This post was updated Nov. 27 at 9:24 p.m.

No. 18 UCLA football (9-3, 6-3 Pac-12) closed out its regular season with a victory over California (4-8, 2-7) in Berkeley on Friday. Sports editor Sam Settleman gives his five main takeaways from win No. 9 for the Bruins in 2022.

Nine is just fine

Nine wins is a big deal in Westwood.

Just ask redshirt senior quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson.

“It’s not something that’s just regularly done around here, getting nine wins,” Thompson-Robinson said after the victory Friday.

Thompson-Robinson won just 10 games in his first three years with UCLA combined. And now, for the first time since 2014, the Bruins are a nine-win team. But is that cause for celebration?

Coach Chip Kelly and company had a chance to do a whole lot more in 2022. The buzz that formerly engulfed the program nine weeks into the season has largely dissipated – nine wins or not.

UCLA was served one of the easiest schedules in the country and still managed to lose the one game it couldn’t lose. A 10-win season with losses against USC and Oregon would’ve put this program back on the map, but now, a loss to Arizona overshadows almost everything UCLA has accomplished this season.

A nail-biter win over the Golden Bears to close out the regular season does little to affirm that the Bruins belong in the conversation with the best. UCLA comfortably sits in tier two of the Pac-12 this year, and it will likely drop even lower in 2023.

Nine wins is an achievement and one that should be celebrated. But the way this season had been unfolding, win No. 9 feels much more like a consolation prize than a legacy-defining victory.

Future RB1?

The Bruins may have gotten a glimpse into the future Friday.

With second-string running back and redshirt junior Keegan Jones unavailable, Kelly turned to freshman running back T.J. Harden and redshirt junior wide receiver Colson Yankoff to shoulder a significant load in the running game.

Harden wound up as potentially the most impressive back in the game. While senior running back Zach Charbonnet did his normal damage and came up big in a few key situations, Harden was by far the most efficient with his carries, averaging 7.4 yards per rush.

When UCLA found itself down 28-27 in the fourth quarter, it was Harden who lined up in the backfield instead of Charbonnet. It’s unclear whether that decision was made because of injury or not, but Charbonnet did return later in the contest.

On that drive, Harden had four carries for 20 yards, with the last one setting up the Bruins at the 5-yard line before Charbonnet punched in the go-ahead touchdown on the ensuing play.

Late in the third quarter, Harden ran for 21 yards on a 3rd-and-12 to extend UCLA’s drive. Not to mention he caught both of his targets on the afternoon for 19 receiving yards out of the backfield.

With Charbonnet set to move on to the NFL, the Bruins will have a hole to fill in the backfield. That void likely won’t be filled by just one player, but Harden made a strong case to be UCLA’s top back in 2023, even if Jones returns for year five.

Secondary still struggles

It’s no secret anymore, but the Bruins have a serious problem in the secondary.

Whether that’s a personnel problem or a scheme problem is still up for debate, but UCLA continues to have one of the worst passing defenses in the nation. And it’s only gotten worse with sophomore defensive back Devin Kirkwood sidelined.

Cal routinely beat UCLA over the top behind an offense that is essentially made up of only four players. Quarterback Jack Plummer made light work of the Bruins’ defense with really only two targets in wide receivers Jeremiah Hunter and J.Michael Sturdivant.

Plummer – who ranks 11th in the Pac-12 in quarterback rating among qualified starters – completed 11-of-15 passes in the first half for 173 yards and three touchdowns. All three touchdowns went for over 20 yards, with Plummer adding a 49-yard completion in the second half to boot.

With Kirkwood out, redshirt senior defensive back Azizi Hearn often found himself lined up out wide instead of in the nickel where he typically slots in. Hearn stood no chance outside against Cal’s top weapons, but neither did anyone else in UCLA’s secondary.

In their last four games, the Bruins have given up 1,425 total yards through the air for an average of 356.3 yards per game – which would rank them dead last in the country by a considerable margin.

In terms of personnel, the outlook doesn’t look much better next year, with both starting safeties likely moving on and limited young prospects left to work with. Redshirt freshman defensive back Jaylin Davies and Kirkwood should be able to make this group serviceable in 2023 if they take a leap, but the secondary has easily been UCLA’s worst unit this season.

Peanut Punch

Perhaps the only reason UCLA avoided disaster Friday was a pair of unlikely takeaways.

While their secondary couldn’t get an interception off Plummer, the Bruins forced two fumbles in key moments. If not for those turnovers, we may very well be having another discussion about how the blue and gold’s defense cost it a win once again.

With UCLA clinging onto a three-point lead and punting the ball back to Cal late in the third quarter, senior long snapper Jack Landherr IV made a late punch on the return man to free up the ball and grant it back to the Bruins. And on the Golden Bears’ final opportunity to even the score, redshirt junior linebacker Kain Medrano shut the door with a Peanut Punch of his own.

UCLA needs those turnovers in critical moments to stay afloat – otherwise opposing offenses can march down the field at will against this defense. The Bruins had zero sacks, zero tackles for loss and few positive plays at all on the defensive side of the ball.

A pair of takeaways to beat a lowly Cal offense might not be something to write home about, but it saved UCLA from serious embarrassment.

Bowling Bruins

Barring another unforeseen disaster, UCLA will play in a bowl game for the first time since 2017.

But it certainly won’t come with the same stakes as the Rose Bowl, and it might not come with the same players either. Some of the Bruins’ seniors may opt out of a bowl game given the blue and gold’s current options for game No. 13.

Thompson-Robinson seemed noncommittal Friday about playing in a bowl game and risking injury ahead of the NFL Draft.

“To be determined,” Thompson-Robinson said when asked about playing in the bowl game.

For what it’s worth, it’s unlikely Thompson-Robinson will opt to sit out his only chance to play in a bowl with the team he’s given his heart and soul to for five years. But players like Charbonnet could certainly opt out if UCLA ends up in the Tony the Tiger Bowl in El Paso, Texas.

There’s still at least four bowl games in conversation for the Bruins, but among the realistic options, the Las Vegas Bowl is likely UCLA’s best remaining pick. A chance to play an SEC team in Allegiant Stadium – and in Thompson-Robinson’s hometown, no less – brings some allure to what seemed more like a baseline option two weeks ago.

But wherever UCLA ends up, it will be a far cry from the Rose Bowl berth it once envisioned.