NFL
By: Brock Vierra
It felt like we were all in an episode of the Twilight Zone while watching Washington State’s abysmal performance against UCLA. This was their worst overall performance of the season as their offense was uncharacteristically awful on their way to a 25-17 loss to the Bruins. Cam Ward looked flustered in the pocket, often looking like a chicken without a head while scrambling under pressure. UCLA is a very good program with a bunch of excellent players but this loss lies firmly on the offensive line and coaching. This loss has severely hurt Washington State’s Pac-12 Title and College Football Playoff chances and it didn’t need to happen. Let’s talk about it.
Don’t let the numbers fool you, Washington State’s defense played at an elite level. They had two interceptions including a pick-six on the day and despite the Bruins’ 470 yards of total offense, it must be remembered that the defense was on the field for 38 minutes. That’s a lot of playtime and a lot of field to cover when you go against Chip Kelly’s offense. Their bend but don’t break method kept them in this game, especially with the fact that UCLA ran 97 plays. As for Washington State’s offense, putting up 216 total yards and only 10 offensive points isn’t acceptable. Having only 12 total rushing yards isn’t acceptable. Having four turnovers is not only unacceptable but it is the type of thing that gets people fired.
Cam Ward looked like a lost puppy on that field. When he wasn’t suffering one of the three sacks he endured at the Rose Bowl, he was running for his life as UCLA’s pass rushers kept getting through. I don’t care how many times the announcers mentioned how Laiatu Latu is an expectant first-round pick, it still doesn’t justify how UCLA had multiple pass rushers in the backfield on almost every play. Especially when the Bruins were only rushing three or four players at a time. Now Ward did himself no favors. He was sloppy, he made bad throws and the two interceptions he had were just egregious. The first interception was an awful read that was made worse by the fact he eyed down his intended receiver. The second one looked like he didn’t see the linebacker because it was a straight dot to opps. Keep in mind that before Ward threw the first pick, Washington State was down 6-3. UCLA then added a field goal on the next possession. On the second pick, Washington State was down 18-17 before the ball was thrown. UCLA then took the ball into the endzone on the subsequent drive.
Ward’s decisions led to 10 points by UCLA but it wasn’t just him. The Bruins also scored a touchdown after Carlos Hernandez’s fumble as well. 17 points off of your own turnovers is not winning football. OC Ben Arbuckle made almost no adjustments it felt like, they lost the line of scrimmage and this is the type of sloppy loss that always plummets the Cougars’ championship dreams. Yes UCLA was the favorite but you’re the thirteenth-ranked team in the nation. You should put these games away.
This was a tough lesson but today’s performance was not fatal and it wasn’t final. They have a chin-check matchup next week against an Arizona team that took USC to the limit and the Wildcats can move the football. Should they win, they will most likely have ranked road matchups against Oregon and Washington so running the table will get them to Vegas, and perhaps the possibility of the playoff is still alive.
Arizona State, Cal, and Stanford should be easy wins but after today, I can’t say that anymore. They do play Colorado with a presumed healthy Travis Hunter being a massive problem. Jake Dickert and Arbuckle need to take a breath and address the multiple issues that veered their ugly heads today because this can’t happen again.
For more CFP content, check out Team NBS Media’s Sunday morning recap show, The Last Word.
