Football takes down Tigers by double digits in 2nd nonconference win of 2021

This post was updated Sept. 6 at 8:54 p.m.

In front of the largest home crowd since 2016, the Bruins delivered.

UCLA football (2-0) bested No. 16 LSU (0-1) by a score of 38-27 at the Rose Bowl on Saturday evening, bringing the team to two games above .500 for the first time in coach Chip Kelly’s tenure in Westwood. After playing in front of just under 33,000 fans last week against Hawai’i, the attendance more than doubled to over 68,000.

“We had a bigger crowd today (compared to last week), and it was loud, it was fun, and these players deserve it,” Kelly said. “It’s a really fun team to watch and to support.”

Senior quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson led the way for the Bruins with 260 passing yards and three touchdowns on 16 attempts while the backfield tandem of junior Zach Charbonnet and redshirt senior Brittain Brown combined for 213 yards and two scores on the ground. 

Both teams failed to put points on the board in the first period until a scoring drive from LSU early in the second quarter. But behind two touchdowns, including a 75-yard pass from Thompson-Robinson to redshirt junior tight end Greg Dulcich, the Bruins managed to hold a 14-10 lead heading into halftime.

“We thought we would get a good look in that kind of play, and it turned out to be right,” Dulcich said. “It’s something we picked up on film. That’s pretty much what we’re big on – studying our opponent, making sure we’re as prepared as we can be.”

Minutes into the second half, a 34-yard interception return from senior linebacker Caleb Johnson put the offense on the Tigers’ 17-yard line. Thompson-Robinson took advantage, hitting senior wide receiver Chase Cota in stride for a 14-yard touchdown to finish off a three-play drive and put the home team up 21-10.

With the throw, Thompson-Robinson climbed to sixth on the UCLA all-time passing touchdowns list with 44. Later in the game, the quarterback also climbed to seventh on the school’s all-time passing yardage list with 5,522.

“I’ve been preaching ‘We not me’ from the start of this thing,” Thompson-Robinson said. “Just using the guys around me, guys like (Dulcich), (redshirt junior wide receiver Kyle Philips) and (Cota) around me as well as the guys up front, and you got the two-headed monster in the backfield. With all that put together, it makes my job a lot easier.”

The Tigers responded on the following drive, however, as LSU quarterback Max Johnson completed a short pass down the middle to wide receiver Kayshon Boutte, which turned into a 44-yard score after senior defensive back Jay Shaw collided with a referee. UCLA and LSU would then trade field goals, bringing the Bruins’ lead back to four points at the end of the third quarter.

Charbonnet burst out for yet another long run to open the fourth quarter, this time setting up the offense at LSU’s 16-yard line with a 43-yard run. The junior running back, who scored three touchdowns in last week’s season opener against Hawai’i, had his second consecutive 100-yard game on the ground, rushing for 117 yards on 11 carries. 

After two games, Charbonnet is averaging 13.1 yards per carry, including five runs of 20-plus yards. The Michigan transfer has also scored four times in his first two games with the blue and gold. Kelly said both Charbonnet and Brown have helped to open up and diversify the team’s offense.

“We have the ability right now to run the ball, and if we’re running the ball well, we’re going to stick with what’s right,” Kelly said. “When you look at what we hit with play-action passes today, those were huge for us. If you’re going to start to load the box to try to take away the run, that’s the cat and mouse game that goes on there.”

After a 1-yard plunge from Brown, UCLA continued to take control of the game by scoring another unanswered touchdown later in the quarter when Thompson-Robinson connected with Philips for a 45-yard score, the quarterback’s third of the evening.

Though it allowed 17 more points than last week, UCLA’s defense gave up just 48 yards on the ground Saturday after limiting Hawai’i to 26. Senior linebacker Bo Calvert tied for the team lead with one sack and a tackle for loss.

“We always get after quarterbacks, we’re a pressure defense,” Calvert said. “We just really executed our game plan tonight. … It’s really coming to show how much work we put in and how veteran this group is. We’re just getting started.”

LSU rallied late, with Johnson leading a 73-yard scoring drive finished off by Boutte’s third end-zone grab of the night, but found itself in too large of a hole, trailing 38-27 with just over four minutes remaining.

Boutte finished with nine catches and 148 yards while wide receiver Trey Palmer added seven catches for 47 yards of his own, while Johnson completed 26 of 46 attempts for 330 yards and three touchdowns.

LSU coach Ed Orgeron – who faced off against the Bruins as USC’s interim head coach – is now 0-2 against UCLA, while Kelly was able to pick up his first win against the Tigers after entering the matchup 0-1 in such contests. With the win, the Bruins picked up their second nonconference victory under Kelly and have a chance to extend their winning streak to three for the first time since 2019.

“That is the fun part for us. We’ll be back at it on Monday, but we have a lot of work to do and we understand that,” Kelly said. “There may be some people surprised out there, but there wasn’t anybody surprised in our locker room because of the preparation that they put in this week.”