This post was updated Oct. 31 at 10:20 p.m. 

No. 20 UCLA football (6-2, 3-2 Pac-12) won back-to-back games for the first time since Sept. 16 with its defeat of Colorado (4-4, 1-4 Pac-12). Sports editor Joseph Crosby gives his five main takeaways from the Bruins’ victory in front of a sold-out Rose Bowl.

Opening-drive curse

Freshman quarterback Dante Moore opened each of the Bruins’ first three Pac-12 games with an interception – including a pick six on his first pass attempt in conference play.

Against Stanford, the trend disappeared for UCLA.

Naturally, the curse reared its head twice against Colorado.

Two-way star Travis Hunter picked off redshirt junior quarterback Ethan Garbers on the Bruins’ third offensive snap of the evening, setting up an easy field goal to extend the Buffaloes’ lead to six.

A few drives later, with UCLA leading 7-6, coach Chip Kelly called on redshirt junior quarterback Collin Schlee to make his first appearance since enduring an injury against Oregon State.

And in what’s become typical UCLA quarterback fashion, Schlee joined the interception party.

The Kent State transfer’s turnover marked the fifth time in five games that a Bruin has turned the ball over on his first drive of the game, adding to a troubling trend of interception woes through the first eight games of the season. The twelve team-wide interceptions are more than former quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson ever had in the same eight-game span.

Turnover troubles weren’t limited to the signal callers, however, with junior running back Carson Steele fumbling the ball twice.

In the pursuit of a Pac-12 championship game, every conference win matters. Against Utah, the opening pick six proved costly when UCLA lost by seven. Two weeks later, points off turnovers made up 17 points in a game with a 12-point margin.

Failure to hold onto the ball has proven costly this season, and UCLA is lucky its four turnovers Saturday only led to three points.

From three quarterbacks to two

Following the conclusion of UCLA’s nonconference slate, the quarterback competition seemed to reduce from a three-horse race to one dedicated starter.

The starting quarterback role was Moore’s to lose after he played all the Bruins’ snaps against Utah and Washington State.

But fractures led to cracks, which led to breaks, and all of a sudden the former five-star recruit had seven turnovers across the first three conference games.

So once again, Kelly pegged Garbers as the starter for Week 8.

Moore led one drive in garbage time against Stanford before not taking the field at all against Colorado on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Schlee was used in the running game – picking up 80 yards on six rushes – against Oregon State and returned from injury two weeks later against Colorado.

What began as a three-man competition has since morphed into a two-man split, with Moore on the outside looking in as Garbers and Schlee split time against the Buffaloes. The former saw the bulk of the playing time, but the latter still rushed the ball four times and recorded a touchdown on the ground.

Schlee’s involvement in UCLA’s offense seems like it won’t be going away anytime soon. The threat he presents on the ground has been leveraged in the last two games he’s been healthy, and despite Garbers displaying an ability to scramble, Schlee is still superior on designated runs.

Both quarterbacks could play themselves out of the spotlight, much like Moore did.

But for now, expect a main course of Garbers under center, with a side dish of Schlee.

Sack attack

Laiatu Latu entered the season with an end goal of 15 sacks.

Through eight games, the senior defensive lineman is just off pace – he’s at 9.5 sacks.

But Latu isn’t failing to penetrate the backfield.

Instead, his teammates have just been beating him to the punch, much like they did Saturday.

Six Bruins recorded at least half of a sack against the Buffaloes. Latu led the pack with three, while defensive linemen redshirt junior Grayson Murphy, senior Gary Smith III and redshirt senior Carl Jones Jr. each had one. As a whole, UCLA sacked quarterback Shedeur Sanders seven times – a continuation of a season-long ability to generate pressure.

Redshirt junior defensive lineman Gabriel Murphy clocks in at second on the team in sacks with five, and redshirt senior linebacker Darius Muasau rounds out the top three with four of his own.

As a unit, the Bruins’ defense has recorded 31 sacks, good for third in the country and accenting its top-ranked rushing defense. Saturday’s performance also marked the fourth time UCLA has reached double digits in tackles for loss this season, as well as being its best outing in combined sacks and tackles for loss.

The Bruins’ front seven have dominated opponents all season.

Against a lackluster Buffalo offensive line, that didn’t change.

Loya’s leap

Wide receiver Logan Loya had the play of the game against Colorado with his toe-drag catch on the sideline.

But the senior’s one-handed snag was just a microcosm of the leaps forward he has taken as a key member of UCLA’s passing attack.

Loya entered 2023 coming off of an 18-reception season where he finished sixth in receiving yards with 284. But just eight games in, he’s nearly doubled his catch total with 34, good for a team-high 421 yards.

Averaging just 12.4 yards per catch – one of the lowest on the team – Loya has been frequently used in a shorter yardage role, catching passes over the middle from the slot position. However, he is still being targeted frequently and is always a threat to slip by defenders.

Entering the season, Loya was expected to be the third option behind the transfer duo of wide receivers redshirt sophomore J.Michael Sturdivant and senior Kyle Ford. However, he quickly solidified himself as the Bruins’ best option in short-yardage situations and more closely resembles the 1B to Sturdivant’s 1A.

With so much uncertainty still lingering at quarterback, Loya’s evolution in the passing game has helped keep the UCLA offense afloat.

Disconcerting decisions

Disconcerting signals are defined as penalties against a defense attempting to imitate the offensive snap count.

They are categorized as a subset of the delay of game penalty and come with a free five yards for the offense.

They are also not a common call – or at least they weren’t before this year.

In 2023, disconcerting signals have been called against a number of teams, and UCLA alone has been flagged for them three times.

Muasau was the perpetrator of the penalty in back-to-back games against Utah and Washington State. The Bruins took a two-week break from committing that specific foul, but they committed it once again in the third quarter against Colorado.

The resulting first-and-5 was quickly turned into another first down following a six-yard completion, and the Buffaloes would eventually notch their third and final field goal of the game on that drive.

Ultimately, the mistakes have yet to come at a meaningful cost.

But even still, it’s an easily correctable mistake, and one the Bruins have time to correct before a potential bowl game.