Backup Mike Fafaul faces same offensive struggles as Josh Rosen
Redshirt senior Mike Fafaul had to fill in full-time for sophomore quarterback Josh Rosen Saturday. Fafaul threw for 258 yards. (Jintak Han/Assistant Photo editor)
By TuAnh Dam
Oct. 16, 2016 8:38 p.m.
Different quarterback, same story.
UCLA (3-4, 1-3 Pac-12) lost for the third time in four games, this time to Washington State (4-2, 3-0) with sophomore quarterback Josh Rosen sidelined with upper and lower body injuries.
“Kind of the same old story unfortunately,” said coach Jim Mora. “We couldn’t run the ball, we couldn’t protect the passer.”
[Game Recap: Bruin football beaten by Cougars 27-21 despite late comeback]
Without Rosen, the Bruins turned to redshirt senior Mike Fafaul who completed 24 of 40 passes, throwing for three touchdowns and two interceptions.
The redshirt senior finished with a higher quarterback rating than Cougar quarterback Luke Falk per ESPN, but, like Rosen, struggled to move the offense down the field with a nonexistent run game, shoddy offensive line and inconsistent receivers.
A week after calling the run game “putrid,” Mora continued ripping into the offense and citing it as one of the key factors in UCLA’s struggles.
[Related: UCLA football’s offense struggles against ASU, crumbles 23-20.]
“I’ve never in my career been around a run game as awful as this,” Mora said. “That has to be the first thing we address. It’s staggeringly poor, and we have to fix it.”
The run game had just 43 yards on 25 carries, dropping the Bruins to 126th in the nation in rushing yards per game and yards per carry.
All three primary running backs – sophomores Bolu Olorunfunmi and Soso Jamabo and junior Nate Starks – were available this game, but combined for only 41 rushing yards.
Without a standout running back, Fafaul focused primarily on the passing game, throwing to nine different players.
The redshirt senior quarterback connected eight times, four times each with wide receivers redshirt junior Darren Andrews and redshirt sophomore Jordan Lasley for the three touchdowns to keep the Bruins within striking distance.
But the four offensive miscues – including two in the fourth quarter – hurt the Bruins as they tried to pull off the upset win .
Lasley fumbled the ball on the potential game-winning drive, and although the UCLA defense forced Washington State to punt the ball away, the offense couldn’t capitalize.
An underthrown Fafaul pass wound up in the hands of the Cougars to seal the fourth loss of the year for the preseason Pac-12 South favorites.
After the game, Andrews would not comment on the state of the locker room following another lackluster offensive performance, but defensive tackle redshirt junior Eddie Vanderdoes did have something to say.
“It should be hostile in the locker room.” Vanderdoes said.
