Every postgame, Daily Bruin Sports breaks down the Bruins’ most recent game, outlining the good, the bad and the final verdict of their performance. This week, we take a closer look at UCLA’s 31-27 loss to Washington State on Saturday at the Rose Bowl.
The good: Non-red zone offense
Outside of the red zone, UCLA’s offense was firing on all cylinders, even with a deluge of penalties. The Bruins averaged 6.2 yards per play and went 12-for-19 on third down conversions. Freshman quarterback Josh Rosen put up a masterful performance with 340 yards on 33 completions, and redshirt junior running back Paul Perkins averaged over 6 yards per carry. Rosen’s performance could have been even better if not for six dropped passes by UCLA receivers.
The offensive play-calling was pretty strong until it came to the red zone. Offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone kept the defense honest by throwing the ball on first and second down to start the game, and that led to two straight drives of 70-plus yards for the Bruins. Then, in the second quarter, Mazzone switched up his scheme drastically, applying the jumbo package, which led UCLA to a 94-yard touchdown drive.
The bad: Red zone offense
UCLA had two golden opportunities to score touchdowns and take a 14-7 lead in the first quarter. The Bruins advanced the ball inside the Cougar 5-yard line on each of their first two offensive drives, but failed to score a touchdown both times. Mazzone threw the blame on himself after the game, saying there was more than one red zone play call that he’d like to have back.
“I’ve got to do a better job,” Mazzone said. “Especially against a team like (Washington State), we can’t settle for field goals.”
By game’s end, UCLA went to the red zone four times, but only scored one touchdown. The Bruins averaged just 2 yards on their 10 plays inside the red zone.
The verdict: UCLA is holding itself back with recurring problems
The UCLA football team has had three recurring problems throughout this season. One of them – run defense – has been shored up pretty well recently, though it will be put to the test against a run-heavy Utah team this week. The other two major problems – penalties and punting – are still persisting, and were on full display in the loss to Washington State.
The Bruins committed a season-high 13 penalties – including six false starts – for a total of 75 yards. Similar to last week against Oregon State, UCLA’s offensive linemen struggled with a defensive front that was calling out cadences at the line of scrimmage.
“You just can’t win football games like that; you can’t have penalties, you can’t turn it over,” Mazzone said. “You can’t do those types of things.”
You also can’t average 14.5 yards per punt, which the Bruins did Saturday. UCLA’s two poor punts in the third quarter were the latest in a trend that has persisted over the course of this season. The result has been consistently poor starting position for the UCLA defense. On Saturday, Washington’s average starting point for each drive was at its own 35-yard line. UCLA’s average drive started at its own 19.
Player of the game: Freshman quarterback Josh Rosen
Way back on Sept. 19, Rosen had a three-interception game against BYU, causing some to question the freshman on his decision-making. Rosen didn’t make much of it, telling reporters that the BYU game was an “uncharacteristic” performance for him.
Nearly two months later, Rosen has more than proven that statement to be true. He’s now thrown 189 consecutive passes without an interception, dating back to the third quarter of the Stanford game on Oct. 15. Against Washington State, Rosen carried the Bruins with both his arm and his legs, tallying a career-high 70 rushing yards. If not for a last-minute drive by Washington State, Rosen would have been the hero of the game. His 37-yard touchdown run was as impressive an individual play as UCLA has had all year.
Rosen did seemingly everything he could to put the Bruins in position to win the game, it just wasn’t quite enough.
Quote of the game: Redshirt junior running back Paul Perkins, on UCLA’s ongoing penalty problem
“Penalties is just the motto of our team this year. We keep shooting ourselves in the foot, (we) just can’t get over the penalty hump. Once we accomplish that, we’ll be a team to look out for.”
Compiled by Matthew Joye, Bruin Sports senior staff.