UCLA football leads Hawai’i by 28 points at end of 1st half
In his first half with UCLA football, junior running back Zach Charbonnet ran for 106 yards and three touchdowns. Charbonnet and the Bruins lead the Rainbow Warriors 31-3 at the break.( Anika Chakrabarti/Assistant Photo editor)
By Francis Moon
Aug. 28, 2021 2:33 p.m.
It was the Brittain Brown-Zach Charbonnet show for the Bruins in the first half.
UCLA football leads Hawai’i 31-3 after two quarters of play at the Rose Bowl. The Bruins have yet to win a season-opening game with coach Chip Kelly at the helm, while the Rainbow Warriors entered having won four consecutive.
After senior quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson failed to make anything happen on his team’s opening drive from Hawai’i’s 15-yard line – forcing the Bruins to settle for a field goal – Kelly turned to his running back duo on the following drive.
Junior running back Zach Charbonnet and redshirt senior running back Brittain Brown each saw three carries on the drive and both were able to move the chains. With 7:34 remaining in the first quarter, Charbonnet scored the first touchdown of the season for UCLA and his first in a Bruin uniform, a 21-yard rush up the middle to finish off a nine-play, 87-yard drive.
Redshirt senior defensive lineman Datona Jackson picked off Hawai’i quarterback Chevan Cordeiro at the 11-yard line to give the ball back to the Bruin offense just seconds later, and Brown punched it in from the one-yard line for his first touchdown of the campaign.
Hawai’i kicker Matthew Shipley’s 48-yard field goal put the Rainbow Warriors on the board with just under two minutes remaining in the opening quarter, but Charbonnet came right back with a 47-yard run to cap off a 24-point quarter for the Bruins – the most they’ve scored in the first period since 1988.
UCLA continued its emphasis on the run game in the second quarter, with Charbonnet picking up where he left off by running for a 21-yard score on his team’s opening drive of the quarter, completing the first-half hat trick.
UCLA rushed for 203 yards and threw for 45 in the half to accumulate over 100 yards more than Hawai’i. Brown and Charbonnet combined for 18 carries, 182 yards and four touchdown runs in their first game together, helping put the Bruins up 31-3 heading into the break.
Hawai’i, on the other hand, was not able to have the same offensive success, with Cordeiro throwing 12-of-28 for 116 yards and an interception against the UCLA defense, which was able to record two sacks and four tackles for loss.
UCLA will receive the ball to start the second half.
