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Bruin Nation, Bruins, college football, College Football Playoff, football, Joe Bruin, NCAA, Pac-12 Conference, Pac-12 South, Rose Bowl, UCLA, UCLA Bruin Marching Band, UCLA Bruins, UCLA Football, University of California Los Angeles, Westwood
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES (UCLA) BRUINS – 103rd SEASON
2020 Record: 3-4, 3-4 and fifth place in the Pac-12 South
- Lost to USC, 43-38, on December 12th
- UCLA’s four losses were by a combined total of 15 points
Coach: Chip Kelly, fourth season
Home: Rose Bowl, capacity 91,136
Key Returning Players (2020 stats):
- Dorian Thompson-Robinson, QB – 65.22% completions, 1,120 yards, 12 TD, 4 INT // 306 yards rushing, 5.6 ypc, 3 TD
- Brittain Brown, RB – 543 yards, 6.6 ypc, 4TD
- Kyle Phillips, WR – 38 receptions, 370 yards, 2 TD
- Greg Dulcich, TE – 26 receptions, 517 yards, 5 TD
- Sean Rhyan, LT – A key to an improved offensive line
- Caleb Johnson, LB – 44 tackles, 7.0 TFL, 5.5 sacks
- Stephen Blaylock, SS – 42 tackles, 2 INT
- Quantrezz Knight, STRIK – 40 tackles, 4.0 TFL
- Quentin Lake, FS – 33 tackles, 1 INT
Key Games:
- September 4th vs LSU
- September 25th at Stanford
- October 2nd vs Arizona State
- October 16th at Washington
- October 23rd vs Oregon
- October 30th at Utah
- November 20th at USC
Thoughts and Comments:
20-36
Twenty wins.
Thirty-six losses.
That is the record of UCLA’s football team the past five seasons.
It’s the worst stretch in the 103-year history of the program.
Ten of those 20 wins and twenty-one of those 36 losses have been under Chip Kelly,
Who when he was hired was expected to have an immediate impact as in Pac-12 contention and trips to good bowl games at the ultimate minimum if not Rose Bowl berths, New Year’s Six Bowl Berths, and contention for the College Football Playoff.
Needless to say, this current era of futility has made me angry, sick, and just plain fed up.
As it should for every student, alumni, booster, and fan of UCLA football.
I can’t speak for any of my fellow members of Bruin Nation, but I felt like I was completely suckered on a pronounced scale when UCLA lost their first five games during Kelly’s first season in 2018 on the way to a most embarrassingly pathetic 3-9 mark.
The fact those Bruins beat USC in what was the most stunning (but happily surprising) upset in the Crosstown Rivalry in over a decade that year, while very nice, in my opinion didn’t make up for how terrible those Bruins were.
Thank goodness for Joshua Kelley and his Crosstown Rivalry record 289 rushing yard heroics that day.
That players were dropping out like flies and transferring like crazy during these previous three years under Kelly likewise didn’t endear me to him any.
Nor did him refusing to let his team walk through the tailgaters before games at the Rose Bowl,
Or putting the Victory Bell won in 2018 in the Morgan Center for everyone in the UCLA community to see and admire, sticking it in the harder to find football offices instead.
In fact, those last two moves ticked me off.
But you know what?
Here are the things that will lead to a personal forgiveness of this head football coach of UCLA’s – at least for the time being:
A bare minimum of…
- Bowl eligibility – six wins at the ultimate least
- A berth in a bowl game
And – VERY IMPORTANT,
- A win in that bowl game
Which would total seven wins at minimum.
If Kelly and that team of my alma mater’s achieves that and ends this horrible streak of five consecutive losing seasons,
I will see that as making good progress.
But if not,
Much like the fans, boosters and alumni at UCLA’s crosstown rival who dearly want their football coach to be canned,
I’ll be an advocate for athletic director Martin Jarmond to do the same thing as in “Fire Chip Kelly”.
Especially since all of UCLA’s players are Kelly’s recruits now.
And they are quite capable of reaching the standards that I have personally set, particularly on offense with Thompson-Robinson, or DTR, having his best season yet under center last year as he has progressed well during his time in Westwood.
As DTR goes, so will the Bruin offense.
And – much more importantly, as this is something I feel strongly about,
As goes the defense, so will go the Bruins in 2021.
It was the defense that was the reason for UCLA’s 3-4 record as they blew late leads to their final two opponents, USC and Stanford, and lost to them in a fashion that made me and I’m sure the rest of Bruin Nation feel like screaming “AAAAUGH!!”, like Charlie Brown often does after his failures on the baseball field, while trying to kick the football (thanks to Lucy, of course), and elsewhere.
It was the defense that continued to be swiss cheese against the pass as they ranked a sorry 114th in the nation in that area, allowing 274.1 yards per game in the air.
And it’s that pass defense in particular – and that defense as a whole – that must significantly improve if the Bruins are going to return to relevancy.
Otherwise, Bruin Nation can expect a lot of 49-45 games once again.
And they can expect UCLA to have the 45 most of the time.
In other words,
UCLA will go as far as their defense will take them.
Being that nine of eleven starters return on that side of the ball, meaning that they will have some very valuable experience,
I actually feel optimistic about them improving and being a factor in winning games this season,
Rather than merely depending on the offense to outscore teams.
One question remains regarding this football program of my alma mater’s…
Do I see these Bruins coming through, having a winning season for the first time since 2015, and fulfilling the promise that Kelly brought when he was hired in 2018?
Or – one can dare to dream – even find themselves in strong contention for the Pac-12 title and a major bowl game?
You’re going to have to check out this blog on Thursday, when I post my season predictions for this Band of Bruins, to find that out.
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