With injuries decimating the Bruins’ depth chart, Saturday’s game against Arizona State saw opportunities for otherwise unknown players to step up and contribute in one of the biggest games of the season.
For walk-on redshirt sophomore running back Craig Sheppard, this meant carrying the load on the ground, quite a change from starting the season as the fifth running back on the depth chart. Sheppard had a career-high 56 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries, and on his first touch of the game he sprinted for 13 yards.
“I wanted to come out and come out hard,” Sheppard said. “We wanted to show the ASU defense that we could move the ball. I really don’t know what went through my mind. I wasn’t super excited, just happy to get the first down.”
The Bruins finished with 142 yards gained on the ground, and Sheppard had only positive things to say about the offensive line.
“The offensive line played phenomenal today,” he said. “They opened a lot of holes and made a lot of good blocks. I love those guys to death. I’m really happy with what they did today.”
Sheppard was also postive about the inexperienced combination of himself and quarterback Osaar Rasshan in the backfield. Both players had received game snaps at those positions for the first time last week.
“Osaar’s an extremely confident person,” Sheppard said. “He’s a phenomenal athlete. I played with him on scout team our freshman year when we both redshirted, and he would tear up our own defense.
“I have nothing but good things to say about Osaar. I felt that me and him coming into this game, we felt confident,” Sheppard said.
“We got some plays under our belt last week. We got those first-play jitters out and we felt confident that we could come out here and beat ASU, and we just came up short.”
SPECIAL TEAMS PROVES ITSELF AGAIN: For the third time this season, kick returner Matt Slater took a kick-off back for six, tying a Pac-10 record and setting UCLA’s mark.
The third-quarter, 89-yard return came after a 71-yard Sun Devil touchdown run and sliced the Bruins’ deficit to four.
“I just give credit to the guys up front for being unselfish all year,” Slater said. “It was a great feeling for us as a unit to be able to pull our team back within striking distance.”
Slater has three career touchdowns, all of which have come on special teams this season.
Punt returner Terrence Austin also had his best special teams day of the season, contributing a 68-yard return and falling just 1 yard short of the ASU goal line.
DAVIS UPSET WITH CALL: On the last play of the first half, senior defensive end Bruce Davis was tagged with a 15-yard personal foul after hitting quarterback Rudy Carpenter, following a Hail Mary attempt.
The penalty yards put ASU in position to kick a 53-yard field goal on an untimed play that would prove to be extremely costly.
With four minutes left in the game, the Bruins would have had the opportunity to kick about a 45-yarder to take the lead. Instead, UCLA had to go for the end zone down by four.
After the game, Davis was clearly not happy with the call.
“I was pretty shocked,” Davis said. “He throws the ball, I’m within a step and I hit him.
“It’s just frustrating that when you’re playing hard and doing everything you’ve been coached to do, and you put a hit on a quarterback who’s just released the ball, that is pretty frustrating. … I guess today (the referees) just really wanted to protect the quarterback.”
DEFENSE GETS KEY TAKEAWAY: The Bruin defense has had problems forcing turnovers in important situations, so Christian Taylor’s forced fumble with just over five minutes remaining in the game was a positive for the maligned unit.
“If you’ve checked our takeaways in the last couple weeks, any takeaway is huge,” defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker said.
“We know where we are team-wise right now. We’re not going to make excuses.”