Bruins secure 2nd conference win, defeat Wildcats 34-16 with rebound victory

This post was updated Oct. 13 at 9:33 p.m.

TUCSON — In their worst passing game of the year, the Bruins saw their rushing attack come to the rescue.

UCLA football (4-2, 2-1 Pac-12) picked up a 34-16 win over Arizona (0-5, 0-2) in Tucson, giving the blue and gold its first win at Arizona Stadium since 2015. The Bruins relied on the two-headed rushing attack of junior Zach Charbonnet and redshirt senior Brittain Brown, as the pair of running backs combined for 256 of UCLA’s 329 rushing yards – its highest ground total in over eight years.

Both Charbonnet and Brown finished with over 100 yards, giving UCLA its first game with two 100-yard rushers since 2014, while 2013 marks the last time the Bruins finished with under 100 yards passing. 

Brown said passing the century mark on the ground with Charbonnet was a goal shared by the two running backs after neither one hit the benchmark in their loss to No. 22 Arizona State a week ago. 

“That was the plan all week,” Brown said. “Me and Zach, we feed off of each other. It’s good competition – we love competing against each other while going against the other team.”

Senior quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson finished with a season-low 82 yards on 19 pass attempts. The signal-caller’s 42.1% completion percentage was the fourth-lowest of his career and his eight completions were the fewest by UCLA since 2011. 

Thompson-Robinson said his low passing totals were a result of Arizona’s defensive scheme.

“A lot of what we were basing our passing game off of was whatever package or personnel they were in,” Thompson-Robinson said. “They key on certain guys and they would run coverages based on that. It was kind of hard to get into a rhythm, but at the end of the day I still have to execute.”

In the first half, the Bruins finished with three passing yards – all coming on Thompson-Robinson’s touchdown pass to redshirt junior tight end Greg Dulcich – compared to 165 yards on the ground, giving them a one-point advantage at the break. 

The Bruins and Wildcats traded field goals to open the second half, keeping UCLA’s lead at one, but a 75-yard drive ending in Thompson-Robinson’s third touchdown of the night extended the advantage to eight midway through the third quarter. 

Threatening Arizona territory still with the one-possession lead, UCLA tried to sneak one last play in before the fourth quarter on third-and-6 with less than 10 seconds left. Brown got the first down yardage, but the ball was punched out before he went down, giving the Wildcats the ball back to open the final frame.

The Wildcats would return the favor, however, as the Bruins forced a fumble from quarterback Jordan McCloud on their second sack of the night while also knocking McCloud out of the game with an injured leg. The Wildcat signal-caller finished his second career start with Arizona with 182 yards passing on 21-of-30 passing.

Senior defensive lineman Otito Ogbonnia – who forced the McCloud fumble – said the strip sack was the decisive moment of the game.  

“It was really good for our team, especially in a game like this,” Ogbonnia said. “It was really a big turning point, big momentum shift.”

From that point on, UCLA would keep the ball on the ground for 15 of its last 20 plays, limiting Arizona to 15 fourth-quarter snaps and less than five minutes of possession. The Bruins ran for 106 yards in the final quarter – including 48 on a Brown touchdown run with 7:48 to go – to give them at least 100 yards rushing in each of the final three quarters. 

Brown said he wanted to make up for his fumble with a big run and credited junior offensive lineman Duke Clemens and redshirt junior offensive lineman John Gaines III for allowing it to happen.

“Coming off of the bad play I had, I was just feeling some type of way about that, so I knew as soon as I got the ball I was just going to punch it,” Brown said. “Duke and John gave me a little crease in there so I hit that thing as hard as I could.”

UCLA capped off the scoring on a field goal from redshirt sophomore kicker Nicholas Barr-Mira to extend its lead to 18 points and give the Bruins their second-largest win of the season.

A week after being shut out in the second half against Arizona State, UCLA outscored Arizona 20-3 in the final 30 minutes. Coach Chip Kelly said holding Arizona to only three points was a result of second-half adjustments the team failed to execute a week ago.

“We always make adjustments at halftime,” Kelly said.  “To hold them just to a field goal in the second half is a big deal for us.”

Despite the Wildcats now holding the longest active losing streak in the NCAA at 17, Kelly added that the Bruins should be proud of their win.

“​​Whenever you can go on the road in this league and get a win, that’s a positive,” Kelly said. “You build on it and jump on the buses and get out of here as quick as possible.”