UCLA Football: Chip Kelly Highlights Turnovers as Key Factor in Oregon State Loss
One of the biggest reasons why the UCLA Bruins dropped their game this past weekend to Oregon State was the turnovers they committed. The Bruins couldn't recover from their costly mistakes, and it saw them lose their second game of the year.
It was a very disappointing performance all around for this team that felt they were hitting their stride at the right time. The Bruins had just taken down a high-powered Washington State the week before and had a favorable schedule the rest of the way.
UCLA head coach Chip Kelly spoke about what went wrong for his team against the Beavers, highlighting the turnovers in question.
“We can’t turn the ball over,” Kelly said Monday when he met with reporters. “It was a 12-point game and we have to do a better job offensively in all phases, especially in the turnover deal. All the turnovers came different ways. We need to protect better. We need to route-run better. And we need to throw the ball better. The front, the receivers, and the quarterback all have a part of it. We need to do a better job, especially in the turnover deal.”
True freshman quarterback Dante Moore threw three interceptions on the day, including another pick-six. This marked the third straight game for Moore where a pick-six was thrown and ended up costing his team.
“You can’t lose the turnover battle on the road in this conference and expect to win a football game.”
There were always going to be growing pains with a freshman quarterback, but the mistakes of Moore have been magnified of late. He will need to learn from this performance quickly and make sure he reads the defense better going forward.
Moore has a ton of talent, but his lack of experience has shown this year. It has become more apparent on the road, which is something the Bruins will need to work on with him.
“In the two games we’ve lost, the turnovers were a real big part of that. So we’ve got to get that fixed.”
UCLA will need to do much better moving forward if they want to salvage their season. They are still a good football team and will get another chance to show it this weekend as they head up north to take on Stanford.
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