Foster Farms Bowl Game Preview (UCLA vs. Nebraska)

          After an up-and-down season, the UCLA Bruins will travel up to San Fransisco to take on the Nebraska Cornhuskers in the Foster Farms Bowl. This post will recap both of these two teams' seasons. Then I will make my predictions on what I think the result of the game will be.
          First of all, UCLA and Nebraska are very familiar with each other. Recently, both teams completed a home-and-home series. This is when a team plays against a certain team in two seasons. In one season, one team visits the other and vice versa. UCLA's and Nebraska's home-and-home series was done over the 2012 and 2013 football seasons. Overall, UCLA and Nebraska are tied in a 6-6 overall series.
          In 2012, UCLA played against #16 Nebraska at the Rose Bowl. The Bruins defeated the Huskers 36-30, which propelled the Bruins into the national ranks for the first time since 2005. Brett Hundley led the Bruins with 305 passing yards and 4 touchdowns. Taylor Martinez of Nebraska threw for 179 yards and had 1 interception.
          In the two teams' last meeting in 2013, #16 UCLA traveled to #23 Nebraska. Earlier that week, UCLA walk-on wide receiver Nick Pasquale was killed by being run over by a car. Bruins dedicated this game to Pasquale, and as a matter fact, so did Nebraska. Before the game, a bunch of Nebraska student fans held up a big banner with a blue and gold Nebraska logo (which is just a big letter N). Next to it was "#36", Pasquale's jersey number. That was also in blue and gold. The two pictures below the post show the banners that Nebraska fans used.
          Anyways, back to that game, Nebraska built a 21-3 lead in the first half. The halftime score was 21-10 Nebraska. Playing against teams with memorial games is usually a rough one, as UCLA proved in the second half. The Bruins' offense erupted as they scored 38 unanswered points. Brett Hundley led the way once again, as he completed passes to 11 different receivers. He threw for 294 yards and 3 touchdowns in a 41-21 victory against the Nebraska Cornhuskers.
          Last year, Nebraska had 9 wins and losses in former coach Bo Pelini's final year as a Husker coach. The Huskers barely lost to #24 USC in the Holiday Bowl 45-42. On Nebraska's final drive, the Huskers stalled around USC's 25-yard line on 4th down and 3.
          UCLA went to the Alamo Bowl and defeated #11 Kansas State 40-35. UCLA had a 31-6 halftime lead before K-State started their comeback in the second half. With 2:40 left in the fourth quarter, running back Paul Perkins ran a 67-yard touchdown to make the score 40-28. The two-point conversion was no good. Kansas State responded with a long touchdown pass and cut the score to 40-35. The onside kick didn't work for K-State, which sealed the game and a 10-win season for UCLA.
          In last year's Foster Farms Bowl, Stanford came off of shocking #8 UCLA 31-10 and cruised by Maryland 45-21. The Terrapins and the Cardinal were tied 7-7 in the first quarter, then Stanford started to roll up the points, scoring 35 unanswered points until Maryland scored on a kickoff return.
          This season was wacky for both teams. UCLA was ranked #13 to start the season and won their first 4 games. The Bruins were ranked 7th in the nation before losing two straight against Arizona State and Stanford. The Bruins won three straight games after falling out of the top 25. They got back in at #19, but lost to Washington State 31-27 with 3 seconds left in the game. The Bruins fell out of the top 25 again, but shocked then-#13 Utah 17-9. They lost 40-21 to crosstown rival USC a week later.
          Nebraska hired former Oregon State coach Mike Riley before the start of the season. Riley's debut as a Cornhusker was spoiled against BYU as Cougars quarterback Tanner Mangum threw a Hail Mary to shock Nebraska 33-28. Nebraska demolished South Alabama 48-9, and then failed a comeback as they lost to Miami 36-33 in overtime. They defeated Southern Mississippi 36-28 and then lost their first two conference games. They blew out Minnesota 48-25 to snap this streak, but only to form another losing streak. They barely lost to Northwestern (one of two teams that defeated Stanford this season) and then lost 55-45 to Purdue. With 6 losses and #7 Michigan State next, it seemed that hope was lost for a bowl game for Nebraska. Nonetheless, they wound up with their greatest game of the season. The Huskers trailed 38-26 late in the 4th quarter, but scored to cut the lead to 38-33. After an MSU punt, the Huskers hurried down the field, beating Michigan State 39-38 on a controversial call. Nebraska is the only team that defeated Michigan State (who is now in the College Football Playoff) this season. The Huskers beat Rutgers 31-14 and barely lost to #4 Iowa 28-20 in their regular season finale.
     
Key players:
UCLA Offense:
QB #3 Josh Rosen (Freshman)- 266/447 pass completions/attempts (60%), 3,351 yds, 20 TDs, 9 INTs
RB #24 Paul Perkins (Junior)- 225 rush attempts, 1,275 yds, 13 TDs
RB #1 Soso Jamabo (Freshman)- 66 rush attempts, 403 yds, 4 TDs
WR #9 Jordan Payton (Senior)- 75 receptions, 1,069 yds, 4 TDs
TE #18 Thomas Duarte (Junior)- 49 receptions, 820 yds, 10 TDs
C #54 Jake Brendel (Senior)
OL #74 Caleb Benenoch (Junior)

UCLA Defense:
DB #1 Ishmael Adams (Junior)- 30 tackles (17 solo tackles), 2 INTs, 109 INT return yds, 1 pick-6
DB #2 Jaleel Wadood (Sophomore)- 62 tackles (41 solo tackles), 2 INTs
DB #3 Randall Goforth (Junior)- 60 tackles (35 solo tackles), 2 INTs, 17 INT return yds
DB #9 Marcus Rios (Junior)- 46 tackles (27 solo tackles)
LB #12 Jayon Brown (Junior)- 87 tackles (55 solo tackles, leads team), 0.5 sacks
LB #58 Deon Hollins (Junior)- 18 tackles (9 solo tackles), 2.5 sacks
DL #97 Kenny Clark (Junior)- 63 tackles (39 solo tackles), 5 sacks, 1 receiving TD

UCLA Special Teams:
PK #15 Ka'imi Fairbairn (Senior)- 20/23 FGM/Att (87%), 44/44 XPM/Att (100%), 104 pts,
LNG 60 yd FG
P #19 Matt Mengel (Senior)- 50 punts, 1,996 yds, AVG 39.9 yds

Key UCLA Injuries:
DL #47 Eddie Vanderdoes (Junior) (injured during season-opening 34-16 win vs. Virginia)
DB #10 Fabian Moreau (Senior) (injured during 24-23 win vs. BYU, may return for bowl game, will return for next season)
LB #30 Myles Jack (Junior) (injured after 24-23 win vs. BYU, already going into 2016 NFL draft, predicted to go in first round)
WR/S #14 Mossi Johnson (Sophomore) (injured after 38-23 loss vs. Arizona State)

Nebraska Offense:
QB #4 Tommy Armstrong Jr. (Junior)- 210/383 pass comp./att. (55%), 2,856 yds, 21 TDs, 16 INTs
RB #32 Imani Cross (Senior)- 96 rush attempts, 389 yds, 5 TDs
RB #34 Terrell Newby (Junior)- 143 rush attempts, 743 yds, 5 TDs
WR #1 Jordan Westerkamp (Junior)- 63 receptions, 874 yds, 7 TDs
WR #87 Brandon Reilly (Junior)- 37 receptions, 716 yds, 4 TDs

Nebraska Defense:
DB #28 Byerson Cockrell (Senior)- 65 tackles (35 solo tackles)
S #25 Nate Gerry (Junior)- 75 tackles (46 solo tackles), 1 sack, 4 INTs, 90 INT return yards
LB #3 Marcus Newby (Sophomore)- 34 tackles (17 solo tackles)

Nebraska Special Teams:
PK #34 Drew Brown (Sophomore)- 20/26 FGM/Att (77%), 40/41 XPM/Att (98%), 100 pts,
LNG 50 yd FG
P #27 Sam Foltz (Junior)- 53 punts, 2,352 yds, AVG 44.4 yds

I'm sorry, but I don't know as many Nebraska players compared to UCLA players.

          Statistically, UCLA has an advantage over Nebraska. Both teams average the same amount of points per game (32.5 PPG, T-45th in the nation). UCLA's offense produces 472.6 yards per game (24th) compared to Nebraska's 442.5 yards per game (37th). UCLA's defense allows 25.1 points per game (52nd) and 393.5 yards per game (62nd). Nebraska allows 27.8 points per game (T-75th) and 401.6 yards of offense per game (71st).
          Both the Cornhuskers (5-7) and the Bruins (8-4) are familiar with each other. I am sure that this will be a wild game knowing that both of these teams play tough, despite UCLA's advantages. I hope that UCLA does win this game and gets their ninth win of the season. Gooooooooooo Bruins!!!!!!!!

Here are the banners that the classy Nebraska fans brought

to honor former UCLA walk-on wide receiver Nick Pasquale. 

I wonder who thinks that Nebraska Cornhuskers fans are 

the most classy fans around?

I think so.

