UCLA vs. Arizona College Football Week 11: Storylines to Watch

No. 12 UCLA football (8-1, 5-1 Pac-12) is scheduled to kick off its Week 11 game against Arizona (3-6, 1-5 Pac-12) on Saturday at 7:40 p.m.

The Bruins have bounced back from their road loss to Oregon with one-sided victories over Stanford and Arizona State. The Wildcats, meanwhile, have lost four in a row to fall to 4-17 since Jedd Fisch took over the program.

Heading into the Week 11 matchup, here are the most pressing questions we want to have answered by the final whistle.

What will the running game look like?

Enough has been said about UCLA rushing for 402 yards last week against Arizona State, given that they were without Zach Charbonnet. Kazmeir Allen, Keegan Jones and Colson Yankoff stepped up in his place to contribute big time out of the backfield.

Even with that much success on the ground, though, there are still question marks heading into the next game.

Charbonnet practiced this week, but his status is still up in the air. Jones is banged up too, as are backup underclassmen TJ Harden and Deshun Murrell. Allen seems to be good to go, but he limped off the field several times last game.

At this point, the Bruins are going to run the ball regardless of who’s available. UCLA has arguably the best run-blocking offensive line in the country, and Arizona is one of the worst run-stopping teams out there.

The Wildcats are allowing the second-most rushing yards per game in the Pac-12 with 218.7, as well as the most touchdowns per game and yards per carry at 2.9 and 5.8, respectively. The only teams in the ballpark of those figures are Stanford and Colorado, who allowed an average of 286.5 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns to UCLA earlier this season.

With that being said, the workload split and style of ground attack will be interesting factors to keep an eye on for the Bruins on Saturday night.

Can UCLA preserve its stars?

This goes hand-in-hand with the previous question, since part of it is predicated on Charbonnet's health entering Saturday's game.

But it also goes beyond that, considering the stakes of next week's showdown against USC.

Some fans are calling for UCLA to rest Charbonnet, especially after seeing the Trojans lose running back Travis Dye to a season-ending leg injury Friday night. Others want the staff to ride with Ethan Garbers at quarterback while keeping Dorian Thompson-Robinson on ice.

While load managing your stars seems like a good idea when the virtual Pac-12 semifinal is a week away, that isn’t really the reality of college football. No game is a true gimme, even when you enter kickoff as a 20-point favorite at home.

This is Pac-12 After Dark, after all – nothing can be taken for granted.

If UCLA really wants to go into the USC game at full strength, the solution is to run Arizona out of the building on Saturday. That would allow coach Chip Kelly to bench his starters for the fourth quarter, which he made a habit of doing through the first four weeks of the season.

The Bruins can’t let it get close down the stretch, or take their foot off the gas on either side of the ball, which led to some unnecessary stress down the stretch against the Sun Devils.

UCLA needs to put up points early and often, then cruise to a comfortable win in order to keep everyone fresh and enter the big rivalry showdown with some real momentum and top-notch health.

Will the defense start to recover?

The main reason Arizona State was able to make it a game in the fourth quarter last week was because the defense completely crumbled in the second half.

As was previously mentioned, a 60-minute performance from the defense is required for the Bruins to complete a true blowout, but it goes beyond that.

UCLA is right in the thick of the College Football Playoff race. To get there, they will have to beat not only Arizona and Cal, but USC and Oregon as well.

The Trojans and Ducks boast the second and first-ranked scoring offenses in the Pac-12, and one of those teams already dropped 45 against the Bruins’ defense earlier this season.

Arizona has a pretty respectable offense of its own, and they will pose a legitimate threat to UCLA on Saturday. As a result, this is also a good test to see if the Bruins have turned things around from last week.

To beat the best teams coming up on their schedule, UCLA will need to get stops. Arizona may not be as high-powered as USC and Oregon, but quarterback Jayden de Laura is a bona fide gunslinger and his receivers are for real.

If the Bruins can limit de Laura on Saturday, they can feel at least a little better about facing Caleb Williams and Bo Nix in the near future. Getting defensive coordinator Bill McGovern back from his illness could go a long way as well, so his status will be another factor to keep an eye on.

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