PASADENA — After UCLA’s 31-27 loss to Washington State, defensive coordinator Tom Bradley delivered a blunt message.
“Most football games are lost, not won,” he said.
The Bruins (7-3, 4-3 Pac-12) learned that lesson the easy way two weeks ago against the Colorado Buffaloes. They learned it the hard way on Saturday night against the Cougars (7-3, 5-2).
Two weeks ago, the Bruins were thoroughly beat by their opponent in both yardage and field position. They were outgained by more than 150 total yards, possessed the ball for less than a third of the game, and had five drives of less than 10 yards apiece. Still, UCLA managed to win, thanks in large part to Colorado’s miscues in the red zone.
On Saturday, UCLA thoroughly beat Washington State in several major statistical categories. The Bruins outgained the Cougars by 128 yards, and had five drives of 60 yards or more. By comparison, Washington State only had two drives extend beyond 60 yards, and averaged a paltry 1.7 yards per rush.
But just like Colorado two weeks earlier, UCLA did itself in with red-zone inefficiencies and self-imposed errors. The Bruins made it to the red zone four times, but netted just one touchdown. Meanwhile, penalties were as glaring a problem as ever, with 13 of them costing UCLA a total of 75 yards.
“Penalties – it’s just the motto of our team this year,” said redshirt junior running back Paul Perkins, who had a game-high 121 yards on 20 carries. “We keep shooting ourselves in the foot. (We) just can’t get over the penalty hump.”
For the second straight game, the Bruins committed at least six false starts. Two of those penalties came inside the Washington State 10-yard line on UCLA’s first drive, dashing the Bruins’ chances for a touchdown.
Similarly to last week, the Bruins attributed their early false start penalties to their opponents stemming and calling false cadences at the line of scrimmage.
“I could hear the (Washington State defensive linemen) going ‘hike, hike, hike,’” said senior wide receiver Jordan Payton. “It’s nothing new.”
UCLA’s problems in the red zone were, however. Entering the game, the Bruins ranked No. 1 in the Pac-12 with an average of 1.62 points per trip inside the 40-yard line. On Saturday, UCLA had each of its first two drives advance inside the Washington State 10-yard line, but neither resulted in a touchdown.
“We’ve been really good down there (in the red zone), we just did not do a good job tonight,” said offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone. “First two drives we drive right down there, (and) we get a penalty, or I call a stupid play.”
There were plenty of miscues all around for the Bruins, not just the ill-advised play-calls and penalties.
In the punting game, UCLA was atrocious. The Bruins had two punts travel a total of 29 yards, with one of them even failing to pass the line of scrimmage. UCLA’s two poor punts led to two scoring drives by Washington State.
Meanwhile, Ishmael Adams continued to misjudge punts in the punt-return game. The redshirt junior cornerback allowed a punt to bounce from the UCLA 44 to the UCLA 25 in the first quarter, then he decided to field a ball inside his own 5-yard line in the second period. The latter resulted in a fumble and a subsequent touchdown drive by Washington State.
If not for those poor plays early on by Adams – including his defensive holding call in the second quarter, which kept a Washington State drive alive in the red zone – the game may not have been so close.
“Everybody’s gonna focus on the end of the game and the last drive and the last play,” said coach Jim Mora. “But there’s so many things that lead up to that point that end up putting you in that situation.”
The penalties, felled red zone drives and poor special teams misplays were all part of the equation. They added up to a game that was lost, not won.