The Bruins have played plenty of ugly games this season, but that experience didn’t seem to help them in what may have been their sloppiest contest yet.
UCLA (3-6, 1-5 Pac-12) fell 20-10 Thursday night at No. 15 Colorado (7-2, 5-1) in a game that included 25 total penalties and five turnovers, leaving the Bruins in a must-win situation in each of their next three games if they are to become bowl-eligible.
The most back-breaking play for UCLA came with five and a half minutes left, when a play-calling mix-up by the punt team allowed Colorado’s Isaiah Oliver to scamper 68 yards for a touchdown that put the Buffaloes up two scores.
“It was the call – we were supposed to be in a rugby punt and we didn’t rugby,” said coach Jim Mora. “We kicked it down the middle with no hang (time), and if you do that against a good punt returner, that’s what’s going to happen.”
The 10-point deficit would prove to be too much for a UCLA offense that struggled to find a rhythm all night long. Coming off a 45-point outing against Utah last Saturday, the Bruins produced just 210 total yards on the night.
Redshirt senior quarterback Mike Fafaul, making his third start since Josh Rosen went down with a season-ending injury, completed 15 of his 29 passes for 185 yards, including a 39-yard first-quarter touchdown to redshirt junior wide receiver Darren Andrews.
In an effort to take pressure off of Fafaul, UCLA tried to re-establish the run game they had all but abandoned Saturday against Utah,
“Mike was throwing fire, and you’d hope to help him out by having a running game,” said sophomore running back Soso Jamabo.
The results, though, left plenty to be desired. Jamabo started and received the bulk of the carries, toting the ball 23 times for 66 yards.
“We’re working on it,” said offensive coordinator Kennedy Polamalu of the run game. “We’re all continually working on it. You had some glimpse that was going to do some good things, and then they were pretty stout up front.”
The Buffaloes, who entered the night ranked fourth in the Football Bowl Subdivision in turnover margin, gave the ball away four times – all in the first half – but the Bruins could only stake themselves to a 10-7 halftime lead.
Eight personal foul penalties on Colorado also helped grant UCLA advantageous field position, but the Bruins could only muster the 10 first-half points.
“It’s incredibly disappointing,” Mora said. “We had field position given to us. … It’s terribly disappointing not being able to find points.”
UCLA failed to score on either of its red zone trips, with both resulting in missed field goals after the offense stalled.
In the second quarter, after the Bruins made it inside the Buffalo 10-yard line thanks to a fumble recovery and return by senior linebacker Jayon Brown and an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Colorado, UCLA tried two straight runs, with each one resulting in no gain.
After Fafaul’s third-down pass fell incomplete, the Bruins sent freshman kicker JJ Molson out for a 26-yarder, which was blocked by Buffalo cornerback Chidobe Awuzie.
And in the fourth quarter, the offense stalled after driving to the Colorado 19-yard line, then watched as redshirt freshman kicker Andrew Strauch left a 36-yard field goal attempt wide left.
Molson nailed a career-long 48-yarder in the second quarter, but also missed a 44-yarder in the third quarter, bringing him to 1-for-5 on field goals of more than 40 yards this year.
“Obviously, it’s a disappointing loss – we couldn’t get anything going on offense and had some struggles on special teams,” Mora said. “When you can’t get anything going on offense, and you give up a punt return, and have a field goal attempt blocked, it’s going to be tough to win.”
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