Football Friday: UCLA vs. Cal

Every postgame, Daily Bruin Sports breaks down the Bruins’ most recent game, outlining the good, the bad and the verdict of their performance. This week, we take a closer look at UCLA’s 40-24 win over No. 20 Cal on Thursday at the Rose Bowl.

The Good: All three phases of the game

After putting up one of the worst performances in the Jim Mora-era last week – a 56-35 loss to Stanford – the UCLA football team answered in a resounding way. UCLA dominated Cal in all three phases of the game – offense, defense and special teams – to put an end to a two-game losing streak.

On offense, freshman quarterback Josh Rosen set the UCLA record for completions in a game with 34, and the Bruins racked up over 550 yards and 40 points. Redshirt junior running back Paul Perkins also tallied 73 yards and 12 broken tackles on just 11 carries before exiting the game in the second quarter with a knee injury. Freshman running back Soso Jamabo relieved Perkins and ran for 79 yards on 18 carries.

On defense, UCLA held one of the nation’s best quarterbacks – Jared Goff – in check for most of the night. Goff entered the game ranked No. 18 in the country in yards per pass attempt, but he only had two passes that went longer than 20 yards against UCLA – and one of those passes came on a trick play.

What was perhaps most impressive about the game was senior kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn’s 60-yard field goal. That kick set the record for the longest in school history, and silenced any remaining doubts about Fairbairn’s ability to kick from distance.

The Bad: More injuries to starters

UCLA has already lost three defensive starters to season-ending injuries, and the injury list grew larger on Thursday night. Perkins went out in the second quarter and didn’t return, junior inside linebacker Isaako Savaiinaea went out with a leg injury and showed a considerable limp walking off the field and senior wide receiver Devin Fuller went out in the second half with an undisclosed injury.

After the game, coach Jim Mora didn’t give a report of what the injuries were, only saying, “they’re not good.”

The Verdict: UCLA’s Pac-12 South hopes still alive

By defeating Cal, UCLA ended its two-game losing streak and staved off elimination from the Pac-12 title race. Further, the Bruins showed that they may not be as bad as what they’ve shown in the past two games.

After the game, junior defensive end Takkarist McKinley pointed to the fact that UCLA was in this same position last year, and came back to win five straight games before falling short of the Pac-12 South title in the season finale.

“We were in the same position last year, 4-2, and won five out of six. This year we want to win six out of six,” McKinley said.

Player of the Game: Freshman quarterback Josh Rosen

It was a flashback to opening day for Rosen, who set school records just like he did in his first game against Virginia. On Thursday, he set the record for completions in a game, throwing for 399 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions. Rosen performed particularly well in third-down situations, going six for eight with 16.3 yards per completion.

Quote of the Game: Redshirt junior safety Randall Goforth

“Well honestly, you know, we hear what the outside noise is. I’m not gonna sit here and sugarcoat anything. All we do is do what we do every day: We work hard, come to practice, we go to meetings. We’re just like everybody else. Everybody bleeds just like we bleed. So we don’t fear anybody and we’re ready to play with whoever is out there on the field. … I don’t think a lot of people understand the coverage contours or the schemes of what happens on the field on every play. So all we can do is go out there and play, and as you can see, it shined tonight. So like I said everybody continues to do doubt us and all we’re gonna do is sit there and work.”