PASADENA — The Rose Bowl crowd had had enough.
In its 22 games, the Jim Mora era has largely escaped the boo birds, but for bits and pieces of the Bruins’ second and third drives Saturday, they swarmed, swooped and chirped for all to hear.
In their first seven offensive plays of what became a 45-23 victory over Colorado, the Bruins mustered just 16 yards from scrimmage and not a single first down. They tried to prizefight their way to some offensive production, softening the Buffaloes’ defense with a steady stream of gut punches on the ground, to no avail.
Through two games and much of the first quarter of Saturday’s contest, the Bruins displayed play-calling and execution conservative enough to shut down their once prolific offense. Trailing the Buffs by a field goal and granting redshirt junior running back Jordon James his grand return in the form of a 1-yard loss, the 80,000-plus in attendance made it painfully clear they were sick and tired of a UCLA offense that had looked sick and tired for the better part of a month.
In one play, however, the offensive concerns and football baggage melted away as wide receiver Devin Fuller scorched his defender. Hundley stood poised in the pocket against the Colorado (3-5, 0-5 Pac-12) pass rush, planted his feet and hit the speedy sophomore wide receiver in stride for a 76-yard touchdown.
UCLA’s longest play of the season, and one that surpassed his passing total from all of last Saturday by 12 yards, gave the No. 17 Bruins (6-2, 3-2) a 7-3 lead in the closing seconds of the first quarter. For a starting 11 that had been shoved around the field by Pac-12 titans Stanford and Oregon for two weekends, it took just one big upfield push to kick-start the offense’s rhythm and take some of the mental load off the much-maligned Hundley.
“It was like phew, OK,” said coach Jim Mora of the touchdown pass. “The kid has looked burdened the last two weeks. He didn’t look burdened tonight. I thought Brett exhaled a little bit.”
By the time the clock hit zero on Saturday, Hundley had exhaled to the tune of 273 passing yards and two touchdowns through the air, with two more scores on the ground. He re-established lost lines of aerial communication with a number of his receivers but said his resolve never left, even during his weeks of harshest criticism.
“I don’t really feel a … loss of confidence with what happened these last two weeks,” he said. “Two weeks isn’t going to kill somebody, and if it does, you’re not playing the game to love the game.”
If it wasn’t confidence, Hundley at least gained some chemistry with Fuller, who had a career night in catching three passes for 99 yards and two touchdowns – both career highs – as well as another 8-yard rushing score, his first of that variety since his senior year of high school. His connection with Hundley played a pivotal role in the UCLA offense stepping away from its identity of short swing plays and safe runs developed in the past two weeks.
“It was a confidence booster for the whole offense that we can stretch the field (because) I know a lot of people said we couldn’t go deep or anything like that,” Fuller said. “It just showed everybody that we can and that we have the ability to.”
Next Saturday, the Bruins will have to show their ability to compete in Tucson, Ariz., where they haven’t won since 2003.
“We have four more and a big one this week at Arizona,” Mora said. “It’s going to be a great test for us.”