed at the one yard line by Michael Norris, set up another big play in this game. UCLA weakside linebacker Reggie Carter stripped Grigsby on second and long, and Bruin defensive end Korey Bosworth recovered.
Points off turnovers, UCLA 7, Arizona 3.
Trevor Theriot was injured on kick coverage, but walked off the field on his own.
Arizona is 0-3 on third down.
Mike Thomas’ 25 yard punt return on the final play of the quarter sets up the Wildcats with great field position.
UCLA had 30 yards rushing in this quarter, which is about as much as it gained total in its first two games.