2015 College Football Playoff Preview, Analysis, and Prediction

          The 2nd College Football Playoff field is all set and ready to be played. Who will win it? The ACC champions in Clemson, the SEC champions in Alabama, the Big Ten champions in Michigan State, or the Big 12 champions in Oklahoma? In this post, I will go through each playoff team's season and try to predict who will win it all.
           The #1-ranked team in this year's College Football Playoff is none other than the only undefeated team in the nation this season: the Clemson Tigers. Clemson was ranked 12th in the nation in the preseason. The Tigers defeated FCS Wofford 49-10 in the season opener, Appalachian State 41-10 the week after, then Louisville 20-17 the following Thursday. Clemson had chosen a good time to take a bye week because up next was #6 Notre Dame. This bye week helped the Tigers as they defeated Notre Dame 24-22 at home in "Death Valley". Yes, that's what some people call Clemson's Memorial Stadium. The Tigers climbed up to 6th in the nation after their win over Notre Dame. Three weeks later, #6 Clemson shut down Miami 58-0 down in Florida. Miami had 8 wins this season, so this really pushed Clemson up higher, into the top 5. Finally, after defeating North Carolina State 56-41 on Halloween, Clemson became number 1 in the nation, jumping ahead of Ohio State. they made sure that stayed when Heisman contender quarterback Deshaun Watson helped Clemson defeat then-#16 Florida state 23-13 in "Death Valley". That day, they won the ACC Atlantic Division and went to the ACC championship after 3 more victories. They defeated #10 North Carolina 45-37 to form an easy path to the College Football Playoff.
          Number 2 in the country is the only team that has made it to both College Football Playoffs: the Alabama Crimson Tide. The Tide were ranked #3 in the preseason and started strong with a 35-17 win over then-#20 Wisconsin. They rolled past their second nonconference foe, Middle Tennessee State 37-10. Another ranked team came to Tuscaloosa to following week: then-#15 Ole Miss. The 2nd-ranked Tide trailed by as much 43-24 and rallied, only to lose 43-37. Alabama fell out of the top 10 and made their way back in 2 weeks later by defeating then-#8 Georgia 38-10. They just kept on rolling, cruising by then-#9 Texas A&M 41-23 and then-#2 LSU 30-16. With the help of Heisman-winning running back Derrick Henry, the Tide cruised past then-#17 Mississippi State 31-6 and in-state rival Auburn 29-13. The #2 Crimson Tide breezed by #18 Florida in the SEC championship 29-15. Alabama was the only team in the preseason top 4 to make it to the College Football Playoff this season.
          The #3 team that will challenge #2 Alabama in the Cotton Bowl is the Big Ten champion: the Michigan State Spartans. MSU was ranked 5th in the nation in the preseason. They have to most quality wins out of every team in the playoff this year (Sorry, Bama fans, but every ranked team you guys defeated are not in the top 15 anymore). Fifth-ranked MSU beat #7 Oregon on week 2 of the season. They got as high as #2 in the country before hanging on to beat 1-win Purdue 24-21. They struggled against Rutgers and won on a late touchdown 31-24. The Spartans fell to 7th in the country and had to play #12 Michigan (who shut out their last 3 opponents) at the Big House. With 10 seconds left in the game, all Michigan had to do was punt the ball away, but it was fumbled, recovered by Michigan State and returned all the way to the Michigan end zone. Three weeks later, the Spartans lost 39-38 to Nebraska (whom UCLA is playing against in the Foster Farms Bowl) on a controversial call (or as a friend of mine, who is a Michigan State fan, would call a "bull call"). They fell to 13th in the nation and recovered with wins over Maryland, then-#3 Ohio State, and Penn State. The Spartans clinched the Big Ten East Division and defeated then-#4 Iowa in the Big Ten Championship Game. This sealed a spot in the College Football Playoff for Michigan State.
          Of all of the teams in this year's playoff, the one that we least expected to make it to the College Football Playoff was #4 Oklahoma. The Sooners were ranked 19th in the preseason. They cruised past Akron 41-3 in their season opener and defeated then-#23 Tennessee 31-24 in overtime in Knoxville, Tennessee. When they defeated then-#23 West Virginia 44-24, they climbed up to 10th in the nation. Their top-10 appearance was spoiled by Red River rival Texas 24-17. The Sooners fell back to their preseason ranking of 19th. Four consecutive 50-point victories later, 12th-ranked Oklahoma had to play against undefeated #6 Baylor. OU won 44-34 and jumped to #7 in the nation. They survived #18 TCU 30-29 in their home finale and jumped to #3 in the country. Rival Oklahoma State had just lost to Baylor and fell to 11th in the country. But Oklahoma only added salt to the wound, capturing the Big 12 title and coasting past Oklahoma State 58-23 and earning the Big 12 conference's first-ever College Football Playoff berth.
          The Orange Bowl will consist of a rematch between the Clemson Tigers and the Oklahoma Sooners. Both teams played in last year's Russell Athletic Bowl. Then-#15 Clemson crushed Oklahoma 40-6. Clemson hasn't lost a game since falling to last year's Orange Bowl champion Georgia Tech 28-6 last season. Ever since the Red River Rivalry loss, Oklahoma has scored 52 points per game. Overall, they average 45.8 points per game, ranking 3rd in the nation behind Big 12 Conference rivals Texas Tech and Baylor. Clemson ranks 15th in the nation with 38.5 points per game. The Sooners rank 7th in the nation in total offense with 542.9 yards per game. The Tigers rank 12th in the country with 510.6 yards per game. On the other side of the ball, Oklahoma allows 20.8 points per game (21st in the nation) and 350.7 yards per game (31st). Clemson allows 20.2 points per game (18th) and 295.7 yards per game (7th). Oklahoma is 4th in the country in sacks per game, with 3.17 sacks per game. Clemson is 12th in that category, with 2.92 sacks per game. Personally, I think that Oklahoma will win this game.
            The Cotton Bowl will host the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Michigan State Spartans. These two teams last met in the 2011 Sugar Bowl, where then-#15 Alabama crushed then-#7 Michigan State 49-7. Alabama won the next two national championship games against LSU (21-0) and Notre Dame (42-14). Before losing to Ole Miss, Alabama cruised past then-#20 Wisconsin 35-17 in their season opener and beat Middle Tennessee State 37-10. Alabama lost 42-35 in last year's College Football Playoff Sugar Bowl to eventual champion Ohio State. Michigan State had a 12-game win streak before surprisingly falling to Nebraska. Their last loss before this was a 49-37 decision against the same Ohio State team in East Lansing. MSU averages 32.1 points per game (tied for 49th in the nation) and 398.6 yards per game (68th). Alabama averages 34.1 points per game (36th) and 422.5 yards per game (49th). Defensively, Michigan State allows 20.5 points per game (T-19th) and 342.9 yards per game (26th), while Alabama allows only 14.4 points per game (3rd) and merely 258.2 yards per game (2nd). Michigan State may seem slightly over matched due to Alabama's sturdy offense (led by Heisman-winning running back Derrick Henry) and the Tide's tight defense, but I think that MSU has played tougher foes and will win this game.
          The National Championship will be hosted in Glendale, Arizona at University of Phoenix Stadium, home of the NFL team, the Arizona Cardinals. Will it be the Tide or the Spartans? The Tigers or the Sooners? I think that the national championship will be #3 Michigan State vs. #4 Oklahoma, like I stated in the previous two paragraphs. Oklahoma would beat Clemson 42-31 in the Orange Bowl (and avenge their big loss from last year) and Michigan State would survive Alabama 38-35 in the Cotton Bowl on another last-second field goal (just like how they beat Ohio State earlier this year). In the championship, Oklahoma would defeat Michigan State 45-24 to take the national title home to Norman, Oklahoma.
          These are just my predictions for this year's College Football Playoff. Every person might have their own thoughts on this playoff. Feel free to express your thoughts and predictions on the 2nd annual College Football Playoff in the comments section and watch the College Football Playoff action begin on New Year's Eve at 1:00 PM Pacific time on ESPN, when #4 Oklahoma takes on #1 Clemson in the Orange Bowl. The Cotton Bowl (#2 Alabama vs. #3 Michigan State) will begin four hours later, after the end of the Orange Bowl, and will also be televised on ESPN.
         

