Each week, Daily Bruin Sports takes a look at the game film for UCLA football and grades each position group on its performance.
This week, we examine UCLA’s 56-35 loss to Stanford.
Editor’s note: This report card does not give any weight to plays that occurred in the fourth quarter. Since Stanford was already leading 56-20 by the end of the third quarter, we ended our evaluation process there.
Quarterbacks: B-
Freshman quarterback Josh Rosen’s pick-six in the first half is going to gain all the attention in this game, but he played solid football other than that. For the first time in weeks, he was allowed to pass downfield early on, and he did pretty well with that freedom. Rosen completed eight of his first nine passes in the game for 125 yards.
“It was pretty cool, he threw that interception, came back and took us right down the field,” said offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone.
As the game wore on, however, Rosen cooled down a little bit. Stanford started to anticipate the pass plays a little bit more – dropping seven into coverage on most downs – leaving Rosen with fewer open receivers. After starting out eight for nine, Rosen went just two for his next seven.
Part of that downfall could be attributed to the fact that Mazzone became too pass-heavy in his play-calling, opting for 19 passes to just 11 runs in the first half. He was kind of forced to pass though, considering UCLA was already trailing by 11 points early in the second quarter.
Overall, Rosen played well against a solid Stanford defense that has consistently troubled UCLA offenses over the past four years.
Running backs: B
This section couldn’t be any more different than it was for the Arizona State game.
Against Arizona State, Mazzone foiled the running backs by running the ball too often and becoming predictable with his play-calling. Against Stanford, Mazzone held them back by not running the ball enough.
On the first six plays of the Stanford game, Mazzone chose to pass the ball. When he finally decided to run the ball, the play went for 43 yards. By the end of the first half, the Bruins averaged 8.7 yards per carry – but only had 11 rush attempts.
Mazzone ran the ball a bit more in the second half, but by that time it was too little, too late – UCLA already trailed by double digits. Redshirt junior running back Paul Perkins did just about everything he could, rushing for 104 yards on 14 carries.
Wide receivers: D
It’s a trend that’s developed over the past three games: UCLA’s depth at wide receiver has worn thin. In the Stanford game, only four UCLA receivers caught a pass, and only three had more than 50 yards.
One of the glaring problems in the Stanford game was the wide receivers’ collective inability to gain separation. On several of Rosen’s throws, he actually had a clean pocket for a couple seconds, but was flushed out because he couldn’t find an open man.
Granted, it was the first time in weeks that UCLA faced a lot of seven-man coverage, but still, the Bruins should have gained more separation than they did.
As for the positives: The receivers only dropped one pass this week, compared to four last week. But that one dropped pass could have been a touchdown, as junior Y receiver Thomas Duarte muffed a pass 16 yards downfield with nothing but green grass in front of him.
Maybe Mazzone will go back to calling a few more bubble screens on Thursday against Cal to get the receivers in a bit more of a rhythm.
Offensive line: C+
Unlike past games against Stanford, the offensive line was not the main reason why UCLA lost. Sure, the O-linemen were responsible for 35 yards worth of penalties in the first half, but they were also responsible for UCLA averaging 8.9 yards per play during that span. By game’s end, the Bruins had 506 yards – their highest yardage total versus Stanford in the Jim Mora era.
As the game wore on, UCLA’s offensive line wore down a little bit. Two starters – redshirt junior left tackle Conor McDermott and junior right guard Alex Redmond – went out with injuries, and their replacements struggled to fill in. Redshirt freshman left tackle Kolton Miller was exposed on several plays, allowing a sack, two QB hits and a hurry. Meanwhile, freshman Fred Ulu-Perry saw time at right guard for the first time this season, spelling Redmond, but he didn’t really make much of an impact.
Overall, the UCLA offensive line showed some cracks for the third-straight week, but the cracks were by no means alarming.
Defensive line: D+
This grade would be a D if not for Kenny Clark. The junior nose tackle dominated Stanford senior center Graham Shuler for much of the game on Thursday, literally plowing over Shuler en route to hitting quarterback Kevin Hogan in the first quarter. The problem was that UCLA’s other defensive linemen couldn’t handle Stanford’s physical offensive linemen at the point of attack.
