Football Tuesday – Sept. 2, 2014

Every UCLA football Saturday, whether at the Rose Bowl or on the road, has so much more to it than a win or a loss. That’s why each postgame Monday (or in this case, Tuesday), the Daily Bruin will break down the Bruins’ most recent game, outlining the good, the bad and the verdict for their performance.

This week, we take a closer look at UCLA’s 28-20 win over Virginia on Saturday at Scott Stadium.

The Good: The Defense

Through 13 games last season, UCLA’s defense totaled just a single touchdown. In a span of 13 minutes during the second quarter of Saturday’s game, it scored three.

That much was the highlight of UCLA’s scrappy, somewhat sloppy win over Virginia.

There were two interceptions returned for touchdowns; junior cornerback Ishmael Adams for 20 yards and redshirt senior inside linebacker Eric Kendricks for 37 yards. Sandwiched in between was junior safety Randall Goforth’s 75-yard fumble return for a score.

“We pick up loose balls, we fly to the ball (and) we make plays,” Kendricks said. “So that’s our standard. I want to say (our performance’s) not much of a surprise to me.”

It wasn’t quite perfection though for the Bruin defense. Facing a team, who ranked in the bottom 20 in total offense last year and was led by its third-string quarterback from the late second quarter onwards, UCLA gave up 386 total yards of offense.

That much was nearly its downfall, until, up 28-20 with under four minutes left, they stopped a critical Virginia drive at the UCLA’s 17-yard-line, and allow the offense to run out the clock.

The Bad: UCLA’s Offensive Line

If there was any consolation prize for UCLA’s offensive line, it came in the form of redshirt junior quarterback Brett Hundley’s spotless postgame injury report.

The offensive line gave up five sacks, not to count the other numerous hits Hundley sustained Saturday. On what seemed like more than three-fourths of UCLA’s passing plays, Hundley was under duress in the pocket, which often collapsed around him.

Often with little time to stand in the pocket and go through his reads, Hundley was unable to find open receivers, which there were plenty of in Saturday’s game.

The trouble for the line began in the middle, where sophomore offensive lineman Scott Quessenberry, started in place of redshirt junior Jake Brendel (knee injury).

“Not having Jake hurt communication on the line a little bit,” said redshirt senior left tackle Malcolm Bunche.

As a group, the offensive line never seemed to string together much rhythm, each player getting beat at one point or another as Virginia blitzed relentlessly.

Yet, at day’s end, UCLA escaped with the win, and Hundley uninjured, so there was no substantial harm done. The unit knows now that there’s much improvement to be made. Watching film this week will help pinpoint where.

Verdict: Good Wake-up Call for UCLA

One clear-cut takeaway from Saturday’s game could serve the Bruins well for the future: They have much to improve upon.

Undeniably No. 7-ranked UCLA is a talented team, but it doesn’t appear they are at the level to defeat a top-five team such as Oregon or make the college football playoff. At least not yet.

The offensive line needs to be able to better protect Hundley. The run game, which at halftime had just 23 yards on 14 carries, needs to show more consistency. And the defensive secondary needs to perform better in deep pass coverage. So the list itself is ongoing.

But had UCLA rolled over Virginia like many predicted prior to the game, the Bruins’ weaknesses may have been exposed down the road, on a bigger stage, like against Texas or Arizona State, and those more talented teams than Virginia likely would have inked UCLA’s unblemished record with a loss had the Bruins’ played the way they did on Saturday.

“To me, (these) are learning experiences,” said offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone. “And somewhere down the road it’s going to make us a better football team.”

Player of the Game: Redshirt senior inside linebacker Eric Kendricks

At game’s end on Saturday, Kendricks stat line looked like a hundred needles in a thin haystack: 16 tackles, one forced fumble and one interception return for a touchdown.

The interception came late in the second quarter, when he slightly baited Virginia’s quarterback on a short out to a Virginia receiver, then stepped in front of the pass and gift-wrapped a touchdown for UCLA. The play wound up as the final straw for Virginia’s starting quarterback, redshirt sophomore Greyson Lambert, who was then replaced by sophomore Matt Johns.

Earlier in the period, his hit on a Virginia receiver near the sideline jarred the ball loose for a fumble, which junior safety Randall Goforth scooped up and returned for a touchdown.

Kendricks’ performance was good enough to earn him the Walter Camp National Defensive Player of the Week honors, and rightfully so.

Quote of the Week: Sophomore offensive lineman Scott Quessenberry on UCLA’s defensive performance:

“I was telling Eric, Ish, RG, the three guys who scored, “Thanks for picking up our mess. We didn’t play our best game today.’ They really, really stepped it up for us.”