Cal Football Blown Out by Previously Winless UCLA for Third Straight Loss
Cal football experienced another power outage on offense, and their defense also wasn’t great in a blowout loss to previously winless UCLA.
It was a familiar story for the Cal football team. On their second offensive drive, Cal was moving the ball, having picked up a couple first downs. But Patrick Laird fumbled the ball away, and UCLA was able to turn that turnover into a touchdown.
The fumble was Cal’s 10th turnover in three Pac-12 games, and the touchdown gave their opponents 35 points off those turnovers. The defense has been sturdy and made it difficult on their opponents, but they are being tasked with facing short fields and quick rests far too often.
After another quick punt by Cal’s offense, UCLA drove down the field easily and put up field goal, taking a 10-0 lead early in the second quarter. The Bear offense went three and out again, and UCLA kicked another field goal. On their penultimate possession before the half, Cal gained two first downs and nothing more. The last possession resulted in a missed field goal after Chip Kelly called two timeouts to successfully ice kicker Greg Thomas.
Cal had absolutely no offensive rhythm in the first half. They gained 108 yards on 30 plays, 3.6 yards per play. They converted one of six third-down attempts. UCLA gained 204 yards and dominated time of possession, holding the ball for over 18 minutes in the first 30.
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On the first drive of the second half, Cal started to mix things up and gain some yardage. They used a bootleg, a wide receiver screen, and a pass from running back Patrick Laird to move down the field. Laird finished it off with his legs, scoring from one yard out to finally get the Bears on the board.
That momentum was quickly wiped away. The Bears defense had no answer for UCLA running back Joshua Kelley, who scored his second touchdown on the ensuing drive to put the Bruins back ahead by 13 points.
Cal failed to convert on a fourth down in UCLA territory on their next drive, and then UCLA was able to thrust in the dagger. Kelley continued his thrashing of the Bears’ defense, scoring for the third time to put UCLA ahead by 20. A tipped ball resulted in a UCLA interception on the next drive, and the game was even further out of reach by that point.
Cal was dominated by a team that came in winless. They couldn’t move the ball against a defense that came in allowing 430 yards of offense and over 36 points per game. They turned the ball over four times, giving them 13 turnovers in three conference games. They didn’t play up to their own defensive standards from the first five games, allowing UCLA to move the ball with little effort, and allowing senior running back Joshua Kelley to gain a career-high 157 yards and score three times. All around, it was a terrible effort.
There really weren’t many positives at all. Quarterback play was, again, bad. Brandon McIlwain didn’t have the explosive runs he had the previous two weeks, and good throws were few and far between. Laird had a good game, gaining 94 yards and averaging over five yards per carry, but his first quarter fumble was the beginning of Cal’s stumble. Through six games, no receiver has emerged as the top target. This offense, simply put, is not good enough to win in the conference as it is, and they don’t have many clearly better options.
One bright spot is the continued excellence of linebacker Jordan Kunaszyk. He racked up 22 tackles, the first Cal player since 1993 to go over 20 tackles, with 14 of them being solo stops. He also forced a fumble, and recorded two tackles for loss. He has 73 tackles on the season, 5.5 of them for loss, to go with three forced fumbles.
Next. Cal Gives Away 14th Straight Conference Road Game. dark
The Bears will have another chance to get their first win in the Pac-12 next week, visiting the Oregon State Beavers in Corvallis. Oregon State is 1-5 on the season, but will be fresh coming off their bye week. That is a team the Bears should beat, but they have lost plenty of games they should have won. If they come out like they did against UCLA next weekend, they’ll be sitting at 0-4 within the conference.