UCLA Football Holds On to Beat California in Regular Season Finale
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The Bruins had chances to win each of their last two games, but fell short in the final minutes.
They didn’t let that trend continue Friday.
No. 18 UCLA football (9-3, 6-3 Pac-12) trailed Cal (3-9, 2-7 Pac-12) in the fourth quarter, only to surge ahead with its powerful ground attack and lock up the 35-28 win. It also took a key defensive stop to hold off the Golden Bears as well, with linebacker Kain Medrano punching out the ball to ice it.
Running back Zach Charbonnet led the way with 119 of the Bruins' 352 rushing yards, in addition to the game-winning touchdown midway through the fourth. Freshman TJ Harden added a career-high 89 yards on 12 carries, while quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson went for 88 yards and two scores on 14 carries.
Thompson-Robinson did his duty through the air as well, completing 21-of-30 passes for 189 yards and a touchdown. The fifth-year starter now owns the school record for career completions, in addition to all the other records he racked up over the course of his super senior season.
With the victory, UCLA has won eight of its last 10 against Cal. The Bruins have also reached nine wins for the first time since 2014.
The result didn't come without drama, however,
After the two sides traded punts to open the game, UCLA finally came through with a methodical eight-play scoring drive that ended in a 5-yard touchdown pass from Thompson-Robinson to receiver Jake Bobo. The Bruins’ defense forced a second-straight three-and-out on the following drive, then marched into the red zone themselves when they got the ball back.
Nicholas Barr-Mira missed the 33-yard field goal, though, and the Golden Bears capitalized by tossing a 46-yard touchdown on the ensuing possession. While the Bruins didn’t come up totally empty on their next drive, their attempt on 4th-and-goal from the half-yard line got blown up by a false start and they had to settle for a 23-yarder by Barr-Mira.
Cal answered by taking its first lead of the afternoon off a 38-yard touchdown pass to receiver Jeremiah Hunter, then forced a 3-and-out on the other side of the ball. Looking to double-dip on both sides of the half, quarterback Jack Plummer found Hunter again for a 22-yard score with 58 seconds left on the clock.
UCLA managed to string together a five-play, 75-yard drive in 40 seconds – capping it off with a 19-yard scramble touchdown by Thompson-Robinson – to negate some of the damage, but the Bruins still went into the second half down 21-17.
Plummer’s streak of 14 consecutive completions ended early in the third, though, and UCLA finally forced another punt. After that, the Bruins marched 90 yards and got seven more points thanks to a 12-yard rushing touchdown by Thompson-Robinson.
Cal punted again, but UCLA went three-and-out as the momentum seemingly ran out. That’s when long snapper Jack Landherr IV forced a fumble on the punt return, and the Bruins turned that extra possession into a field goal that put them up by six.
Plummer got back on track with a 49-yard pass to Hunter, and then he hit Ott for the go-ahead touchdown early in the fourth quarter. That put the Bruins down 28-27 with 11:16 left on the clock, meaning they needed to come from behind in order to pull out the win.
UCLA had a positive gain on every play and capped off their go-ahead drive with Charbonnet’s 5-yard touchdown. Cal punted to give it right back, and the Bruins neared drained the entire clock before turning the ball over on downs with 1:58 remaining.
The Golden Bears converted on fourth down to seemingly keep their drive alive and set up a potential game-tying drive, but Medrano forced Ott to fumble and Thompson-Robinson kneeled it out for the win.
UCLA did not do enough the past few weeks to lock up a spot in the Pac-12 Championship Game, so they will now wait another week-plus to see where they will travel for their bowl game.
With so many players looking to turn pro this offseason and the transfer portal set to open within the next few weeks, this may have been many players' final game donning the blue and gold. Still, they all went out on top, sending the Bruins into the postseason on a high note regardless of who will stick around for the long run.
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