Following the Bruins’ first two victories of the season,
UCLA coach Karl Dorrell harped on the lack of discipline by his
team.
In each of the games, the number of penalties the Bruins
committed was glaring ““ 16 penalties for a loss of 145 yards,
while their opponents combined for seven and a total of 59 yards
lost.
UCLA defensive coordinator Larry Kerr reiterated Dorrell’s
disturbance over penalties committed after the win over Oklahoma,
when three of the eight penalties, which were late hits and
personal fouls, resulted in each of the Sooners’ three
scoring drives.
“The only thing us coaches can do is keep enforcing to the
players that the penalties are hurting us,” Kerr said.
“We show them film, and show them where we could have
sustained drives that were stopped by penalties.”
The Bruins currently average the second-most lost yards (71.7)
due to penalties in the Pac-10. On the other end of the ball,
UCLA’s opponents are committing the second-fewest penalties
in terms of average yards lost with 38.
Against the Aztecs, the Bruins were tagged with two personal
fouls on special teams and a pair of false starts. During the Rice
game, UCLA’s 10 penalties for 95 yards came on a bevy of
mistakes varying from roughing the passer, illegal blocking and
offsides to holding violations.
“Those late fouls, personal fouls and 15-yard penalties
definitely take you out of your groove,” senior safety Jarrad
Page said. “We’ve done some of those things, but
luckily it hasn’t hurt us as much, especially on third downs.
We need to do a better job of playing smart.”
Compared to last season, however, the Bruins seem to be heading
in the opposite direction. One season ago, UCLA was ranked No. 1 in
the Pac-10 in fewest penalized yards, committing 43.4 yards per
game.
Junior running back Maurice Drew believes it’s been due to
one aspect of the Bruins’ game that hasn’t been as
sharp.
“It’s mostly just mental,” Drew said.
“But the coaches are doing a great job making us real tired
in practice to mimic those conditions. We need to stay more
mentally focused.”
UCLA knows this weekend’s opponent, Washington, although
only 1-3, will not beat itself, as the team averages the
second-least penalized yards per game in the conference.
“There’s not going to be any letup and we know
we’re going to have to take care of the ball and play smart
on both sides of the field,” Drew said.
OTHER OLSON GETS NOD: Coach Dorrell announced
on Thursday that redshirt freshman quarterback Ben Olson, nearly
fully recovered from the injury on his left hand, will be the
backup for Saturday’s game against Washington, and could see
playing time if the situation permits.
With reports from Sagar Parikh and Seth Fast Glass, Bruin
Sports senior staff.