As we will mention in the linebacker section, the Bruins allowed 167 yards before contact to Cardinal running back Christian McCaffrey. That stat underscores just how much UCLA was getting dominated by Stanford’s blockers at the line of scrimmage.
There were a few plays when the Bruins did a decent job stopping the run – such as the third-and-one play on Stanford’s opening drive – but the problem was that UCLA couldn’t maintain its strength as the game wore on. The Bruins allowed 4.5 yards per carry in the first quarter, 7.4 yards per carry in the second and 10.7 yards per carry in the third. By the end of the third quarter, Stanford held a 56-20 lead.
Linebackers: F
Much was made of the UCLA linebackers’ tackling problems in week four against Arizona. The Bruins missed 21 tackles in that game – a performance that sophomore inside linebacker Kenny Young said was “embarrassing to put on TV.”
On Thursday night against Stanford, the linebackers’ performance was embarrassing for an entirely different reason.
Instead of missing tackles, the UCLA linebackers just didn’t get in position to make them. Of McCaffrey’s school-record 243 rushing yards, only 76 came after contact. That means McCaffrey gained 167 yards without being touched by a UCLA defender.
Part of the reason why UCLA struggled to make contact with McCaffrey was because Stanford’s blocking was so good. Many times, the Cardinal just overpowered the Bruins at the point of attack.
But there were also several plays in which the Bruin linebackers just didn’t play their gap assignments well.
Take McCaffrey’s 70-yard touchdown run in the third quarter as a prime example. On that play, McCaffrey took a direct snap out of the Wildcat formation and moved a few steps to his left, before cutting back to his right. The play shouldn’t have gone for more than four yards if the Bruins had played all of their assignments correctly. But Young, playing the Will linebacker position, broke his gap assignment and overpursued to the middle of the field, leaving the cutback lane wide open.
That was just one play, but it was indicative of the problems that the Bruins have been going through defensively. With all the injuries on defense, many players – including Young – have been thrust into new positions and unfamiliar situations.
“Asking Kenny Young to go from Mike (linebacker) to Will, I think on the outside it looks like it’s a pretty easy adjustment – but it’s not,” said coach Jim Mora. “It’s very different, it’s very, very different.”
Everything is different with the Bruin linebackers right now. Once a stifling unit that held opponents to 3.7 yards per rush through the first three games, the linebackers have allowed 5.6 yards per rush in the three games since. The Stanford game marked a new low point, as UCLA allowed 6.5 yards per carry.
Defensive backs: D
UCLA’s defensive backs didn’t have that tall of a task on Thursday – they only had to defend 16 passes. They just did a horrendous job of defending almost all of them.
By game’s end, Stanford averaged 8.2 yards per pass on just eight completions. Three of those completions went for touchdowns, and two more came on third down-and-long.
The third-and-long plays were perhaps the most fatal for the Bruins. They both came on the same drive – Stanford’s third of the game – when UCLA was still in contention, trailing by just four points. On both occasions, UCLA’s defense was in a seven-man zone coverage, yet still allowed Stanford to complete the pass for more than 16 yards.
Further downgrading the defensive backs’ performance was a key pass interference penalty on a third down-and-eight play early in the third quarter. Redshirt sophomore cornerback John Johnson draped himself around Stanford receiver Michael Rector instead of turning and looking at the ball, which he could have intercepted. That play gave Stanford a new set of downs, and the Cardinal dialed up a 41-yard, highlight-reel touchdown on the very next play.
Special teams: D-
Field position was once again a major issue for UCLA, just like it was in the Arizona State game on Oct. 3. UCLA’s average starting position was its own 25-yard line, while Stanford’s was at its own 41-yard line.
Part of that disparity can be attributed to UCLA punter Matt Mengel, who once again struggled to net a solid punting average. By game’s end, Mengel averaged a mediocre 37.8 yards per punt on six attempts. The rest of that disparity can be attributed to UCLA’s poor kickoff coverage, which allowed McCaffrey to run 96 yards to the UCLA 4-yard line in the first quarter. UCLA’s special teams needs a lot work if the Bruins are going to turn their season around.