UCLA vs. LSU Week 1: Postgame Takeaways
The Bruins made a statement Saturday night.
UCLA football (2-0) took down LSU (0-1) on its home turf, besting the 2019 national champions 38-27. After a 44-10 season-opening win over Hawaii, many were wondering if that same Bruin team would show up again in Week 1, or if the early look at them was even worth analyzing to begin with.
It turns out this team was worth everyone's time, and UCLA is now 6-1 against SEC teams since the turn of the century.
These are four of the biggest takeaways, narratives and questions to come out of Saturday's game.
Fans are back in a big way
Fears of LSU fans outnumbering UCLA fans were alive well into Saturday night, especially considering the near-record-low crowd that showed up to the Bruins' game against Hawaii the week prior.
The blue wound up outweighing the purple though, and the Bruin faithful were louder than they have been in years as Tiger fans scrambled out of the stadium before the game went final.
The crowd of 68,123 was the biggest at a UCLA Rose Bowl home game since 2016. With the new tarp that stretches over the upper level above the north end zone, the maximum capacity is projected to be just shy of 70,000, meaning this was just shy of a sellout.
The student section was packed despite classes in Westwood not starting for another three weeks, the first time that's been accomplished in recent memory.
Fans are buying into this team, and a win like the one UCLA had last night surely isn't hurting the program's popularity in Southern California.
Charbonnet is no fluke
106 yards and three touchdowns on six carries is not going to happen every week, so running back Zach Charbonnet recreating his season-opening performance in Week 1 was always going to be a high bar to clear.
Charbonnet may not have averaged 17.7 yards per carry against LSU, but he came pretty darn close.
The Michigan transfer racked up 117 yards on 11 carries Saturday night, giving the Bruins a go-ahead touchdown in the second quarter as well. That drive was the biggest one of Charbonnet's night, as he picked up 67 of UCLA's 71 scrimmage yards on the possession.
Charbonnet is now up to 272 yards and four touchdowns from scrimmage on 19 touches, putting him on pace for nearly 1,800 total yards and 25 touchdowns if the Bruins wind up playing 13 games in 2021.
What's even better is that Charbonnet's success isn't robbing Brittain Brown of his production either. Brown has 195 yards and two touchdowns from scrimmage so far this season, meaning not only is Charbonnet putting up one of the best seasons in the country so far, but the Bruins also boast arguably the best two-man backfield around.
Defense remains disruptive, mean
The Bruins' defense immediately got more aggressive the second assistant head coach Brian Norwood got to town, but it didn't necessarily translate to production or wins in 2020.
Now, UCLA has its best defense since the peak of the Jim Mora era.
Forcing fumbles, getting in the backfield, roughing up quarterbacks and sprinting to the ball for breakups are all constants for this defense in 2021. The run defense that had already taken a few steps forward over the past few seasons is now holding opponents to 37 rushing yards per game and 1.6 yards per carry.
The pass defense was a much bigger question mark entering 2021, and there seems to have been significant improvements made on that front as well.
LSU got a 44-yard touchdown pass thanks to a ref setting a pick over the middle and a 45-yard score in garbage time. Taking out both of those big plays by quarterback Max Johnson and receiver Kayshon Boutte, Johnson would have had a 103.5 passer rating on 5.5 yards per attempt for the night.
There is still room for improvement – despite the flukiness of some of the plays, allowing Boutte to rack up 148 yards and three touchdowns on nine receptions is a major red flag – but the Bruins' ability to get to the ball, make tackles and disrupt plays is going to be one of their biggest strengths all year long.
Make way for UCLA
It would be a crime if the Bruins are left out of this week's upcoming AP top 25.
UCLA came in at No. 15 in ESPN's power rankings, and the poll voters in attendance Saturday night heavily alluded towards giving the Bruins their vote. While coach Chip Kelly said after the game that he doesn't care where he's ranked and that it doesn't matter on the field, it surely matters off of it.
The Bruins haven't been ranked for a single week under Kelly in three-plus years. They are just now picking up steam, and checking off boxes like beating an SEC opponent, making the top 25 and having segments devoted to them on FS1 and ESPN is going to rightfully bring a lot of buzz to this team.
UCLA is carving out a spot on the national landscape, and with the potential to finish September undefeated for the first time since 2015, that spot still has plenty of room to grow. If the Bruins wrap up nonconference play 3-0, beat Stanford, Arizona State and Arizona to kick off their Pac-12 slate and enter the Washington-Oregon-Utah gauntlet at 6-0, who's to say they can't beat those three teams as well after the Huskies and Ducks' recent struggles.
Posting the best start to a season since the 8-0 run to open the 2005 campaign is not out of the question, and the more UCLA wins, the bigger the spotlight becomes.
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