Five Things: UCLA vs. Washington

In its third road win of the season, UCLA football (5-2, 3-1 Pac-12) defeated Washington (2-4, 1-2) by a score of 24-17 in Seattle on Saturday night. The Bruins led for the majority of the contest, and a late interception by a freshman defensive back sealed their first five-win season under coach Chip Kelly. Here are the five main takeaways from UCLA’s first win at Husky Stadium since 2014.

“Big-time players make big-time plays in big-time games”

All offseason, Wasserman Football Center had been buzzing about a first-year cornerback.

But when the season started up in August, the name Devin Kirkwood was heard sparingly on game day.

And it was more of the same in the first three quarters Saturday as Kirkwood barely touched the field. But as senior defensive back Quentin Lake said after the game against Washington, when the lights shined the brightest, the young corner justified all the offseason hype with just a single play.

The biggest defensive moment of the season for UCLA started with Kirkwood initially getting beat. Washington wide receiver Jalen McMillan had a step on Kirkwood as he sprinted toward the end zone with the game-tying touchdown pass en route.

However, Kirkwood used the physical tools everyone raved about all summer to catch up, matching McMillan stride for stride down the field. A slight underthrow by Husky quarterback Dylan Morris allowed Kirkwood to make a play, and the freshman did not miss the opportunity.

Kirkwood used his long arms to snatch the ball from the air moments before it fell into McMillan’s outstretched arms. Sustaining possession through a bobble and completing the interception, Kirkwood gave his team the ball, and five minutes later, the victory.

This is by far the signature play of Kirkwood’s young career – a career that has star potential written all over it.

Creative Chip

Kelly brought back his signature visor this season, but his signature creative play-calling still hadn’t been up to his past standards – until Saturday, that is.

From the get-go, it looked as if Kelly had more than a few tricks up his sleeve.

In the first quarter, Kelly had the offense line up in a “swinging gate” trick play formation with only one lineman up front and the rest lined up outside to set up a bubble screen. While that play was blown dead before it even started, it embodied Kelly’s play-calling the rest of the game.

Kelly ran a similar formation later in the opening frame, and it resulted in UCLA’s first touchdown of the game, a 17-yard screen pass from senior quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson to redshirt sophomore wide receiver Kam Brown.

Beyond trick formations, the fourth-year coach reached deep in his bag to pull out a number of option plays, including new triple-option plays with Thompson-Robinson, junior running back Zach Charbonnet and either redshirt junior running back Kazmeir Allen or redshirt junior tight end Greg Dulcich. Multiple times, it worked to near perfection for the Bruins.

There are too many unique play designs to mention here, but Kelly clearly made it a point of emphasis Saturday to diversify his play-calling.

And while the Bruins put up their second-lowest point total of the season, every ounce of Kelly’s offensive genius was needed for UCLA to eke out a victory against Washington’s formidable defense.

Baby steps

A few weeks ago, UCLA’s defense reached its lowest point of the season.

The unit had just given up a season-high 42 points to Arizona State while letting the Sun Devils accumulate more than 450 yards of total offense. In the home game before that, UCLA had allowed 40 points and 569 yards from Fresno State.

However, since that point, the defense has shown vast improvement.

Saturday marked the second straight contest in which the Bruins have given up fewer than 20 points, and the explosive plays UCLA talked about limiting have been nonexistent. Arizona and Washington combined for just one play of 30 yards or more against the blue and gold.

In fact, the Bruin pass defense has allowed an average of just 212 yards per game in the air over that two-game span. Entering last week’s bout with Arizona, UCLA ranked in the bottom three in the country against the pass, allowing 321.4 passing yards per game.

A lot of that starts with better-timed blitzes, as the Bruins are actually starting to get pressure on opposing quarterbacks without sacrificing too much down the field. Since recording zero sacks and only two tackles for loss against the Sun Devils, the Bruins have posted five sacks and 11 tackles for loss in two games.

It hasn’t been perfect, as UCLA cornerbacks were still prone to getting beat over the top with senior defensive back Stephan Blaylock and redshirt senior defensive back Cameron Johnson blowing coverages or drawing pass interference calls on multiple occasions Saturday.

But considering where it was at the start of the month, the UCLA defense is finally moving in the right direction.

Sharing the wealth

One complaint about Thompson-Robinson so far this season is that he has relied too much on a select handful of pass-catchers – specifically Dulcich and redshirt junior wide receiver Kyle Philips.

The two leading receivers for UCLA have combined for 43.7% of the team’s receptions this season. If you take receptions from running backs out of the equation, that number rises to 60%.

So when Philips was ruled unavailable just before kickoff Saturday, many wondered how Thompson-Robinson would fare without one of his two crutches. Much to the surprise of Bruin faithful everywhere, the senior quarterback had one of his best games of the season.

Thompson-Robinson connected with eight different pass catchers, the most he has found in a game all season. Without Philips, the quarterback utilized backup wide receivers, such as sophomore Logan Loya and redshirt junior Josiah Norwood, who have seen limited playing time so far this season.

In fact, Saturday marked the second time all season that Thompson-Robinson completed passes to more than three wide receivers, despite the fact that the Bruins often run three-wide-receiver sets.

Some might make the argument that Thompson-Robinson actually stretched himself too thin Saturday, relying on reserve receivers and keeping it out of the hands of his best playmakers like Dulcich.

However, any quarterback is at their best when they are able to use multiple weapons, and Thompson-Robinson did just that against the Huskies, finishing the game with his highest completion rate of the season and two passing touchdowns as a result.

Pac-12 South is there for the taking

Although most Bruin fans had their eyes locked on the battle in Seattle, the more important divisional game Saturday was taking place in Salt Lake City.

In a duel between the two teams ahead of UCLA in the Pac-12 South, Utah and Arizona State matched up with first place on the line.

Ultimately, the Utes won in a thrilling, come-from-behind victory – and that’s good news for the Bruins.

Arizona State controlled its own destiny entering Saturday, but the loss in Utah knocked it down a peg. As the only undefeated team remaining in the Pac-12 play, the Utes now hold firm control over the South Division.

However, a peek at their future schedule shows a looming heavyweight battle that could have even more implications for the conference.

UCLA and Utah will match up Oct. 30, and it wouldn’t be outlandish to think that the winner of that game could hold the conference crown at the season’s end given the struggles of the North Division.

The Bruins would still need a little help, as the Sun Devils hold the tiebreaker over them with a head-to-head victory, but UCLA is one Arizona State loss away from controlling its fate in the Pac-12 South.

In other words, the opportunity is nearly there – it’s up to the Bruins to grab it.