Limiting turnovers, helping defense key for UCLA football against Colorado

Two overarching themes have become clear in UCLA football’s first four games this season – untimely turnovers and a fragile defense.

After turning the ball over seven times in the past two weeks, UCLA’s offense has made it a priority to hold onto the ball and make Colorado (3-1, 0-1 Pac-12) drive the length of the field to score Saturday night.

UCLA (2-2, 0-1) is tied for 113th out of 129 Football Bowl Subdivision teams with a -5 turnover margin, and it has only scored 10 points off its opponents’ five turnovers compared to 40 points scored off of Bruin turnovers.

Seven of those 10 turnovers have given its opponents possession in UCLA territory and directly led to two touchdowns and four field goals – not counting an interception Memphis returned for a touchdown. That’s why junior quarterback Josh Rosen said he thinks it’s unfair to pin both losses on the defense.

“(Stanford) only drove on our defense once last week, in the first half – all of their points came from field goals and off of turnovers,” Rosen said. “In order to merit that (the defense needs to step up), the offense would have to stop turning the ball over in such terrible places, and that’s quite a lot of points off the board for them.”

Turnovers aside, the eye test and the statistics confirm that UCLA currently has one of the worst defenses in the country. The Bruins rank in the bottom six in scoring defense and yards allowed per game and is dead last in rushing yards allowed per game.

“I think we’re just going through some growing pains,” said defensive coordinator Tom Bradley. “We’re not so much out of position as it is just missed tackles.”

Finishing tackles, especially at the second level, was an emphasis during this week’s practice.

Coach Jim Mora said he has implemented more open-field tackling drills leading up to this weekend. One drill included redshirt freshman wide receiver Damian Alloway lining up as a second running back who trailed the first scout team running back. Once the initial ball-carrier was tackled, Alloway became an active player and the linebackers and secondary were responsible for bringing him down.

Another point of emphasis was to maintain gap integrity, fight off blocks and take the right angle to the ball. Against Stanford, the defensive line and linebackers overpursued the ball-carrier and opened cutback lanes, such as on Bryce Love’s 69-yard touchdown run.

“What happens is that guys get anxious, they want to make plays, and they do extra effort things and they forget what their job is,” said defensive line coach Angus McClure. “That’s where we can get in trouble as a defense.”

The Buffaloes, on the other hand, are more of a mystery on defense. They rank in the top 50 nationally in points, passing yards and total yards allowed per game, but all three of their wins have come against teams that combined have only beaten one FBS team.

Cornerback Isaiah Oliver leads Colorado with seven pass breakups and two interceptions, and opposing quarterbacks have a 47.9 passer rating when targeting him, the sixth lowest mark in the Pac-12 according to Pro Football Focus.

Offensively, sophomore quarterback Steven Montez has been inconsistent, throwing six touchdowns and six interceptions this season to go along with 12 sacks. The Buffaloes heavily rely on running back Phillip Lindsay, who ranks fifth in the country with 22.5 carries per game and has run for a touchdown in every game this year.

“We’re seeing them all this year,” McClure said. “(Lindsay) does a great job of pushing the point of attack, and if it’s not there, he’s patient and then he’ll make the cutback. So talking about trying to do too much, we can’t do that this week.”