The UCLA Bruins encountered their second loss of the season when they faced the Oregon State Beavers. This particular matchup marked the end of an era,
The UCLA Bruins encountered their second loss of the season when they faced the Oregon State Beavers. This particular matchup marked the end of an era, as they won’t be playing against each other for a while.
Corvallis has always been a challenging place to play, and when you add the Beavers’ competitiveness to the mix, it becomes an even tougher assignment. The Beavers’ offense had no trouble moving the ball, even against what was expected to be a stout UCLA defense.
Unfortunately, things didn’t quite materialize for the Bruins, and the Beavers proved to be the better team on that day. Head coach Jonathan Smith discussed what worked for his team and credited the Bruins in the process.
Yeah, obviously pleased. Good win. Awesome, awesome crowd, made a difference without a doubt. The place was electric. Defensively, getting some turnovers early was huge for us and then offensively, I thought we were pretty effective honestly, in the first half. A couple red zone trips we kicked field goals, made me a little nervous early on, but able to find a way that in the second half. That’s good football team. That’s a good defense, had some athletes running around, so I was really pleased offensively. Especially DJ (Uiagalelei), accurate, recognizing some coverage, making some plays there. Knew it was going to be a four-quarter fight and really happy to be on the right side of it.
UCLA’s rushing game was one of their brighter spots, as they managed to gain 287 yards on the ground, with the lead carrier, Carson Steele, contributing 110 yards on his own.
However, the freshman QB, Dante Moore, had arguably his worst game of the year. It’s important to note that while he had a challenging game, the Bruins didn’t lose solely because of his performance.
This loss puts the Bruins in a somewhat precarious position for the rest of the season. To make an impact in the Pac-12 and have a shot at a New Year’s Six bowl game, they’ll need to virtually go undefeated from this point forward.
It all begins next week as they face the Stanford Cardinal, setting the stage for a crucial stretch ahead.
