BOULDER, Colo. “”mdash; UCLA doesn’t have a live mascot like Colorado’s Ralphie the buffalo stampeding around the stadium, but it has the next best thing – a defense capable of plowing through Folsom Field.
The Bruins (4-1, 1-1 Pac-12) limited the Buffaloes’ offense on their way to a 42-14 win, UCLA’s first conference win of the season. Colorado had only had one touchdown on the scoreboard much of the game until the waning minutes of the fourth quarter.
The win comes right off the heels of a disappointing loss to Oregon State that dropped UCLA out of the top 25.
“It was vital for us to get this win,” said redshirt senior running back Johnathan Franklin. “We have to keep working, we’re not satisfied at all. We have to push each other; our leaders have to step up and we’ll be okay.”
Despite the eventual result, the UCLA offense had trouble getting started early on, with its first drive consisting of seven plays for a mere 18 yards. UCLA’s early offensive series were plagued by penalties and sacks.
“We still feel like offensively there’s a lot of things we can do better. We hurt ourselves in the first half with penalties and some drops and just not executing the way that we’re capable of executing,” said coach Jim Mora.
However, upon getting the ball back after a Buffalo punt, the Bruins drew first blood, putting together a nine-play, 87-yard drive, culminating in a 12-yard keeper for a touchdown by redshirt freshman quarterback Brett Hundley.
After being held to 50 yards on 12 carries last week, Franklin got off to a quick start against Colorado, amassing 97 yards on 11 carries in the first half alone.
Redshirt junior receiver Darius Bell hauled in his first career touchdown early in the second quarter, and after a one-yard touchdown run by Hundley, the Bruins headed into the tunnels at halftime up 21-7.
After the opening kickoff, the Bruin offense once again had its issues but was jump-started by its defense.
Midway through the third quarter, Colorado quarterback Jordan Webb completed a pass to tight end Vincent Hobbs who had beat UCLA freshman cornerback Randall Goforth for a gain of 31 yards. However, redshirt sophomore safety Tevin McDonald chased down Hobbs and punched the ball out, forcing a fumble that the Bruins recovered.
The UCLA offense capitalized on that turnover with an eventual touchdown pass from Hundley to redshirt senior receiver Joseph Fauria.
The defense didn’t stop making plays there. On Colorado’s very next possession, redshirt junior safety Stan McKay intercepted a Webb pass that was tipped by redshirt sophomore linebacker Eric Kendricks.
And again, the Bruins’ offense took the field and finished their defense’s work with redshirt sophomore running back Jordon James carrying the ball untouched 25 yards into the end zone.
“That was big time. Our defense has been doing a great job on (forcing) turnovers,” Hundley said. “Just getting the ball on those extra possessions helps so much.”
For insurance, the Bruins put the game well out of reach with redshirt junior running back Damien Thigpen’s touchdown on a 23-yard reverse that put the team up 42-7 early in the fourth quarter.
Hundley had a better showing against Colorado after a rough performance against Oregon State the week before. The quarterback was involved in four of the touchdowns the Bruins scored against the Buffaloes.
“Every week he does a couple things he didn’t do well last week, better this week,” said offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone. “It’s going to be a process through the whole season. I like the way he’s starting to feel comfortable with some of the things we’re doing offensively.”
But the improvements and the win for UCLA weren’t without a major loss. Redshirt freshman wide receiver Devin Lucien was seen on the sidelines in warm-ups and a sling during the game.
“We don’t have a definitive prognosis but it looks like he broke his clavicle,” Mora said. “We’ll do X-rays and evaluate it from there and then we’ll see what we have to do from there.”