The Pac-12 Championship

          The Pac-12 Championship was one of the more confusing conference championship games to predict. In the end, it was the USC Trojans and the Stanford Cardinal. UCLA, sadly, did not make it to the Pac-12 Championship due to their unfortunate last two losses to Washington State and USC. The Bruins have 8 wins and 4 losses. All four of these losses came from conference play (38-23 vs. Arizona State, 56-35 vs. Stanford, 31-27 vs. Washington State, 40-21 vs. USC). The Bruins started the season ranked 13th in the country. They rolled to 4 straight wins and climbed as high as #7 in the nation. They lost two consecutive games to Arizona State and Stanford and fell out of the top 25. The Bruins won three straight after their losing streak. But that streak was snapped on a late touchdown by Washington State with 3 seconds left in the game. UCLA shocked #13 Utah 17-9 in Salt Lake City, but got creamed by crosstown rival USC a week later. This post will be about the Pac-12 Championship game, even though UCLA did not play in it.
          USC started the season in top 10, sitting at #8 in the country. They defeated their first two points by an NCAA-high 99 combined point margin. Unranked Stanford stunned 6th-ranked USC 41-31 in the Trojans' first real test of the season. USC bounced back by crushing Arizona State 42-14 in the desert. After a bye week, the Trojans lost two straight, being shocked at home 17-12 by the struggling Washington Huskies and beaten on the road at then-#11 Notre Dame. The Trojans were unranked and had 3 wins and 3 losses. They came back to Los Angeles one week later and denied #3 Utah's path to the College Football Playoff 42-24. They won three more games after that, until they crumbled against then-#23 Oregon 48-28. They came back to LA unranked, but that didn't stop them from defeating then-#22 UCLA 40-21, winning the Pac-12 South for the first time.
          Stanford was ranked #21 at the beginning of football season. The Cardinal suffered a season-opening 16-6 loss at the Northwestern Wildcats of the Big Ten conference. They defeated #6 USC two weeks later and kept on winning. During this win streak, they set some program records in their 56-35 demolishing of #18 UCLA. Stanford kept winning and rose up to #7 in the country. Then they barely lost to the unranked Oregon Ducks 38-36 at home. They won their last 2 games against rival UC Berkeley (35-22) and #6 Notre Dame (38-36). The Cardinal had 10 wins and 2 losses.
          Stanford rolled up a 13-0 lead on USC in the first half. First, they drove down to USC's 23-yard line and kicked a field goal. In the second quarter, sophomore running back Christian McCaffrey threw a touchdown pass to Stanford senior quarterback Kevin Hogan. Yes, it is written down correctly. A running back threw a touchdown pass to the quarterback. A pair of field goals from each team made the halftime score 13-3 Stanford. USC scored two touchdowns to start the third quarter to take a temporary 16-13 lead. Stanford took control of the reins from then on. First, Hogan had a 6-yard touchdown rush to take the lead back 20-16. The Cardinal added salt to USC's wound by sacking USC senior quarterback Cody Kessler, who fumbled the ball. The ball was picked up by Stanford defender Solomon Thomas and returned all the way back for a Stanford touchdown. Yes, it is that same play from UCLA's games against Colorado and USC. USC scored another touchdown, but could not complete the two-point conversion to come within a field goal of Stanford's now-27-22 lead. It was all Stanford from that point on. Christian McCaffrey scored two more touchdowns (one reception and one rush) to expand the lead to 41-22, which was the final score. Stanford won their third Pac-12 title in four seasons.
          The final rankings came out the next day. USC dropped from 20th to 25th while Stanford moved up from 7th to 6th. UCLA remained unranked, unfortunately. The bowl games were announced too. Ten of the teams from the Pac-12 had reached a bowl game. Arizona (6-6) will play against New Mexico (7-5) in the New Mexico Bowl. Number 22 Utah (9-3) will play against "Holy War" rival BYU (9-3) in the Las Vegas Bowl. Washington State (8-4) will play against Miami (8-4) n the Sun Bowl. Washington (6-6) will play against Southern Mississippi (9-4) in the Heart of Dallas Bowl. UCLA (8-4) will play against Nebraska (5-7) in the Foster Farms Bowl (That's a low-tier bowl game Bruin fans. I'm not the happiest person out there, either.). California (UC Berkeley, 7-5) will play against Air Force (8-5) in the Armed Forces Bowl. Number 25 USC (8-5) will play against Wisconsin (9-3) in the Holiday Bowl. Arizona State (6-6) will play against West Virginia (7-5) in the Cactus Bowl. Number 15 Oregon will play against #11 TCU in the Alamo Bowl (where then-#14 UCLA defeated then-#11 Kansas State last season). Finally, #6 Stanford (11-2) will play against #5 Iowa (12-1) in the granddaddy of them all, the classic Rose Bowl game, located at the very same Rose Bowl where UCLA football hosts some of their games.
          The 2nd College Football Playoff was released as well. The four playoff teams are the top-ranked Clemson Tigers (13-0), 2nd-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide (12-1), 3rd-ranked Michigan State Spartans (12-1), and 4th-ranked Oklahoma Sooners (11-1). In the College Football Playoff, four teams go to special bowl games (Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Orange Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Peach Bowl). The #1 seeded team (Clemson) will play against the #4 seed (Oklahoma), as the #2 seed (Alabama) will play against the #3 seed (Michigan State).
          The Heisman trophy is given to the best player in college football in a season. The last five winners were all quarterbacks. In 2010, it was Auburn's Cam Newton (current starting quarterback at the NFL team Carolina Panthers). In 2011, it was Baylor's Robert Griffin III (current backup quarterback at the NFL team Washington Redskins). In 2012, it was Texas A&M's Johnny Manziel (current starting quarterback at the NFL team Cleveland Browns). In 2013, Florida State's Jameis Winston (current starting quarterback at the NFL team Tampa Bay Buccaneers), and in 2014, Oregon's Marcus Mariota (current starting quarterback at the NFL team Tennessee Titans).
          This year's Heisman campaign was known for most of the season as the "Year of the running backs". For over half of the season LSU's Leonard Fournette led the nation for the Heisman campaign. After LSU's three-game losing streak, he was knocked out of the Heisman race. Replacing him was Alabama running back Derrick Henry. The top 3 Heisman candidates were announced after the final Playoff rankings came out. Two of the three Heisman front-runners are running backs. These running backs are Derrick Henry and Christian McCaffrey. The last spot for the Heisman top 3 was Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson. Personally, I think that Christian McCaffrey should win the Heisman trophy. This isn't just because of how he and Stanford dominated UCLA earlier this season, but also, he knows how to break through opposing defenses and make big runs out of them. This applies to his receiving plays too. Anyways, let's see how these bowl games end up and who wins the Heisman trophy.

Part 12: #22 UCLA vs. USC

          It is rivalry week in college football, featuring big games such as #8 Ohio State vs. #10 Michigan,, #2 Alabama vs. Auburn, #14 North Carolina vs. NC State, #16 Northwestern vs. Illinois, #22 UCLA vs. USC, #18 Ole Miss vs. #21 Mississippi State, #6 Notre Dame vs. #9 Stanford, #13 Florida State vs. #12 Florida, and #3 Oklahoma vs. #11 Oklahoma State. But in this post, I will be talking about the UCLA Bruins vs. USC Trojans crosstown rivalry. The Bruins and the Trojans both had struggles in this football season. UCLA had suffered many key defensive injuries while USC came back after the firing of their former head coach Steve Sarkisian. The Bruins and the Trojans are tied for the top of the Pac-12 South, as the winner will head to Santa Clara for the Pac-12 Championship to take on Stanford. It was a preseason prediction that UCLA vs. USC would determine the Pac-12 South title, and it did happen.
          UCLA and USC have played in these rivalry games dating back to 1929, and playing for the Los Angeles Victory Bell since 1942. Before this game, USC led the overall series 44-31-7 (44 USC wins, 31 UCLA wins, 7 ties). However, UCLA had claim over the Victory Bell for the past 3 (almost 4) seasons. The story behind this crosstown battle for the Victory Bell begins as the bell used to ring for trains running through Los Angeles. The bell was given to the UCLA student body in 1939 as a gift from the alumni association. At the time, both teams played their home games at the L.A. Coliseum. In UCLA's 1941 season opener, USC students infiltrated the UCLA cheering section and stole the Victory Bell. UCLA students went all over Los Angeles County trying to find the bell and the two schools began to pull more pranks on one another. On November 12, 1942, the two schools agreed to a compromise, stating that the bell would become the trophy of the winner of each rivalry game. Even still, the Bruins and the Trojans remained bitter rivals.
          In the two teams' previous meeting last year at the Rose Bowl last year, #9 UCLA romped #19 USC 38-20. After an early USC pick-6, former UCLA quarterback Brett Hundley stepped up his game and threw 2 first quarter touchdown passes to former UCLA wide receiver (now Arizona State graduate player) Devin Lucien and tight end Thomas Duarte. The Bruins led 24-14 at the half. After two more UCLA touchdowns (a 13-yard touchdown pass to Eldridge Massington and a 15-yard rush by Hundley), USC fans began to leave the Rose Bowl. To add to the fun, UCLA fans kindly sang a goodbye song to the Trojan fans. Also, USC quarterback Cody Kessler was sacked 6 times by UCLA's defense. All UCLA fans were happy and relaxed that night.
          In the first quarter, USC kicked a field goal on their first drive to take a 3-0 lead. But the Bruins replied with a 19-yard touchdown rush from running back Paul Perkins for a 7-3 lead going into the second quarter. USC scored their first touchdown of the game on senior quarterback Cody Kessler's 1-yard touchdown run. Again, UCLA responded with a 19-yard touchdown pass from freshman quarterback Josh Rosen to junior tight end Thomas Duarte. USC marched right back down the field, but the UCLA defense stopped the Trojans on the UCLA 4-yard line. The Trojans kicked a field goal to have a 1-point game of 14-13. On the next UCLA drive, the Bruins stalled and punted on 4th down and 25 on their own 8-yard line. The punt wasn't all too good because it only went to UCLA's 42-yard line. That wasn't all though. USC sophomore cornerback Adoree' Jackson returned the punt all the way back for a USC touchdown. The halftime score was 20-14 Trojans.
          In the third quarter, Paul Perkins ran for another score to take the lead back 21-20. After a USC punt, the Trojans were in control for the rest of the game. Rosen was sacked and fumbled the ball on UCLA's 41-yard line. It was picked up by USC freshman defensive tackle Rasheem Green and returned all the way for a touchdown. The two-point conversion was no good and the score was 26-21 USC. That sack-fumble-touchdown play sounds familiar, am I right? It happened when UCLA played against Colorado at the Rose Bowl on Halloween, when Rosen was sacked and fumbled the ball. It was picked up by Colorado's Samson Kafovalu and returned for a touchdown.
          Anyways, after that sack-fumble-touchdown, USC was in the driver's seat for the rest of the game. On the next drive, Rosen was intercepted by USC freshman cornerback Iman Marshall. This was the first interception for Rosen in 245 pass attempts. This snapped the second longest streak of pass attempts without an interception in Pac-12 history (The longest was Oregon's Marcus Mariota with 343). USC scored two more times on passing touchdowns and UCLA kicker Ka'imi Fairbairn missed a 48-yard field goal attempt. At this point (since I was watching the game at home), I left the room to stop watching this nightmare. Eight minutes later, I came back to see if the Bruins had anything going well for them. But I only came back to see Rosen picked off on a long pass, which practically ended the game. The final score was 40-21, a USC win.
          Rivalry week was chaotic, however. Number 19 TCU shocked #7 Baylor 28-21 in double overtime in the rain. Number 8 Ohio State beat up #10 Michigan 42-13. Number 4 Iowa defeated Nebraska 28-20. Number 17 Oregon held off Oregon State 52-42. Washington cruised past #20 Washington State 45-10. Top-ranked Clemson hung on to beat South Carolina 37-32. Colorado fell short at #23 Utah 20-14. Number 2 Alabama defeated Auburn 29-13 in the Iron Bowl. Number 14 North Carolina scored 5 touchdowns in the first quarter and held off NC State 45-34. Number 16 Northwestern beat Illinois 24-14. Number 18 Ole Miss defeated #21 Mississippi State in the Egg Bowl 38-27. Number 12 Florida collapsed against #13 Florida State 27-2. Number 9 Stanford stunned #6 Notre Dame on a field goal to win 38-36. Finally, #3 Oklahoma entered the College Football Playoff after crushing #11 Oklahoma State 58-23.
          UCLA's injury plague caught up to the Bruins, as they were banged up for most of the season. UCLA lost many things from this game:
1. The LA Victory Bell
2. A chance to rematch Stanford in the Pac-12 Championship game
3. A chance to play in the Rose Bowl game
4. A 10-win season
5. The Pac-12 South title
6. A high-quality bowl game
So much for starting the season 4-0 and in the top 10. Number 20 USC travels up to Santa Clara next week (I know this post was published after the Pac-12 Championship and I know the result of the game) to take on #7 Stanford. UCLA fell out of the rankings again after losing two of their last three. The Bruins are projected to play in either the Sun Bowl or the Foster Farms Bowl. They finished 3rd in the Pac-12 South and 6th in the conference overall. The Bruins will be unranked going into the bowl game and probably unranked even after a bowl game win. Let's hope that the UCLA Bruins, even though beaten up and unranked, will bounce back from this loss and win their bowl game. Goooooooooooooooooooo Bruins!!!!!!!!!

