UCLA football bludgeoned by Arizona in 47-30 road loss
Arizona quarterback Khalil Tate (right) shrugs off a tackle from redshirt freshman defensive lineman Osa Odighizuwa (left) before running for a 71-yard touchdown. (Aubrey Yeo/Daily Bruin senior staff)
By David Gottlieb
Oct. 14, 2017 9:52 p.m.
This article was updated Oct. 15 at 4:28 a.m.
TUCSON, Ariz.—One quarterback was known for his passing, and the other for his running.
The one who could run won.
Arizona (4-2, 2-1 Pac-12) quarterback Khalil Tate didn’t quite repeat last week’s record-setting 327-yard performance, but the signal-caller gouged UCLA football (3-3, 1-2) for 230 yards on the ground – including four runs of over 25 yards – and three total touchdowns en route to a 47-30 Bruin defeat Saturday.
“We came in here with the objective of stopping Khalil Tate as a runner,” said coach Jim Mora. “We didn’t tackle well and he’s a heck of a player. … He changes the game because you have to defend him every play.”
UCLA let up a total of 605 yards – the most a Bruin team has surrendered in a single game in over a decade. A fumble and three interceptions added up to four turnovers for UCLA, with three of those four coming on the team’s first five drives.
“You can’t turn the ball over four times,” said offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch. “Maybe once, but when you start messing (up) after one, you know you’re asking for it.”
Junior quarterback Josh Rosen had his first sub-300 yard game of the season and threw three interceptions without a passing touchdown. The junior quarterback was sacked five times and also took a helmet-to-helmet hit on a play that got Wildcat defensive lineman Parker Zellers ejected for targeting.
“We lost. If we won, I’d take those stats,” Rosen said. “I don’t really care, we just keep losing games and trying to figure out a way to win them.”
Arizona led by at least two scores from the moment Wildcat cornerback Jace Whittaker’s pick-six put Bruins down 24-7 midway through the second quarter.
Relying on the run
No individual UCLA player came close to having a rushing performance that would rival Tate’s, but plenty of Bruins got carries.
Before tonight, Soso Jamabo looked like he was settling in as UCLA’s go-to running back, but the junior fumbled in the first quarter, and didn’t have another carry until the second quarter.
Running back Jalen Starks took on ball-carrying duties. The sophomore totaled 63 yards on 10 attempts with a touchdown and a long run of 19 yards, but his reign wouldn’t last long. Starks was carted off the field with an apparent ankle injury late in the first half. Mora said X-ray results were negative, indicating a sprain and not a break.
“We blocked well downfield, and they broke some runs,” Mora said. “I think all of them came in and played their role. When Soso fumbled early, we decided to give Jalen some carries.”
From there, junior running back Bolu Olorunfunmi took over and ran for 102 yards on 10 carries, ending the game as the Bruins’ leading rusher.
“It may look positive that we had positive rushing yards,” Olorunfunmi said. “But at the end of the day, if you don’t get the win, it doesn’t matter. We have to look at ourselves and fix the mistakes that we made.”
