Saturday, January 16, 2016

Part 13: UCLA vs. Nebraska (Foster Farms Bowl)

          The UCLA Bruins football team traveled up to the site of the 50th Super Bowl, Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, to play in the 2015 Foster Farms Bowl. They played against the Nebraska Cornhuskers, who had 5 wins and 7 losses before the game. UCLA had 8 wins and 4 losses.
          In the first quarter, the Bruins hit the scoreboard on their first drive, finished with a 1-yard TD rush from running back Paul Perkins. Nebraska answered with another 1-yard TD rush, this time by Imani Cross. The two teams both punted on their following drives, tied at 7 by the end of the first quarter. Early in the second quarter, UCLA quarterback Josh Rosen threw a beautiful 60-yard touchdown pass to receiver Kenneth Walker, who was the fastest receiver on the team. Later, Rosen threw a 26-yard touchdown pass to running back Nate Starks. The Bruins had a 2-touchdown lead (21-7), but blew that as Nebraska scored two touchdowns to tie the game at 21 at the half. Before the end of the half, there was a bad targeting call on Nebraska defender Nate Gerry, as this finished off his playing time for Nebraska this season.
          The third quarter was when everything started to get really bad for UCLA. Nebraska took their first lead of the game on a 22-yard touchdown pass from Nebraska QB Tommy Armstrong to WR Stanley Morgan. The extra point was blocked, but that didn't stop the Huskers. Later, they kicked a short field goal to take a 30-21 lead. The game practically ended early in the final quarter of the season. Tommy Armstrong ran for a touchdown and the Huskers led 37-21. By this point, UCLA allowed over 300 yards of rushing from Nebraska. A 9-yard touchdown pass from Rosen to WR Jordan Payton cut the score to 37-27. The two-point conversion was successful and the score was 37-29. Later in the quarter, during the waning 2 minutes, Rosen threw a Hail Mary attempt, which would be the final pass of Rosen's freshman year at UCLA. That resulted as an interception in the end zone and a touchback. Nebraska finished the game off with a 26-yard third down rush from fullback Cethan Carter.
          UCLA football finished the season with 8 wins and 5 losses, 4 of which were upset losses. An upset loss is when a team loses to another team that is ranked below them. This usually happens when a top 25 team loses to an unranked team. UCLA's upset wins came against then-#20 California (40-24) at the Rose Bowl and then-#13 Utah (17-9) in Salt Lake City. Their upset losses were against Arizona State (38-23, UCLA was ranked 7th) at the Rose Bowl, Washington State (31-27, UCLA was ranked 19th) also at the Rose Bowl, USC (40-21, UCLA was ranked 22nd) and Nebraska (talked about in this post). The Bruins' other loss was against then-#15 Stanford (56-35, UCLA was ranked 18th) up in Northern California.
          As of the end of the season, many key players for UCLA will either graduate from the university or go into the NFL draft early. Here is a list of key Bruins who will leave the team:

WR #7 Devin Fuller (graduating, going into NFL draft, possible 6th round pick)
WR #9 Jordan Payton (graduating, going into NFL draft, possible 7th round pick)
PK #15 Ka'imi Fairbairn (graduating)
TE #18 Thomas Duarte (going into NFL draft, possible late-round pick)
P #19 Matt Mengel (graduating)
RB #24 Paul Perkins (going into NFL draft, possible 3rd/4th round pick)
LB #30 Myles Jack (going into NFL draft, already left UCLA, possible 1st round pick)
OL #51 Alex Redmond (disqualified from Foster Farms Bowl due to hiring an agent, going into NFL draft, possible 4th round pick)
LB #51 Aaron Wallace (graduating)
C #54 Jake Brendel (graduating, going into NFL draft, possible 2nd round pick)
OL #74 Caleb Benenoch (going into NFL draft, possible 3rd round pick)
DL #97 Kenny Clark (going into NFL draft, possible 1st round pick)

          Like said in the list above, Myles Jack and Kenny Clark are both predicted to go into the first round (first 30 or so players) of the NFL draft. Each player in the list has been a key part to UCLA football for the past 3 or 4 years, each having at least 25 starts in their careers as Bruins.
          There has also been a coaching change for UCLA. Running backs coach Kennedy Polamalu was promoted to offensive coordinator since former offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone left to be the offensive coordinator at Texas A&M. Speaking of Texas A&M, the Bruins will travel to College Station, Texas and open next season against the Aggies on September 3rd, 2016. Quarterback Josh Rosen will return for the Bruins and hopefully, starts off strong. At the same time, the Bruins need to avoid having bunches of injuries like the past season. I am really excited about next season. Gooooooooooooo Bruins!!!!!!!!
                   

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