UCLA vs. Arizona Week 6: Live Updates, Highlights, Analysis

UCLA football (3-2, 1-1 Pac-12) is playing Arizona (0-4, 0-1) in Week 6 of the 2021 college football season, with the Bruins looking to get back on track after losing two of three and the Wildcats still trying to familiarize themselves with the win column.

Stay tuned for injury and personnel updates, highlights and other key events to keep an eye on all night long.

FINAL: UCLA 34, Arizona 16

10:51 p.m.: This one didn't end up being very close down the stretch, and the Bruins improve to 4-2.

Story to come.

Brown makes up for fumble with long score

10:29 p.m.: Even with an eight-point lead, Brown's fumble to end the third felt like it could sink the Bruins.

It didn't take long for him to bounce back, though, and UCLA may have just put it away.

Brown shook off a defender right at the line of scrimmage near midfield, then ran it straight ahead for a 48-yard touchdown. Brown is now over 100 yards on the night, and the Bruins are up 31-16 with half of the fourth quarter left.

48-yard rushing TD by @BrittainBKB 😤

UCLA 31, Arizona 16
4Q | 7:48
📺: ESPN
📲: https://t.co/JkVEH10wgl #GoBruins pic.twitter.com/u9TdKYvd7T
— UCLA Football (@UCLAFootball) October 10, 2021

McCloud leaves game, Gunner Cruz in to replace

10:20 p.m.: The Wildcats had finally settled on a quarterback last week, and now he's gone.

McCloud dropped back to pass after Brown's fumble to end the third, and he was sacked by defensive lineman Otito Ogbonnia. McCloud fumbled it away too, giving the ball back to the Bruins not much further back from where Brown coughed it up.

But McCloud hurt his right leg on the play, and once UCLA punted, Cruz had to come in to replace him. The Arizona offense that had been moving well all night immediately took a few steps back, starting with an illegal hands to the face. Linebacker Myles Jackson got a sack then next play, and Cruz's screen attempt in the end zone didn't even make it out wide to his target.

McCloud is out of the injury tent, but he has crutches now. Cruz will likely be the one in charge of leading a potential comeback.

UCLA is still up by eight with over 11 minutes left in the final quarter of play.

END Q3: UCLA 24, Arizona 16

10:07 p.m.: Brown just fumbled away a chance to take a commanding lead.

The Bruins had been marching, continuing to pick up big gains on the ground. Charbonnet had a couple nice carries, then Kelly subbed in Brown and Thompson-Robinson snapped it right as time expired in the quarter.

Brown actually got a pretty good gain, but he tried spinning and staying up only to get skewered from the top and lose control of the ball. Arizona will take over where UCLA could have started the next quarter in the red zone.

Thompson-Robinson bouncing back

9:57 p.m.: The Bruins' senior quarterback has had some pretty rough halves in his time in Westwood, but his first half Saturday might have been the worst by the numbers.

He's come back with a vengeance here in the second half, completing four of his first five passes. Dulcich is again his favorite target, and the pair connected for 33 yards on that most recent drive.

Thompson-Robinson finished it off with another rushing touchdown, as he rolled out to his right on another bootleg and tucked it in as he picked up the 4 yards between the line of scrimmage and the goal line.

UCLA now leads 24-16 with 4:06 left in the third.

Another rushing TD for @DoriansTweets! 💥

UCLA 24, Arizona 16
3Q | 4:06#GoBruins pic.twitter.com/BvezRIvSfc
— UCLA Football (@UCLAFootball) October 10, 2021

Allen's long return, teams trade field goals

9:45 p.m.: Both the Bruins and Wildcats opened up their second halves with field goals, but they came about them in very different ways.

Allen ran back the kickoff 73 yards to give UCLA the ball at the Arizona 20. Thompson-Robinson completed one to receiver Kyle Philips on the first play of the drive, but the drive stalled quickly and Nicholas Barr-Mira had to come out for the field goal.

A look back at the 73-yard kick off return by @kazmeir_ 💨#4sUp pic.twitter.com/4FOefvkTts
— UCLA Football (@UCLAFootball) October 10, 2021

Arizona nearly went three-and-out, but a roughing the passer call on defensive lineman Datona Jackson extended the drive and let them get it onto the other side of the field. The eventual kick was good from 46 yards out, and the drive could have gone longer if not for a holding that wiped out a first down in the Bruins' red zone.

The score is now 17-16 UCLA midway through the third quarter.

HALFTIME: UCLA 14, Arizona 13

9:03 p.m.: Talk about a nightmare end to the first half on the Bruins' side of things.

First, the Wildcats marched all the way down the field thanks to two facemask penalties by linebacker Caleb Johnson and safety Qwuantrezz Knight. Add in a pass interference by cornerback Jay Shaw and that's three first downs UCLA gifted its opponent in the final minutes.

Arizona capped it off with a backwards pass to the left, which they tossed back to the right to a wide open receiver on a perfectly executed trick play that helped trim the deficit to one point.

Trick play for 6.#AZvsUCLA #ItsPersonal #BearDown pic.twitter.com/7GFAcXi6C7
— Arizona Football (@ArizonaFBall) October 10, 2021

With 30 second left in the half, Thompson-Robinson came out the next drive and immediately threw an interception deep over the middle. He underthrew his man so, so badly, and it could have led to Wildcat points if they weren't so content in running out the clock.

