45-48 Bruins Lose

A hard fought back and forth barn burner featured a lot of extraordinary offense… and a lot of lousy defense. The Bruins ultimately can’t make the last play, and fall to the Tigers in Memphis. A tough loss for a team that had been on the rise.

UCLA Can’t Stop the Tigers

UCLA’s run defense did okay after giving up 80 yards on the first play from scrimmage, but the pass defense struggled, particularly against a number of screen passes and other slow-developing plays. Memphis put up 560 yards of total offense, an unacceptable number- but not a surprising one as UCLA’s defense has looked fundamentally flawed since the first game this season.

Rosen’s Picks Doom the Bruins

You don’t want to ride on Rosen too hard here, as he is essentially the Bruins’ offense, defense, and special teams, but the two picks on his stat line loom large. One was a pick 6, and the other was in the red zone, swinging the field position away from UCLA late in the fourth quarter, a disadvantage they were never able to overcome.

What’s Next?

There’s no rest for the Bruins, who have to take on Stanford next week. The Bruins won’t be able to score at will against the Cardinal, and they will have to find a way to win this game with some defense, if they are going to have any hope at all.