Part 11: UCLA vs. #13 Utah

          After suffering a dramatic loss in their final game at the Rose Bowl, the once-again-unranked UCLA Bruins football team traveled out to Salt Lake City, Utah to take on the 13th-ranked Utah Utes. This is the farthest that the Bruins football team traveled this season. This is a key game for both UCLA and Utah, as this is an elimination game for the Pac-12 South. The losing team would have no chance at winning the Pac-12 South Division, while the winner will probably be the team heading up to Santa Clara for the Pac-12 Championship. If UCLA beats Utah, the Bruins and the Utes would share the same in-conference record, but the Bruins would hold the head-to-head tiebreaker against Utah. Utah already lost to USC, UCLA's opponent after this game, so this would crush the Utes' hopes for the Pac-12 South Division title. Earlier this season, both teams were contenders for the College Football Playoff, as UCLA got as high as 7th in the top 25 while Utah managed to crack the top four, sitting as high as #3. When the Utes reached a 6-0 record, they were thought to be the real #1 in the country, until they lost at USC. The main thing that propelled the Utes so high in the polls was their 4th win of the season, a 62-20 laugher at then-13th-ranked Oregon.
          Last week, the Utes were stunned at Arizona 37-30 in double overtime. UCLA blew out Arizona earlier this season 56-30. After being tied 27-27 with the Wildcats throughout the fourth quarter, Utah kicked a field goal in the first overtime. Arizona responded with just that. After Arizona scored a touchdown in the second overtime, the Utes and quarterback Travis Wilson were halted on 4th down on Arizona's 17-yard line.
          Utah first gained national attention when they shocked then-#8 UCLA 30-28 in their previous meeting at the Rose Bowl last year. Utah was coming off of an embarrassing 28-27 to Washington State in Salt Lake City while UCLA was coming off of a 62-27 blowout win against then-#15 Arizona State in Tempe, Arizona. After #2 Oregon suffered a loss 31-24 to Arizona in Oregon, UCLA was favored to win the Pac-12 and even win the College Football Playoff. This was a day of shocking upsets, including #11 Ole Miss' 23-17 win against #3 Alabama, Arizona State's last-second 38-34 Hail Mary victory against #16 USC, #25 TCU's 37-33 shocker against #4 Oklahoma, Northwestern's 20-14 stunner against #17 Wisconsin, Utah State's 35-20 beating of #18 BYU, and #12 Mississippi State's 48-31 whopping of #6 Texas A&M.
          UCLA was one of the last teams to play that evening. Utah led 17-7 at halftime against the 8th-ranked Bruins. UCLA surged, creating a 28-27 lead in the fourth quarter. But with 38 seconds left, Utah kicked a field goal to take a 30-28 lead. Looking for last hopes, UCLA tried to kick a 55-yard field goal. It missed, but Utah was penalized, giving the Bruins a second chance, Ka'imi Fairbairn's 50-yard field goal attempt was 2 inches away from going through the uprights, as UCLA lost to the Utes.
          This year, things had changed. Utah star running back Devontae Booker was injured for the game and had to go through meniscus surgery. He will miss the rest of Utah's regular season, which isn't so long. After this game, Utah will need to play against Colorado, whom UCLA defeated 35-31 at the Rose Bowl on Halloween. Even though UCLA's defense has suffered many injuries with their starters (Myles Jack, Eddie Vanderdoes, Fabian Moreau, Mossi Johnson), they still remain formidable. Star Linebacker Isaako Savaiinaea was questionable after missing out in the Colorado, Oregon State, and Washington State.
          In the first quarter, the Bruins scored on their first drive to take a 7-0 lead. Quarterback Josh Rosen threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to tight end Thomas Duarte for the score. After Utah backup running back Joe Williams fumbled the ball on UCLA's 14-yard line (recovered by UCLA's Randall Goforth), UCLA kicker Ka'imi Fairbairn kicked a 33-yard field goal to extend the lead to 10-0. Utah kicked two field goals in the second quarter to go into halftime. UCLA led 10-6, despite being out-gained 114-35 by the Utes in rushing yards.
          In the second quarter, Utah kicked another field goal to lower the deficit to 1. The score was 10-9 UCLA. However, on UCLA's next drive, the Bruins scored a touchdown on a 2-yard rush by running back Paul Perkins. This made the score 17-9. In the fourth quarter, deep in Utah territory, Fairbairn barely missed a 48-yard field goal. This was the first time he missed a field goal since a missed 49-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter of UCLA's season opener against Virginia. The Bruins defense remained tough for the rest of the game. Later in the quarter, with 1 minute left in the game, Utes running back Joe Williams' elbow hit the football, causing quarterback Travis Wilson to drop the ball and fumble the snap. It was recovered by Bruins linebacker Jayon Brown. With 7 seconds left in the game, UCLA punted. Looking for last hopes, Utah defensive back Boobie Hobbs (Yes, it's this guy again like mentioned in my bye week post. DO NOT take any offense to this, girls.) tried to return it from Utah's 14-yard line. But he only got 4 extra yards on the return. The Bruins had stunned 13th-ranked Utah in Salt Lake City 17-9.
         This was a wild day in college football, especially in the top 25. Fifth-ranked Iowa cruised past Purdue 40-20. Eighth-ranked Florida hung on in overtime to defeat Florida Atlantic 20-14. Twelfth-ranked Michigan defeated Penn State 28-16. Seventeenth-ranked North Carolina clinched a spot in the ACC championship after defeating Virginia Tech 30-27 in overtime. Temple surprised 21st-ranked Memphis 31-12. Number 14 Florida State cruised by Chattanooga 52-13. Top-ranked Clemson breezed by Wake Forest 33-13. Number 20 Northwestern held on to beat #25 Wisconsin 13-7 on a reversed touchdown call. Connecticut upended previously undefeated #19 Houston 20-17. Number 9 Michigan State granted #3 Ohio State their first conference loss since 2011 by kicking a last-second field goal to win 17-14. Number 22 Ole Miss clobbered #15 LSU (riding a 3-game losing streak now) 38-17. Number 23 Oregon crushed #24 USC 48-28 (huge crowd of Bruins cheer wildly :)). Number 2 Alabama defeated Charleston Southern 56-6. Number 16 Navy defeated Tulsa 44-21. Number 4 Notre Dame held off Boston College 19-16 at Fenway Park. Number 10 Baylor gave #6 Oklahoma State their first loss of the season 45-35. Number 7 Oklahoma took down #18 TCU 30-29. Finally, #11 Stanford clinched the Pac-12 North Division by defeating California 35-22.
          UCLA leaped back into the College Football Playoff top 25 on Tuesday afternoon, now sitting at #22. Utah fell from 13th to 23rd, right behind the Bruins, and USC fell out of the top 25. While Utah is out of the running for the Pac-12 South, UCLA is one victory away from winning the division. The Bruins can seal the division by defeating crosstown rival USC next weekend at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (or as us Bruin fans like to call it, the Mausoleum). Both the Bruins and the Trojans are tied for first in the Pac-12 South. Both teams have defeated Utah, which is why the Utes are out of the division title. The winner of this game will go up to Santa Clara on Saturday December 5 to take on Stanford. The kickoff time for the crosstown rivalry game will be 12:30 PM Pacific Time. UCLA will be seeking its fourth straight win over USC while the Trojans look to rebound against the Bruins and win the Pac-12 South like they were favored to in the preseason. Beat SC and Gooooooooooooo Bruins!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Part 10: Washington State vs. #19 UCLA

