All Bruins UCLA Football Players of the Game: Week 13 vs. Cal
The California Pac-12 sweep is complete, and the Bruins have finished the regular season on a high note.
UCLA football (8-4, 6-3 Pac-12) hosted Cal (4-7, 3-5) at the Rose Bowl on Saturday and ended up winning 42-14. Taking a look at each unit individually, here are the three student-athletes who have earned the All Bruins UCLA Football Players of the Game awards.
Offensive Player of the Week: RB Zach Charbonnet
The Bruins' lead back was once again carrying the load with no Brittain Brown by his side.
And he showed that he is still the guy he was at the start of the year.
Charbonnet's 167-yard performance against USC got overshadowed by quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson's career day in the blowout effort, but Charbonnet got a lot more love against Cal. The Michigan transfer ran for 106 yards and a touchdown, breaking the century mark for the seventh time this season, the most by a Bruin since Johnathan Franklin in 2012.
It wasn't like Saturday was Charbonnet's most efficient day – his 4.8 yards per carry was his eighth-best mark of the season, and even those 106 yards were just his seventh-most on the year. Charbonnet was such a key component of the offense against the Golden Bears, though, and he got 22 of the 27 running back touches in the game while powering through tacklers all night long.
Charbonnet has now shown in back-to-back weeks that he can be a work horse in the backfield, and Saturday also helped him prove himself as a pass-catcher too.
The running back had showed flashes as a checkdown option in the past, but it had been over a month since he was used in any kind of reliable capacity in that role. On Saturday, Charbonnet had a career-high six catches for 41 yards, and two went for first downs.
Losing Brown was a concern the past few weeks, but one of the positives that came from his absence has been Charbonnet's emergence as a true No. 1 back. Now, when Brown presumably returns for UCLA's upcoming bowl game, Charbonnet will have more confidence and momentum than ever.
Defensive Player of the Week: S Quentin Lake
In what may have been his final game in the Rose Bowl, Lake had an elite performance to possibly cap off his career in blue and gold.
Lake led the Bruins with six tackles, one of which prevented a touchdown. The safety also picked off quarterback Chase Garbers towards the end of the first half for his third takeaway of the season, giving UCLA a shot at a Hail Mary before the break.
Even if the attempt the following play fell short, it helped the Bruins carry some momentum into the second half and shut out the Golden Bears in the last two quarters. Garbers, who came into Saturday red hot, had his worst day of the season thanks to the secondary run by Lake, throwing for 125 yards and two picks on 52% completion and a 72.6 passer rating.
Who knows, maybe Lake uses his final year of eligibility and comes back next year. He said after the game that he hasn't made his mind up yet.
If he does end up leaving for the pros, though, there was no better way for Lake to go out.
Special Teams Player of the Week: K Nicholas Barr-Mira
After what feels like forever, it seems like Barr-Mira is back to himself.
Barr-Mira was 8-for-9 on field goals in his first 10 collegiate games, starting last season and extending into 2021. Since then, however, Barr-Mira was 9-for-16 and he entered Saturday having missed a field goal in five consecutive games.
It was comforting to see Barr-Mira get UCLA on the board early, drilling a 41-yard field goal with ease. When he came out to take another in the second half, he didn't get all of it but it still snuck in from 43 yards out.
Barr-Mira had also missed an extra point in back-to-back games, but hit all three of his tries on Saturday.
The two field goals didn't end up meaning much in what became a 28-point blowout, but it's more about seeing Barr-Mira succeed and succeed from distance at this point in the season.
Whether it was a matter of something technical or just getting over the yips, Barr-Mira finally got right again Saturday night.
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