WATCH: Chip Kelly on UCLA Football's Upset Loss to Arizona

UCLA football coach Chip Kelly spoke with the media following the Bruins' 34-28 loss to Arizona at Rose Bowl on Saturday night. Kelly talked about how the Wildcats were able to move the ball against his defense, what happened with the slow start, why the Bruins struggled offensively, what quarterback Jayden de Laura did that was so difficult to contain and how the team reacted following the upset.

What did they do that was so effective against the defense?

I think what they did is, you know, he played his tail off and you’ve got to tip your cap to him. You know, we had him a few times but couldn’t get him to the ground and I think he kept some of the plays alive scrambling and stayed on his feet extending plays, you know, there were a couple of them that were five, six, seven, eight seconds, but that’s a credit to him, he runs around. When he get scrambling, he’s able to make throws and he made them, so I thought he played a really good football game.

No Kaz?

Yeah, Kaz was unavailable tonight, he couldn’t go.

How do you adjust for the slow start moving forward?

Yeah, I’m not worried about going forward, it’s, we’ll come back like we normally do, we’ll watch tape as a staff tomorrow, make the proper corrections and then back to work on Monday and we’ve got two games left in the regular season and that’s what our sole focus and attention is when we get in on Monday, we’ve got to correct the mistakes that were made tonight and then move on to the last home game.

What were they doing defensively that gave you trouble on offense?

Yeah, we moved the ball really well, you know, I just think we’ve got to convert and score when we get that one in the red zone, not scoring at the end of the first half there hurt us and you would have liked to get something there, then you get the one at the beginning of the second half. But our goal, we talked about it at halftime, was tie this thing up and it’s going to be a 0-0 ballgame from there and then what can you do? So I thought we got on track and did some good things there in the second half.

We've been talking about the defensive issues for a few weeks, did that kind of catch up with you, some of the things you were unable to correct?

No, I think we ran into a really good quarterback. I think our guys played with great effort, but he extended plays like nobody we played against this year and I can’t recall since we’ve been here a kid that’s run around like that, you know, and I think all those big plays he made when he was running around were the difference in the football game.

Zach had a big night but a drop on third down – how would you asses his play?

I thought Zach is a warrior and played his tail off and he always does and gives you everything he has—his work ethic, his mindset, everything Zach brings to the table is special, so I thought Zach played really well, I don’t know what his final numbers were or what he ended up with—you know, 182—he’s a heck of a football player.

Another slippery quarterback next week in Caleb Williams, what do you have to do to fix it?

Yeah, we’ll do what we normally do and that’s get in and watch the tape from this game and make corrections and then start practice on Monday for our next opponent, that’s kind of where we are, so.

Avoiding letdowns, had nine straight wins against unranked teams?

I don’t look at it that way. I look at it as we didn’t make enough plays to win a football game. That’s how we look at it. We don’t get into the narrative of inspired, not inspired, who’s ranked, who’s unranked. I think everybody is really good. We knew this football team was really, really good, and we talked about it all week long. I think everybody we’ve played down the stretch here has been a really good football team. And we’re going to face two more. We’re going to face two really good football teams coming in, you never know in this league. You've got to come to play every single week in this league.

How did the guys take it after the game?

We met briefly after the game like we normally do and talked about we still have two more games left in the regular season, and like we said since the beginning is we’ll pick our head up in December and see where we are, and see if that’s good enough. That’s really the way we’ve always approached it. Whether you win or you lose on Saturday, there’s a process you go through and then you come back on Monday and move on to the next opponent. I think that’s how you have to do it. It’s not novel to us. It’s how everybody in college football handles it. You can look back at the end of the year and do that stuff, but I think during the year, our week is our week. We’ll go back to work on Monday and get ready for our last home game at the rose bowl.

De Laura?

He scrambled in the middle, he scrambled on the edge, he scrambled on the right side, he scrambled on the left side. Wasn’t one specific side or where he took off from. He played his tail off tonight and I think you have to tip your cap off to him.

Going for it late on 4th down?

We thought we were going to make it. We thought we had a plan to make it. I knew if they got the ball back and kicked a field goal, it was still going to be a one-score game. It was still going to be six and we still got a shot. We got a shot at the end. We threw the ball to the end zone. Probably a step away from making a play and winning the football game. We were a step away in a few things tonight, not just in that one play. There were other plays you can look at and say hey we were a step away there too. Against a good quarterback like that I don’t think you can do that. That’s kind of the end verdict. That’s how we lost.

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