          After completing their first shutout victory since 2007, the 19th-ranked UCLA Bruins returned home to the Rose Bowl for their final home game of the season. Due to Veterans' Day earlier in the week, UCLA players wore special USA-themed helmets to support Military Appreciation Day. Their foe was the Washington State Cougars, who are second in the Pac-12 North after defeating Arizona State 38-24 in Washington. Washington State started the season looking like a lousy team and probably had the worst start to the season amongst all of the Pac-12. They opened the season with a loss to a lower-division team. After two wins, the Cougars barely lost to then-24th-ranked California, whom UCLA blew out at the Rose Bowl. The Cougars rode a 3-game win streak before blowing a 43-yard field goal that could've beaten then-8th-ranked Stanford. They defeated Arizona State by two touchdowns the following weekend.
          In the two teams' last meeting in 2012, then-18th-ranked UCLA defeated Washington State up in Washington 44-36. The Bruins and the Cougars were tied 7-7 until UCLA rocketed off by outscoring WSU 30-0 in the second quarter. The Cougars rallied, but did not have enough time to catch up to the Bruins. Former UCLA quarterback Brett Hundley led the Bruins' offense by completing 18 of 21 passes for 261 yards and 3 touchdowns.
          Given that this is UCLA's final game at the Rose Bowl this season, vendors were selling trading cards with the information of each senior Bruin players' statistics over their college career at UCLA just outside of the stadium. Before this game, Fairbairn was one point short of breaking the UCLA record of "most points responsible for". He had his struggles early in his career. In his freshman year, he blew a 52-yard field goal that could've tied the score with Stanford in the 2012 Pac-12 Championship. Stanford won 27-24. In Fairbairn's junior year, he barely missed a 50-yard field goal that could've helped UCLA beat Utah. The Utes won 30-28. But this year, Fairbairn set two personal-best long field goals. He kicked a 53-yard field goal against Arizona State, whom UCLA lost to 38-23. Three weeks later, he kicked a 60-YARD FIELD GOAL against then-#20 California. This was the second longest field goal in Pac-12 history and the longest in UCLA history. UCLA went on to win that game 40-24.
          In the first quarter, the Bruins managed to stop the Cougars' offense by pushing them back all the way to their own 3-yard line. The Bruins marched down the field to kick a 22-yard field goal and lead 3-0. This field goal by Ka'imi Fairbairn set the UCLA and Pac-12 records for "most points responsible for". Washington State scored a touchdown on their next drive to take a 7-3 lead. Again, the Bruins responded with a field goal. The score was 7-6. In the second quarter, UCLA scored their first touchdown of the game off of a 14-yard touchdown rush from sophomore running back Nate Starks. On the following drive, WSU quarterback Luke Falk was sacked and had to sit out for the rest of the half. Their backup QB, Peyton Bender threw a touchdown pass WSU receiver Dom Williams to take back the lead to 14-13. To go into halftime, Fairbairn kicked his third field goal of the night. The halftime score was 16-14 UCLA.
          At halftime, all of the senior Bruins were honored as they came out onto the field with their parents. Senior players included wide receivers Devin Fuller and Jordan Payton, kicker Ka'imi Fairbairn, center Jake Brendel, punter Matt Mengel, backup quarterback Jerry Neuheisel (all Bruin fans love this guy), and linebacker Aaron Wallace. After that, a 100-yard United States flag was spread out onto the field for Military Appreciation Day.
          To start the third quarter, UCLA stalled on their first drive at their own 47-yard line. So they tried to send out junior wide receiver Kenneth Walker out onto the field to punt like he did against California. At first, it looked like a fake punt, but Walker decided at the last second to kick it away. The only problem was that the punt went sideways. So guess what? It was a ZERO-YARD PUNT. If people are wondering if that was even possible, well, now they know. Washington State took advantage of this and took the lead back 21-16. UCLA's next drive wasn't any help either. Wide receiver Darren Andrews fumbled the ball and it was recovered by WSU. The Cougars kicked a field goal early in the fourth quarter to lead 24-16. After a UCLA field goal, WSU was knocking on the door for a score, but Luke Falk was intercepted by Jaleel Wadood in the end zone. This led to a big scramble by UCLA quarterback Josh Rosen for a 37-yard rushing touchdown. This was Rosen's second career rushing touchdown and his longest run. The two-point conversion to junior tight end Thomas Duarte was successful and UCLA led 27-24 with 1 minute and 9 seconds left to go in the game. But WSU wasn't finished. The Cougars marched right down the field. Then, Luke Falk threw a 21-yard touchdown pass to receiver Gabe Marks with 3 SECONDS LEFT IN THE GAME. The score was 31-27. Trying to come back, Rosen scrambled for a while, but threw an incomplete pass, which sealed the game as UCLA suffered their third loss of the season and moved to 7-3 overall.
          UCLA fans were very, very angry. After the game ended, all of the UCLA fans, myself included, were booing at the referees. The officiating was absolutely horrible. There were AT LEAST 10 HOLDING PENALTIES on Washington State that they did not call, yet they have a better view of the field than all of the fans. UCLA suffered 13 penalties for 75 yards. For Bruin fans, it is like every single penalty is on themselves and not the opponent. I am wondering, do the refs have something against us? Maybe that is so. UCLA should've won this game, but nope. The refs were helping Washington State. Even UCLA head coach Jim Mora got ticked off at the refs for not calling OBVIOUS HOLDING PENALTIES, throwing down his headset and screaming at them. I personally think that the conference should fire these officials because this isn't only happening to UCLA. Below the post is an example of one of the holding penalties that wasn't called by the officials. Arizona State lost to Oregon on a bad call earlier this year. An Oregon receiver barely stepped out of bounds in what the refs called a touchdown, which led to Oregon's 61-55 3OT victory against Arizona State. This has been an issue since I-don't-know-when. I personally think that Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott needs to fire these referees and hire new ones. The main reason why the Pac-12 has not lived up to expectations is the terrible officiating.
          Speaking of the Pac-12 conference altogether, there is no chance at all that a Pac-12 team will make it to this year's College Football Playoff. Then-7th-ranked Stanford lost 38-36 to Oregon at Stanford. Then-#10 Utah lost at Arizona 37-30 in double overtime. Of course, as said in this blog earlier, then-#19 UCLA also lost. USC escaped Colorado 27-24 in Boulder, Colorado in freezing temperature, Arizona State defeated Washington 27-17 at Sun Devil Stadium, and California defeated Oregon State 54-24.
          UCLA fell out of the top 25 once again on Tuesday evening. USC(24th) and Oregon(23rd) both joined the top 25, but will play an elimination game next Saturday in Oregon. Even with this awful loss, UCLA still has a decent chance to clinch the Pac-12 South. Utah lost to Arizona, giving the Utes their second loss in conference play. UCLA has three conference losses and USC has two. If UCLA beats both Utah and USC, the Bruins will own the tiebreaker over both teams. UCLA will play against 13th-ranked-Utah this Saturday on the road. This will be a tough game for both teams as this will be an elimination game for the Pac-12 South. The winner will probably go on to face Stanford, Washington State, or Oregon in the Pac-12 Championship. The loser will have no chance of going to the Pac-12 Championship. After this game, the Bruins will return to Los Angeles to challenge USC in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in a rivalry game after Thanksgiving. Let's hope that the UCLA Bruins will recover from this heartbreaking loss to Washington State and defeat Utah and USC to head to the Pac-12 Championship. Gooooooooooooooooo Bruins!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is one of the holding penalties that the referees/officials

neglected to call. UCLA fans kept shouting, "HOLDING!

 WHERE'S THE FLAG?!". A "flag" is a penalty marker indicating that a

player on one of the teams is breaking a rule in football. As a result, the

team will either have extra yards to have to gain back (offense) or

the opposing team will have less yards to need to pick up for a 

1st down (defense). UCLA was on defense in this play while Washington State 

was on offense. You could see that UCLA defender Deon Hollins (black jersey #58)

 was being held by a Washington State offensive lineman. If the referees called 

this penalty, Washington State would have had to cover 10 extra yards on 

offense to pick up a 1st down.

Part 9: #23 UCLA vs. Oregon State

          After reaching bowl eligibility last week in a 35-31 victory against the Colorado Buffaloes, 23rd-ranked UCLA Bruins football traveled up to Corvallis, Oregon to take on the Oregon State Beavers. Game time was at 1:30 PM Pacific Time. The Bruins looked to continue to control their own destiny through winning the rest of their games and possibly winning the Pac-12 South. Oregon State sits at the bottom of the Pac-12 North, with only 2 wins all season and failing to reach bowl eligibility. The Beavers are winless in Pac-12 Conference play, losing 5 straight overall after starting the year 2-1 (2 wins and 1 loss). Last week, OSU lost 27-12 at then-13th-ranked Utah.
          In the two teams' last meeting in 2012, Oregon State upended UCLA (ranked 19th that week) at the Rose Bowl 27-20. This would be the Beavers' second straight upset win against a top 20 team. Their first in that season was a 10-7 victory against then-14th-ranked Wisconsin in Corvallis. This was also in former UCLA quarterback Brett Hundley's first season as a college quarterback. OSU former quarterback Sean Mannion led the Beavers offense with 379 passing yards and 2 touchdowns. Before this game, UCLA had not defeated a team from the state of Oregon since 2011.
          The first quarter was scoreless, but on OSU's last drive in the quarter, Beavers quarterback Nick Mitchell fumbled the ball, and it was recovered by UCLA's Jacob Tuioti-Mariner. This set up a 38-yard field goal by UCLA kicker Ka'imi Fairbairn. On OSU's following drive, Mitchell's pass was intercepted by UCLA defensive back Randall Goforth. This led to an 8-yard touchdown pass from UCLA quarterback Josh Rosen to tight end Thomas Duarte to make the lead 10-0 Bruins. On OSU's next drive, Beavers punter Nick Porebski punted the ball all the way to UCLA's 4-yard line. This did not stop UCLA's offense as Rosen threw a 63-yard pass to wide receiver Kenneth Walker. This led to a 10-yard touchdown pass to Duarte again. The score was 17-0. then Nick Mitchell threw another interception into the hands of Bruins defensive back John Johnson. The next play, Duarte caught a 51-yard pass, followed up by a 7-yard rushing touchdown by UCLA running back Paul Perkins.
         Josh Rosen had a very good first half, using a lot of big passes for 252 first-half passing yards. Oregon State, on the other hand, was having a very bad game, with 111 less total yards then Josh Rosen's yards alone. The Beavers had 3 turnovers: two interceptions and a fumble. All three of those turnovers led to UCLA scores: a field goal off of the fumble and two touchdowns for two picks (interceptions).
          The third quarter only added to Oregon State's misery. the Bruins started the quarter with an 11-yard touchdown rush by running back Nate Starks to make the score 31-0. This was followed by an interception from Nick Mitchell to UCLA defender Jaleel Wadood. It led to a UCLA field goal. By the end of the third quarter, UCLA running back Soso Jamabo ran the ball 30 yards for a touchdown to expand the lead to 41-0. This wound up as the final score of the game as the Bruins completed their first shutout in the Jim Mora Era (2012-present) and got their seventh win of the season.
          The Bruins had an impressive game defensively since no points were allowed and only 246 yards were allowed. Meanwhile, the offense had a season-high 674 yards in possibly their best win of the season. This game was the second game that UCLA's defense allowed less than 5 points. The other game that was well-played defensively was a 37-3 victory against UNLV in Las Vegas. Oregon State had less total offensive yards than the yards Josh Rosen produced alone. Rosen completed 22of 33 pass attempts for 333 passing yards and 2 touchdowns before being pulled out for garbage time in the fourth quarter. Garbage time is when a team that has a blowout lead in the fourth quarter pulls out all of their starters to prevent unnecessary injuries. Place kicker Ka'imi Fairbairn managed to come within 1 point for tying the UCLA all-time record for "most points responsible for".
          Elsewhere in the Pac-12 South, Colorado was blown out 42-10 by #11 Stanford, Arizona State completely lost their Pac-12 title hopes with a 38-24 loss to Washington State, #12 Utah hung on to beat Washington 34-23, and USC escaped Arizona 38-30. With Utah's win, UCLA remains tied for second place for the Pac-12 South with USC. UCLA has yet to play against both USC and Utah, as those two games will finish out the regular season for the Bruins.
          On Tuesday afternoon, UCLA leaped up to 19th in the College Football Playoff top 25. The Bruins are riding a 3-game win streak and will look to extend it against the Washington State Cougars at the Rose Bowl. Washington State has had an up-and-down season this year. To start the year, the Cougars lost to a lower-division team 24-17 in Washington. This was followed by two wins before starting conference play with a loss to then-24th-ranked California, whom UCLA blew out at the Rose Bowl. They rode a 3-game win streak until blowing a 43-yard field goal that could've boosted the Cougars to a win against then-8th-ranked Stanford. The Cougars rebounded with a 38-24 win against Arizona State last Saturday. This game is the final game at the Rose Bowl for UCLA. Kickoff is at 7:45 PM Pacific Time. The Bruin football players will wear special USA-themed helmets as the game will be dedicated to Military Appreciation Day (Veterans' Day is on Wednesday November 11). I am pretty sure that Washington State will fight as hard as they can, even if they have a disadvantage on offense.
          The Cougars have an "air raid" type of offense, which means they do a lot of passing plays. In fact, they rank second in the nation in average passing yards per game, with about 417 yards passing per game. UCLA's defense ranks 1st in the Pac-12 in passing yards allowed per game with 199 while Washington State is second with 211. UCLA's defense, however, is ranked 8th in the Pac-12 in rushing yards allowed per game with 198, while Washington State is 11th in the conference with 206. Given that Washington State is 2nd to last in rushing yards per game in the country, UCLA's defense might not have so much of a hard time since they are good at not allowing so many pass yards. Also, UCLA is good at making rushing plays, so that can really get to Washington State's defense. Anyways, I hope that UCLA defeats Washington State to progress to 8-2 (8 wins and 2 losses) and will be prepared for road games at Utah and USC to close the season. Goooooooooooo Bruins!!!!!

