Fresh off their first losing streak of the season, the Bruins appeared to drag their feet in the opening act of their 45-23 win over the Colorado Buffaloes. After allowing just 17 first-half points across games against Pac-12 powerhouses Oregon and Stanford, UCLA surrendered 13 points through the first two quarters against unranked Colorado.
Freshman inside linebacker Isaako Savaiinaea, who started in place of the injured Eric Kendricks, went as far as to say that Colorado was “killing” UCLA through the air to start the game. Buffaloes quarterback Sefo Liufau passed for 140 of his 247 yards in the first half. Liufau’s lone touchdown pass, a throw behind receiver Paul Richardson on the right perimeter of the end zone that put UCLA in no position to make a play, encapsulated the assessments of cornerback Ishmael Adams.
According to Adams, the Bruins came into the game with aspirations of playing more man coverage. The cornerback believed that UCLA mostly did its part over the course of passing plays, except in sticking to receivers with the ball in the air.
“As (defensive backs) we need to get closer on our coverage, give our linebackers and defensive linemen more time to get there,” the redshirt freshman said.
Adams and the secondary would also struggle in space on what would become Colorado’s first touchdown. On third-and-11, a short pass to the flat saw Tony Jones outrun most of the UCLA secondary, including a fallen sophomore safety Randall Goforth almost immediately after the pass, for a 38-yard catch and run stopped by freshman linebacker Myles Jack.
Adams came down on himself for not being in the right place to start the game, and believed the team as a whole came out with a lack of desperation. Adams said that he and his team felt that “we should win this game,” as opposed to “we need to win this game.”
Old habits return
Jones’ catch and run to set up Colorado’s first touchdown worked against a strength space that UCLA’s secondary has developed over the course of the season. Adams said that since allowing a 54-yard sprint of a touchdown against Utah, the Bruins have generally sealed off such explosive plays.
Any headway UCLA appeared to make in fixing its season-long penalty problems also appeared to reverse Saturday night. After committing just five penalties last week in its biggest game of the year against Oregon, UCLA piled on more of the yellow laundry it has become known for this season. The Bruins collected flags for 122 yards Saturday night, with a 15-yard roughing the passer penalty assigned to sophomore defensive end Ellis McCarthy setting up Colorado at the UCLA 14-yard line en route to its second touchdown of the night, early into the fourth quarter.
“I was on the ground, just trying to get up,” said McCarthy, who got push on the Colorado line on multiple occasions.
The Bruin closest to a downed Colorado quarterback was senior outside linebacker Anthony Barr, who appeared to be struck slightly by Liufau after the UCLA pass rusher collided with him during a pass on the Buffaloes’ second touchdown drive.
Barr, who praised the toughness of Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota by sharing an anecdote about how Mariota instructed a referee to not throw a flag immediately after a late Jordan Zumwalt hit last week, tested the toughness of the Colorado QB in the fourth quarter. Barr hit him at least three different times, on one occasion easily using his arms to set aside a blocking running back before barreling into Liufau.
The sequence of hits from Barr seemed to be set off by the Colorado quarterback slightly striking Barr while getting up after a hit earlier in the drive.