In other news, Agude is back on the field, so his injury must not have been too serious.

Here's a look at the first half stats and leaders:

TOTAL YARDS: Arizona 219, UCLA 168

PASS YARDS: Arizona 157, UCLA 3

RUSH YARDS: UCLA 162, Arizona 62

FIRST DOWNS: Arizona State 11, UCLA 7

PASSING LEADERS

Jordan McCloud (UA): 16-for-23, 147 yards
Dorian Thompson-Robinson (UCLA): 1-for-8, 3 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT

RUSHING LEADERS

Brittain Brown (UCLA): 7 attempts, 81 yards
Zach Charbonnet (UCLA): 11 attempts, 51 yards
Drake Anderson (UA): 9 attempts, 29 yards
Dorian Thompson-Robinson (UCLA): 2 attempts, 9 yards, 1 TD

RECEIVING LEADERS

Stanley Berryhill III (UA): 5 receptions, 43 yards
Boobie Curry (UA): 4 receptions, 31 yards
Greg Dulcich (UCLA): 1 reception, 3 yards, 1 TD

Bruins continue to dominate on the ground

8:49 p.m.: For whatever reason, the Bruins cannot get things going through the air.

Three drives in, and Thompson-Robinson has just one completion for 3 yards.

That isn't the end of the world when you're running as efficiently as UCLA is at the moment, however. The Bruins marched 72 yards on nine plays, with every last yard coming on the ground.

Brown and Charbonnet are splitting time and both have done well to this point. Receiver Kazmeir Allen took a jet sweep 24 yards, and Thompson-Robinson finished things off with a keeper he carried into the end zone himself.

UCLA has 165 rushing yards compared to 3 passing yards, and they've run the ball 21 times compared to seven pass attempts.

Arizona now has 3:01 to try and close the 14-6 gap before halftime.

Mitchell Agude injured

8:32 p.m.: As the Wildcats look to score on a third consecutive drive to open the game, the Bruins may have to move on without their most disruptive edge rusher.

Mitchell Agude went down with an injury on a rush to the left by Arizona. Agude had hurt his ankle a few weeks back in practice, but has yet to miss any game time in 2021.

We will update and report if or when more details come out about Agude's availability.

Arizona is past midfield and still trails UCLA 7-6 early here in the second quarter, but they're past midfield and moving the ball effectively yet again.

END Q1: UCLA 7, Arizona 3

8:13 p.m.: Long drives and possession dominated the first quarter.

The Wildcats are on their second drive of the night and they worked all the way into the red zone again before a bad snap backed them up to just outside the Bruins' 30.

Arizona coach Jedd Fisch matched Kelly's fourth down aggressiveness, going for it at midfield and letting quarterback McCloud keep it on the zone read. McCloud made two guys miss to convert, and continued to lead his team into field goal range.

Imperfect drive still leads to points

8 p.m.: The Bruins offense didn't start off nearly as poorly as they finished against the Sun Devils, especially considering they actually put up points this time around, but they certainly weren't firing on all cylinders.

UCLA nearly went three-and-out to open things up, but Arizona got called for a defensive holding against running back Zach Charbonnet that gifted them a first down. Clemens had yet another snap go over the head of Thompson-Robinson, but he at least scooped this one up and threw it away.

Brittain Brown and Charbonnet each rushed for 25 yards and Thompson-Robinson rushed for 7 himself. The Bruins made it all the way down inside the Wildcats' 5 on 12 plays without completing a pass, and then had to burn a timeout when they tried to hurry up on 4th-and-goal. Coach Chip Kelly was yelling at his own sideline when things didn't seem to be developing quickly enough.

Coming out of the break, Thompson-Robinson rolled out to his right and hit tight end Greg Dulcich in the front corner of the end zone.

UCLA now leads 7-3 with 3:48 remaining in the opening quarter.

Arizona marches, stalls out deep

7:48 p.m.: The Wildcats' offense came into the game in the bottom third of the country in scoring, but keep in mind, they hadn't played the Bruins yet.

On the first drive of the game, Arizona killed six minutes off the clock, picking up 70 yards on their way deep into the red zone. Whether it was on first down, third down, on the ground or through the air, the Wildcats just had their way with the Bruins.

A false start moved Arizona back on a key 3rd-and-goal, and a screen on the ensuing play went nowhere. The Wildcats finished things off with a chip shot to take an early lead.

UCLA trails Arizona 3-0 with 9:06 left in the first quarter.

Safeties looking healthy, offensive line lineup

6:57 p.m.: The Bruins might be getting some key players back Saturday night.

According to Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times, both Quentin Lake and Kenny Churchwell were on the field for team warmups. Lake first got injured against Fresno State before returning and getting dinged up again against Arizona State last week.

Churchwell was Lake's backup in that interim period, and then he too got hurt against the Sun Devils.

Both of them appeared on the two-deep depth chart released Monday night.

Duke Clemens was working with quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson during warmups as well, lining up at center. That means Jon Gaines II will likely get the start at right guard and the starting five offensive linemen will be the same. Atonio Mafi will more than likely get some time on the interior as well, but it remains to be seen if he gets more or less time than he did against Arizona State.

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