Part 8: Colorado vs #24 UCLA

          After rebounding from back-to-back blowout losses, 24th-ranked UCLA football will finally receive a rest from a rough football schedule against four of five teams in the top 20. UCLA went 3-2 (3 wins and 2 losses) in this stretch. UCLA defeated #19 BYU 24-23, #16 Arizona 56-30, and #20 California 40-24. The Bruins lost to Arizona State 38-23 and #15 Stanford 56-35. Among these teams as of now, only Stanford remains ranked, sitting atop the Pac-12 at #8 in the country. In total, only 3 Pac-12 teams are ranked: #8 Stanford, #13 Utah, and of course, #24 UCLA. The Bruins are tied for second in the Pac-12 South Division with USC, only one win behind Utah, whom UCLA will play near the end of the season. Back on Thursday night, Arizona State fell out of Pac-12 South Championship contention with a triple overtime loss to the Oregon Ducks of the Pac-12 North Division.

          Back to that rest that UCLA will get, the Bruins started off by playing against the Colorado Buffaloes, who are last place in the Pac-12 South, at the Rose Bowl. The Buffaloes went into this game coming off of their first Pac-12 Conference win in, pretty much, forever (not really forever, but first win in a long time against a Pac-12 team), by defeating the Oregon State Beavers 17-13. Last year, UCLA (ranked 25th at the time) barely survived the Buffaloes 40-37 in Colorado. The Bruins led 24-14 going into halftime before being outscored 17-7 in the second half. After two overtimes, UCLA prevailed 40-37 off of an 8-yard touchdown rush by former Bruins quarterback (currently Green Bay Packers backup QB) Brett Hundley.

          On UCLA's first drive, the Bruins moved 91 yards, capped off by a 31-yard touchdown pass from UCLA freshman quarterback Josh Rosen to Bruins junior running back Paul Perkins. The score at the end of the first quarter was 7-0 UCLA. Midway through the second quarter, on a Colorado 3rd down and goal, Buffaloes quarterback Sefo Liufau threw an interception to UCLA cornerback Ishmael Adams, who returned it 96 yards in the other direction for a pick-6. UCLA led 14-0. Colorado answered with a field goal to cut it to 14-3. After Colorado kicked it off, UCLA freshman wide receiver Stephen Johnson III returned it to UCLA's 28-yard line. But the Bruins were marched back 10 yards off of a holding penalty. This set up an 82-yard touchdown run by Paul Perkins to make the score 21-3. Colorado kicked a field goal going into halftime making the score 21-6 Bruins.
          UCLA's offense barely spent any time on the field as Colorado's offense had 61 plays, the most plays allowed in a half. The main reason the Bruins had a lead was because of their quick scoring offense. UCLA's injury-plagued defense, however, allowed over 250 yards of offense from Colorado in the first half.
          The third quarter is when the Buffaloes took advantage of UCLA's depleted defense. On the first Colorado drive of the half, all of their plays were rush plays. The Buffaloes scored a touchdown off of it, cutting the score to 21-13. Sophomore UCLA running back Nate Starks answered with an 11-yard touchdown run to expand the lead to 28-13. Colorado began to go wild here. After a Buffaloes field goal to end the third quarter, Josh Rosen was sacked and fumbled the ball. It was picked up by Colorado and returned for the touchdown by Buffaloes defender Samson Kafovalu. The score was 28-23. Colorado took their first lead of the game when CU running back Patrick Carr rushed for a 6-yard touchdown. The two-point conversion was successful and Colorado led 31-28. UCLA's offense responded with a 3-play 67-yard drive that took only 27 seconds. The drive was capped off by a short touchdown run by UCLA freshman running back Soso Jamabo. Looking for last hopes, Sefo Liufau threw a pass late in the fourth quarter, only to be intercepted by UCLA freshman defender Nate Meadors, thus ending the game with the score being a 35-31 UCLA victory.
          The UCLA Bruins football team reached bowl game eligibility with their sixth win of the year. UCLA senior kicker Ka'imi Fairbairn is 10 points shy of tying or breaking the UCLA record of responsibility for most points. There are only at least 5 games left this season for UCLA: the four leftover regular season games and the bowl game. All the Bruins need to do is win the rest of their regular season games in order to reach the Pac-12 Championship. If that happens, UCLA would need to play against Stanford, who is currently 8th in the country and who also trashed UCLA two weeks ago. In case anyone wanted to know if "history would be repeated", that unfortunately did not happen as USC defeated California 27-21 in Berkeley. In other Pac-12 South games, 13th-ranked Utah defeated Oregon State 27-12 in Salt Lake City and Washington pounded Arizona 49-3 in Seattle.
          On Sunday morning, UCLA moved up in the AP top 25 to number 22. This will be the last time I mention UCLA's ranking in the AP top 25. On Tuesday November 3, the first College Football Playoff top 25 was released. UCLA was placed at number 23. Next week, UCLA football will travel up to Corvallis, Oregon to take on the Oregon State Beavers, who have the worst overall record in the Pac-12 Conference and are sitting dead last in the Pac-12 North Division, winless in the Pac-12. Last year, Oregon State did fail to reach a bowl game, but late in the season, the Beavers shocked then-#6 Arizona State 35-27 in Corvallis. I hope that UCLA does not let an upset loss happen and will continue an exciting season. After this game, the Bruins will play against the Washington State Cougars in their final game at the Rose Bowl this season. Washington State barely lost to #8 Stanford 30-28 off of a botched 43-yard field goal. Back to the Oregon State game, I hope that UCLA wins this game. Gooooooooooooooo Bruins!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
       
          P.S. Heads up to basketball fans! Basketball season will be starting really soon! UCLA has already won an exhibition game against Cal State L.A. The 2015-2016 Bruins basketball team attended the Colorado game at the Rose Bowl and will travel to the Maui Invitational in Hawaii early in this season.

Part 7: #20 California vs. UCLA

          After two dreadful blowout losses to Arizona State and Stanford, UCLA football arrived back at the Rose Bowl banged up, unranked, and fourth of six in the Pac-12 South Division. But they still have a chance to keep their Pac-12 Championship and College Football Playoff hopes alive, beginning with a game at the Rose Bowl on Thursday night against the 20th-ranked California Golden Bears, who had a bye week the previous week after falling short 30-24 against then-5th-ranked Utah in Salt Lake City. The loss to Utah was Cal's only loss coming into this game. The first half went very well for the Bruins. After a Cal field goal, UCLA had 23 unanswered points. First, there was a 42-yard field goal by UCLA senior kicker Ka'imi Fairbairn. Then UCLA freshman quarterback Josh Rosen threw a touchdown pass to junior tight end Thomas Duarte. Then Rosen found senior wide receiver Devin Fuller for a 19-yard touchdown pass. Afterwards, Fairbairn kicked a 20-yard field goal. The score was 23-3 before Cal junior quarterback Jared Goff threw a great touchdown pass to wide receiver Kenny Lawler to cut the lead to 23-10. On the following UCLA drive, Ka'imi Fairbairn set a new career-long UCLA record with a 60-yard field goal. This was also the second longest field goal in Pac-12 conference history. The last time any kicker has kicked a field that was 60-yards or longer was Rice University's Chris Boswell in 2013.
          The halftime show was hilarious for Bruin fans. Both Cal's and UCLA's marching bands performed "The Fall of Troy" together. This story was based on the Greek myth that featured Odysseus. There were also band members dressed as Trojans. At the beginning, after Menelaus and Helen's wedding celebration, Trojans stormed in and stole Helen. The Greeks went over to Troy to battle against them, but they lost. So the Greeks created a wooden horse and loaded a few people inside the horse. It was sent over to Troy and fooled the Trojans, who hailed this huge horse. Afterwards, the Greeks stormed into Troy and defeated the Trojans. After the show, it was stated that history will repeat as both Cal and UCLA's football teams will defeat the USC Trojans football team later this season.
          The Bruins received the second half kickoff and scored off of it with Josh Rosen throwing his third touchdown pass of the night to Devin Fuller for 21 yards. After a Cal punt, UCLA had a chance to load up more points on the Bears, but that was stopped after Bruins defender Kenny Lacy committed a holding penalty. A holding penalty is when a player tries to block a player on the opposite team but making contact above the shoulders. This led to UCLA's first punt. A punt is when a team on offense kicks the ball to the opposing team when they think they cannot convert on fourth down. Cal scored on the following drive, but failed the two-point conversion. The score was 33-16. But the Bruins responded as UCLA freshman running back Soso Jamabo ran the ball into the end zone from 2 yards out to extend the lead to 40-16. The final score was 40-24 since Cal scored a touchdown plus had a successful 2-point conversion. UCLA managed to bounce back after two harsh back-to-back losses to seal their fifth win of the season. UCLA is only one victory away from becoming bowl eligible. That means that if a team has six victories, they can play an extra game at the end of the football season to know their final place at the end of the season.
          UCLA returned to the top 25 on Sunday morning. The Bruins are now ranked 24th in the country while Cal dropped out of the top 25. This is the beginning of a rebuilding time in this football season for UCLA. The Bruins' chances at making it to the Pac-12 Championship have risen significantly as then-3rd-ranked Utah suffered their first loss of the season to USC, who is tied with Arizona State and UCLA for second in the Pac-12 South Division, unfortunately. As of now, for UCLA to win the Pac-12 South, the Bruins need to win out, meaning that they need to win the rest of their games this season. The Arizona Wildcats can provide some assistance for UCLA's Pac-12 title hopes by also winning out, although they just barely lost 45-42 to the Washington State Cougars. Arizona State, who beat the Bruins 38-23 at the Rose Bowl earlier this year, needs to lose a game because they hold the tiebreaker over UCLA. Both of ASU's in-conference losses come against USC and Utah. They had a bye week this week and they will play against the Oregon Ducks of the Pac-12 North Division. The Ducks may give ASU their third conference loss of the year. Colorado has no chance whatsoever of winning the Pac-12 South despite defeating Oregon State this past weekend. USC can just do what they do, and Utah needs to lose to UCLA later this season, thanks to USC ripping open Utah's weaknesses to other teams.
          UCLA will play against Colorado this Saturday, which is Halloween, surprisingly. The game is at the Rose Bowl and game time starts at 12 noon. Cal will play against USC up in Berkeley (Yes, UC Berkeley is referred to as Cal) on the same day. I hope history does repeat itself as Cal will beat USC. I also hope that 24th-ranked UCLA will defeat Colorado and become bowl eligible. Gooooooo Bruins!!!!!!!!

