UCLA Football Wraps Regular Season on High Note, Rides One-Sided Second Half to Win Over Cal
To send their boatload of seniors off on a high note, the Bruins secured a blowout win at the Rose Bowl on Saturday.
UCLA football (8-4, 6-3 Pac-12) took care of business against Cal (4-7, 3-5), trailing for just a moment before turning on the jets and finishing the regular season with a 42-14 victory. Prior to the game, 21 seniors were honored – in what may or may not have been their final game in front of the Bruin faithful, they ran away with a one-sided victory thanks to yet another second half walloping.
But coach Chip Kelly isn't ready to say his farewells to the team that's gotten him to eight wins for the first time in his tenure in Westwood just yet, though, and he's already moved onto preparations for the team's upcoming bowl.
"It’s something to do for the fans, but it’s not for our players, so I’m not saying goodbye to anybody – we’re practicing this week, so we’ve got another three or four weeks with them," Kelly said. "I told our guys, ‘Don’t get too emotional because it’s really not Senior Night,’ the last game we play will be in our bowl game and that will be an emotional time because of the connection with this team."
The Bruins got on the board first, driving down the field on their first possession of the game and ending it with a 41-yard field goal from kicker Nicholas Barr-Mira. An interception by safety Quentin Lake a few possessions later set UCLA up in Cal territory, and the offense took nine plays to go 40 yards and cap it off with a touchdown from quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson to receiver Kyle Philips.
It didn’t take long for the Golden Bears to answer, though, moving 75 yards down the field and finding the end zone on a 12-yard carry by running back Christopher Brooks. Receiver Kazmeir Allen, who took a kickoff 100 yards to the house against USC last week, tried to return another Saturday, only to muff it and trip trying to recover, giving Cal the ball at the UCLA 12.
Quarterback Chase Garbers spun into the end zone from 1 yard out, and just moments and they were up 10-0, the Bruins were down 14-10.
As it turned out, that seven-minute stretch was really the only time Cal outplayed UCLA all night, and it didn’t take long for the Bruins to retake the reins.
UCLA went 64 yards in 13 plays, as Allen made up for his prior goof by scoring an 8-yard end around. Garbers threw his second pick of the night not long after, and although the Bruins couldn’t capitalize by converting the Hail Mary just before the half, they still went into the locker room up 17-14.
"When you focus on each individual play and you can consistently be locked in on each individual play, I think that helps out a lot," Thompson-Robinson said.
After punting on its first drive of the the second half, UCLA scored on their next four, while Cal was shut out in the third quarter and deep into the fourth.
Thompson-Robinson added another deep toss to his highlight reel, finding tight end Greg Dulcich on the left side of the end zone for a toe-tapping, over-the-shoulder touchdown.
"To make that catch, keep his toe in bounds, is what we've seen from Greg all along," Kelly said. "And the cool part of Greg is, in our big games, he's come up."
The senior quarterback nearly topped himself the next drive, dialing up a bomb on the run to Allen that looked like a lock to be a 69-yard touchdown. The ball sailed right through Allen’s arms, though, and the drive ended up finishing with another Barr-Mira field goal that made it 27-14.
Another Cal punt meant another long scoring drive for UCLA, this one ending in a 1-yard touchdown run by Zach Charbonnet after Allen set it up with a 33-yard carry up the middle the play before. The Bruins’ defense forced a turnover on downs with back-to-back sacks, then the offense picked up on the momentum and converted on the other end.
Thompson-Robinson scrambled for gains of 11, 16 and 20 on the drive, then hit a wide open Philips in the back of the end zone for a 4-yard touchdown. The Bruins’ 32 unanswered points helped them end things nice and early, so stopping the Golden Bears on the goal line in the final minutes didn’t have any impact on the end result – it just helped boost the fun.
After Cal went up 14-10, the UCLA defense held them to 2.7 yards per play while the UCLA offense went for 6.5 per play.
"A lot of it goes to our players, how much they invest in what they put into their bodies," Kelly said. "Our second halves have been really, really good, but we don't – there's not a lot of yelling, there's not a lot of screaming, it's just very analytical."
Charbonnet finished with 106 yards and a touchdown, while Thompson-Robinson rushed for 102 on just 13 carries. Thompson-Robinson also passed for 164 yards and three touchdowns on 68% completion en route to a 152.4 passer rating, with Dulcich and Philips combining for 118 yards and three touchdowns on 12 catches.
The Bruins have now won three-straight games since their bye week at the beginning of November, and they have reached the eight-win mark for the first time since 2015. It also marks their first undefeated November since 1998.
"In November, end of season, people kind of start declining," said linebacker Jordan Genmark Heath. "Towards the end of the season, that's when we really thrive."
UCLA will now wait a week to see where it gets placed for its bowl game, and Saturday’s result gave yet another boost to their postseason stock.
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