This post was updated Sept. 25 at 12:40 a.m.
For almost 58 minutes, it looked like UCLA football was finally going to end an eight-year nightmarish losing streak.
The Bruins took a 13-9 lead late into the fourth quarter, but left too much time on the clock for Christian McCaffrey and the Stanford Cardinal.
With 2:05 left, Stanford went to the arms of senior quarterback Ryan Burns to go the distance. Outside of a four-yard rush by running back Christian McCaffrey, Burns did it himself. He had only 71 yards to his name entering the fourth quarter, but ended the night with 137 yards and the all-important go-ahead touchdown pass.
The Cardinal punctuated the wild come-from-behind victory with a sack on sophomore quarterback Josh Rosen, leading to a fumble returned for a touchdown and a final score of 22-13.
“That’s a good football team,” said coach Jim Mora. “They have a reputation of being able to do that, and they did it.”
However, outside of the game-winning drive, the UCLA defense showed that it was capable of completing against the physical power-running Stanford offense. McCaffrey racked up 165 all purpose yards, but it was his lowest total this season and didn’t score a touchdown for the first time this season as well.
“I thought we did a really great job matching up physically,” said defensive coordinator Tom Bradley. “That was one of our objectives, and I thought we did a great job with that and matched up with them.”
After an offseason overhaul of both offensive and defensive philosophies that seemed aimed at beating a power team like the Cardinal, the results started to show.
The one area that the Bruins struggled in was the run game, where they only managed to put up 77 total yards on 33 attempts. It prompted both Mora and offensive coordinator Kennedy Polamalu to say that they were looking for answers afterwards.
But ultimately the game came down to the final minutes when UCLA was squarely in the driver’s seat. It gave Stanford one too many chances, and the Cardinal capitalized.
“We just got to stay mentally tough and not make mistakes at the end of the game,” Rosen said. “I think we’re getting there.”
Getting there, but not quite there.
Time to think about firing Coach Mora, and certainly his defensive coordinator. Consecutive games of outstanding defense until the final minutes then ‘panic prevent’ that almost let BYU win and gave the game to Standford. Coach Mora is a good second tier coach, perhaps one of the best. But, if UCLA is become a 1st tier instead of an PAC-12 also ran, we need a coach who can inspire 4 full quarters of football (not like the play now and then Texas A&M game or the panic at the end defense the last two games). What’s left for now is make a good season but beating USC which will cover up the pain of several more loses to come. By the way, it would not hurt to get a quarter back coach to explain the difference between high school and college football to Rosen, as well [less comments more play and no fear of running 3 yards on an open field for a first down].