Part 6: #18 UCLA vs #15 Stanford

          The 18th-ranked UCLA Bruins traveled up to Palo Alto, California to clash with 15th-ranked Stanford on "The Farm", which is how some people refer to Stanford Stadium. Stanford was predicted to win by 7, a touchdown. In the first quarter, after the Bruins forced Stanford to punt, Josh Rosen threw his sixth interception of the year, which resulted as a pick-6 (an interception returned all the way back to the end zone) by Stanford defender Alijah Holder. UCLA responded with a field goal on their following drive after consecutive penalties on defender Caleb Benenoch cost the touchdown. On the next kickoff, Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey caught and returned it 96 yards, all the way to UCLA's four-yard line. This set up a Stanford touchdown pass from Kevin Hogan to Austin Hooper. But once again, UCLA responded as Josh Rosen threw a 70-yard touchdown pass to Darren Andrews, making the score 14-10 Stanford.
          This is when Stanford rocketed away. The Cardinal scored three more touchdowns to expand the lead to 35-10. First, there was a nine-yard touchdown pass from Hogan to Devon Cajuste. Then, there were two consecutive touchdown rushes by Christian McCaffrey. To close out the half, UCLA running back Paul Perkins ran the ball into Stanford's end zone to cut the score to 35-17.
          The third quarter was no better. Stanford wide receiver Francis Owusu made the most godly reception ever, in my opinion. At first, the play just looked like some trick play, as Christian McCaffrey took the snap, handed it off to Stanford running back Bryce Love, who pitched it back to Kevin Hogan, and Hogan followed up with the touchdown pass, which is already going to be the best play of the college football season, like nobody can beat that play. While I was watching the game, I thought it was an interception by UCLA defender Jaleel Wadood. But I was wrong. If anyone remembers that one catch Kodi Whitfield made against the Bruins two years ago, how about this catch? If you want to see that beautiful catch, check out the link at the end of the post.
          Anyways, back to the game, the score was now 42-17 Stanford. After a UCLA field goal, Christian McCaffrey ran for two more touchdowns to extend the lead to 56-20. One of these scores was off of Josh Rosen's seventh interception of the year. McCaffrey set a Stanford school record with the amount of rushing yards in a single game: 243 yards and four touchdowns. This was still in the third quarter. In total, McCaffrey had 369 all-purpose yards in this game. He currently leads the NCAA in all-purpose yards this season, with 1,518 yards on kickoff returns, receptions, and rushes combined, followed by San Jose State's Tyler Ervin (1,432 yards) and LSU's Leonard Fournette (1,258 yards). At the end of the game, Stanford crushed UCLA 56-35, ending the Bruins' NCAA-long road-game win streak and handing UCLA their second straight loss of the season.
          The Bruins dropped out of the top 25 on Sunday morning while Stanford joined the top 10 for the first time since the postseason top 25 in 2013. UCLA is only three spots away from coming back into the top 25. They have an opportunity to come back as they will play against the 20th-ranked California Golden Bears at the Rose Bowl this Thursday at 6:00 P.M. As a big-time Bruins fan, I hope the Bruins come back after two very disappointing back-to-back losses and snap back by beating a top-20 team. This will be the fourth team ranked in the top 20 that UCLA will play against this season. The previous three were 19th-ranked BYU (UCLA won 24-23), 16th-ranked Arizona (UCLA also won 56-30), and 15th-ranked Stanford (which I talked about in this blog). Goooooooooooooo Bruins!!!!!!!


Link to the catch made by Francis Owusu:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHinglqAAhY

Part 5: What's happening on the Bye Week

           Hey, what's cooking in the world of college football? The 20th-ranked UCLA Bruins are taking a bye week, which is when a team takes the week off of playing. So this week, I'm going to talk about all of the football games that featured the top 25. On Thursday night, UCLA's crosstown rival, the then-17th-ranked USC Trojans played against the Washington Huskies. After the first half, USC kicked a field goal to lead 6-3. Huskies running back Myles Gaskin ran a bunch of big plays as he and quarterback Jake Browning led Washington to a 17-12 victory against USC. On Saturday, some of the games in the top 25 were quite wild. Top-ranked Ohio State escaped a struggling Maryland in a 49-28  Buckeyes victory. Maryland kept the games as close as a 21-21 tie midway through the third quarter, but could not hang on to top the #1 team in the country. Third-ranked Baylor exploded on offense in a 66-7 blowout win against Kansas, one of very few winless teams as of now. Number 14 Ole Miss was coming off of a blowout loss to the Florida Gators. They defeated New Mexico State 52-3 in a cakewalk game. New Mexico State is also a winless team.
            The first of the shockers this past Saturday was the Red River Rivalry game, featuring 10th-ranked Oklahoma and a struggling Texas football team. Texas bounced back from a series of disappointing losses, coming off of a 50-7 loss against then-4th-ranked TCU, taking a 24-17 win against 10th-ranked Oklahoma. Twenty-second ranked Iowa, who upset then-20th-ranked Wisconsin 10-6 the past week, held on to a 29-20 win against Illionois. Number 24 Toledo crushed Kent State 38-7. Both Iowa and Toledo are currently two of a few undefeated teams. The sixth and seventh-ranked teams, Clemson and LSU, cruised in their games. Clemson beat Georgia Tech 43-24 and LSU beat South Carolina 45-24. The Big Ten Conference's big game of the week featured #13 Northwestern and #18 Michigan. This game turned into Michigan's second shutout game against a ranked team, as they defeated Northwestern 38-0. Their other shutout win was a 31-0 game against then-22nd-ranked BYU, who barely lost 24-23 to UCLA the past week. Number 15 Notre Dame cruised past Navy 41-24 and #25 Boise State crushed Colorado State 41-10. As of now, Boise State's only loss this year was a 35-24 game against BYU, who, again, almost upset UCLA. Number 11 Florida had a stifling defense after crushing Ole Miss the past week. The Gators won 21-3 against Missouri.
          This is where the wildness comes in. Number 21 Oklahoma State traveled near the East Coast to take on West Virginia. Going into overtime, quarterback J.W. Walsh ran into the end zone on 4th down and goal to make the score 33-26. But on West Virginia's chance to tie up the game, quarterback Skyler Howard threw an incomplete pass on 4th down and goal, as Oklahoma State went on to continue staying undefeated. Number 19 Georgia was looking to rebound after a humiliating 38-10 loss to Alabama as they traveled to Knoxville, Tennessee to take on Tennessee. Unfortunately, Georgia lost for the second straight time, falling 38-31. Speaking of Alabama, the eighth-ranked Crimson Tide trailed a struggling Arkansas 7-3 at the half. They ran off in the fourth quarter, clinching a 27-14 victory. Second-ranked TCU was given a really bad time as they trailed 35-17 at halftime against Kansas State. The Horned Frogs rallied right back, using a go-ahead touchdown pass from Trevone Boykin to Josh Doctson to get a 52-45 win. Fourth-ranked Michigan State faced off against a flailing Rutgers. The Spartans trailed 14-10 at halftime. But they came right back and beat Rutgers on a go-ahead touchdown run by running back LJ Scott. Michigan State won 31-24. In the Sunshine state, #12 Florida State challenged Miami. The Hurricanes had a 24-23 lead that was blown as FSU running back Dalvin Cook saved the game as he did last year, leading Florida State to a 29-24 victory. Fifth-ranked Utah, coming off of a bye week after crushing then-#13 Oregon 62-20, took on 23rd-ranked California in Salt Lake City. In the third quarter, Cal cut Utah's lead to 27-24 after recovering a fumble from Utah running back Devontae Booker. On the final play of Cal's last offensive drive, Bears quarterback Jared Goff threw a pass intended straight for wide receiver Kenny Lawler, only to have it batted down by Utah defender Boobie Hobbs (Seriously, that's what everyone calls the guy. Do not take any offense to this, girls). Utah won the game 30-24 to remain undefeated as Cal suffered their first loss of the season.
            The new top 25 rankings were quite interesting the following Sunday morning, as USC and Georgia dropped out of the polls. Duke and Houston replaced them as Duke became #25 and undefeated Houston became 24th. Duke's only loss is against Northwestern, who is now ranked 20th after a blowout loss to Michigan. Michigan moved up to 12th. Their only loss this year was a 24-17 defeat against Utah at the start of the season. Speaking of Utah, the Utes rose to 4th after their victory against California, who stayed at 23rd in the polls despite losing their first game of the season. LSU and Clemson each moved up one spot as Clemson barged into the top 5, replacing Michigan State, who fell to 7th after a close call against Rutgers. LSU is now ranked 6th. Top-ranked Ohio State remains at #1 while Baylor and TCU swapped positions: Baylor being second and TCU being third. Florida hopped up to #8 after shutting down the Missouri offense in a 21-3 victory. Texas A&M stayed at ninth as they took a bye week. Alabama fell to tenth after barely escaping Arkansas at home. Florida State moved up one spot in the top 25 to #11. Ole Miss moved to 13th and Notre Dame moved to 14th. Oklahoma State and Iowa both leaped 5 spots. OK State is 16th and Iowa is 17th. Oklahoma tumbled to 19th after losing to a struggling Texas team. Boise State jumped to 21st and Toledo moved to 22nd after both teams had blowout wins.
            So where are Stanford and UCLA? Stanford, who had a bye week like UCLA and Texas A&M, moved up one spot to 15th, while UCLA moved to 18th. Both Stanford and UCLA will play each other this coming Thursday. Before this week, Stanford blew out Arizona 55-17 at home, a week after UCLA crushed U of A 56-30 in Arizona. In case you want to know who USC is playing next, well, they have to take on 14th-ranked Notre Dame in Indiana. But back to UCLA, let's hope that the Bruins will bounce back after getting crushed by Arizona State 38-23 at the Rose Bowl. Stanford has been the one team that UCLA always struggles to beat. Bruins head coach Jim Mora currently does not have any wins against Stanford. In the Jim Mora era (2012 football season-present), UCLA has lost to Stanford 35-17 in the Rose Bowl in 2012 and then lost again 27-24 at Stanford at the 2012 Pac-12 Championship off of a missed 52-yard field goal by Ka'imi Fairbairn. In 2013, UCLA's offense was smothered up at Stanford as the Bruins lost 24-10. Finally, in 2014, the Bruins, who were ranked eighth at the time coming off of a 38-20 blowout win against then-#19 USC, blew a conference championship opportunity by losing to a struggling Stanford at the Rose Bowl 31-10. This upcoming game may change things up for both teams, although Stanford is predicted to win by 5. GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO BRUINS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Part 4: Arizona State vs #7 UCLA

            The 7th-ranked UCLA Bruins were coming off of a big road win against the then-16th-ranked Arizona Wildcats, 56-30. Heading back to Pasadena, there was a whole lot of hype about the Bruins being a College Football Playoff contender. The Bruins were going to play against the Arizona State Sun Devils, who were coming off of a 42-14 blowout loss to the USC Trojans, UCLA's crosstown rival, at ASU's home stadium. The Bruins were favored by 13 points. The first quarter was almost scoreless, until Bruins freshman quarterback Josh Rosen got sacked in the UCLA end zone for an Arizona State safety. A safety is when a team's offense is backed up all the way into their own end zone. Safeties give the opposing defense 2 points and a free offensive possession. So UCLA kicked it off to ASU. ASU's returner, Tim White, fumbled the catch, but quickly picked it right back up and returned the kickoff 63 yards, deep into UCLA territory. ASU scored off of that drive to make the score 9-0. In the second quarter, UCLA rolled up 10 points, ending the half on a career-long 53-yard field goal by senior place kicker, Ka'imi Fairbairn. The halftime score was 15-10 ASU. In the first half, Josh Rosen completed 13 of 19 passes for 160 yards. Now if that wasn't bad, the rushing game was horrid for UCLA, as the Bruins had a total of 17 rushing yards. Junior running back Paul Perkins, who came into this game with 128.5 rushing yards per game, barely went anywhere.
               The third quarter did not go well at all for UCLA. Three minutes and 55 seconds in the third quarter, Arizona State senior quarterback Mike Bercovici found a big hole up the middle to run to the end zone, making it a 22-10 ASU lead. The Bruins' defense still struggled as Bercovici found DJ Foster in the end zone to make the score 29-10. By this point in the game, I thought I was having a nightmare, but I was not, sadly. In the fourth quarter, Paul Perkins ran right up the middle to cut the lead down to 29-16. The Bruins failed on a two-point conversion attempt as Josh Rosen threw an incomplete pass intended for UCLA senior wide receiver Jordan Payton. On an ASU third down, Mike Bercovici threw a pass that was intercepted by UCLA defender Issako Savaiinaea.Then, Josh Rosen threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to junior tight end Thomas Duarte, cutting the score to 29-23. After the Bruins put a stop to ASU's offense on the UCLA 47-yard line, ASU punter Matt Haack punted the ball all the way to UCLA's one-yard line. That punt pretty much killed the game and the mood for UCLA Bruin fans, especially me. The UCLA offense went next-to-nowhere on that drive. To keep it a one-possession game, Long snapper Christopher Longo purposely over-snapped UCLA punter Adam Searl to give ASU another safety. If UCLA actually punted, the ball would land in field goal range, and if ASU kicked the field goal, the game would be out of reach. The score was 31-23 ASU. The Bruins' defense tried to give it their all, as they spent the majority of the game on the field. Deep in UCLA territory, when the game was practically over, Arizona State running back Kalen Ballage rushed with a horde of UCLA defenders on him for a 23-yard touchdown. Then that really ended the game. Arizona State gave UCLA their first loss of the season, defeating the Bruins 38-23 at the Rose Bowl. Josh Rosen completed a total of 22 of 40 passing attempts for 280 yards, 2 touchdowns, and one interception. His victorious counterpart, Mike Bercovici, completed 27 of 44 passing attempts for 273 yards, 2 touchdowns, and one interception, just like Rosen. What really stumbled for the Bruins was the 67 total rushing yards that they had. Paul Perkins accounted for 63 of those yards. This is the second straight season in which UCLA came to the Rose Bowl off of a blowout road win (last year was a 62-27 victory against 15th-ranked ASU in Tempe, Arizona, and this year, a 56-30 victory against 16th-ranked Arizona in Tucson, Arizona) against a ranked team which became a fluke as the Bruins lose miserably at the Rose Bowl against an unranked team coming off of a lousy loss at home the previous week (last year Utah beat UCLA 30-28 after losing 28-27 against the Washington State Cougars in Salt Lake City, Utah, and this year, ASU was trounced in Tempe, Arizona by USC 42-14). UCLA tumbled all the way down from 7th to 20th in the Top 25.
              The Bruins were not the only team that struggled as a top 10 team. Third-ranked Ole Miss was crushed in "the Swamp" (Florida's home stadium in Gainesville, Florida) by 25th-ranked Florida 38-10. Eighth-ranked Georgia flopped at home against 13th-ranked Alabama by an identical score as the aforementioned Ole Miss game. Sixth-ranked Notre Dame fell short against 12th-ranked Clemson 24-22 at Clemson's Memorial Stadium. Second-ranked Michigan State held on against a 1-win Purdue team in Michigan 24-21. Finally, top-ranked Ohio State maintained their status as number one in the country after finishing off unranked Indiana 34-27 in Indiana. UCLA is going on a bye week this next week before traveling up to Palo Alto, California to take on the Stanford Cardinal, who are currently ranked 16th in the nation. Let's hope that the Bruins bounce back after their loss to ASU and win against Stanford. UCLA has a very long win streak when not playing at the Rose Bowl, as they haven't lost since falling to #2 Oregon in Eugene, Oregon 42-14 in the 2013 football season. So let's see what happens Thursday after next when UCLA challenges Stanford up in Northern California. Gooooooooooooo Bruins!!!!!!!

Part 3: #9 UCLA vs #16 Arizona

UCLA Bruins football traveled to Tucson, Arizona last Saturday to take on the 16th-ranked Arizona Wildcats. Before the game, there were heat warning signs in front of the Bruins locker room. UCLA quickly covered up these signs since the Bruins are used to playing on hot football fields. UCLA was coming off of a close win against then-19th-ranked BYU 24-23. Arizona started on offense after the kickoff. The Wildcats capitalized on this drive as sophomore quarterback Anu Solomon threw a 40-yard touchdown pass to Nate Phillips. UCLA senior wide receiver Devin Fuller returned Arizona's kickoff into Wildcat territory. UCLA freshman quarterback Josh Rosen threw a 35-yard touchdown pass to junior tight end Thomas Duarte to tie the game 7-7. Junior running back Paul Perkins of UCLA had a total of three rushing touchdowns off of Arizona turnovers (two fumbles and one interception). By halftime, UCLA's offense rolled up 6 touchdowns on Arizona, leading 42-14 at halftime. In the third quarter, after Arizona clocked up 9 more points, Josh Rosen ran the ball into the end zone to make the score 49-23. By the end of the game, UCLA won 56-30, which strengthened the Bruins' case for the College Football Playoff. Josh Rosen completed 19 of 28 pass attempts for 284 yards and two touchdowns. He also added an extra rushing touchdown. UCLA moved up to 7th in the Top 25 the following morning. The Bruins are the highest ranked team in the Pac-12 and is the most likely Pac-12 representative for the playoff. Next Saturday, the 7th-ranked Bruins will host the Arizona State Sun Devils, who have 2 wins and 2 losses. The Bruins are favored by 13 points. After the Arizona State game, UCLA will go on a bye week. A bye week is when a team takes a break from playing any opponents for the week. After UCLA's bye week, the Bruins will travel to Palo Alto in Northern California to take on the Stanford Cardinal. I will attend the Arizona State-UCLA game since it is at the Rose Bowl. Go Bruins!

UCLA vs UNLV

Football season started two weeks ago and there is a bunch of controversy about the second annual College Football Playoff. The UCLA Bruins started true freshman quarterback Josh Rosen in their first two games. The first game of the season for the 13th-ranked Bruins was against the Virginia Cavaliers. The starting UCLA defense was strong throughout the game and currently has yet to allow a touchdown. UCLA won the game 34-16 as Josh Rosen had completed 28 of 35 pass attempts for a stellar 351 yards. The following week, UCLA football traveled to Las Vegas to take on the UNLV Rebels. Even with the loss of Eddie Vanderdoes, one of the defense's biggest players, the defense merely allowed a FIELD GOAL. Josh Rosen completed 22 of 42 passes for 223 yards. It wasn't as good as his debut, but running back Paul Perkins helped the offense as well. Last year, Paul 

Perkins was the leading rusher in the Pac-12 Conference, with 1,575 yards rushing. He continued his strong resume with 151 yards rushing and 2 touchdowns. UCLA sophomore defender Kenny Young scored his first career touchdown by intercepting a pass from UNLV quarterback Kurt Palandech and returning it for a 23-yard touchdown. UCLA won the game 37-3 to continue a good season. Tenth-ranked UCLA will play at the Rose Bowl next Saturday against the 19th-ranker BYU Cougers, whom had back-to-back surprising last-minute victories against their first two opponents. I will be atteding this game and cheer on the Bruins as they continue their, hopefully, playoff-bound football season.