According to Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times; “UCLA Head Coach Chip Kelly said Monday that 88 players participated in the game, including walk-ons and third- and fourth-stringers. UCLA (2-0) won so handily that three backup quarterbacks played after Thompson-Robinson’s departure.” In addition, the Bruins’ leading rusher Zach Charbonnet also sat this one out. After pulling Thompson-Robinson early in the 2nd Qtr, who had already passed for 101 yards and a TD, it was time for Sophomore back-up QB Ethan Garbers, a 6’ 3” 210lb transfer from Washington. If Saturday was any indication Chip has nothing to worry about going forward next year without his Senior signal caller. Garbers completed over 75% of his passes for 164 yards in addition to rushing twice for two TD’s. The game was never in doubt with UCLA leading from start to finish. The Bruins were ahead by 14 at the end of the 1st Qtr, 31-to-7 at the break—then added 14 more in the second half while holding Alabama State scoreless. Collectively the Bruins were 23-of-30 for 265 yards in the air with 1 TD and 1 interception. On the ground they rushed 38 times for 220 yards and 5 TD’s with five different running backs sharing the chores. The Bruins had 10 more 1st Downs, almost 200 more Total Yards and scored eight times in 17 minutes, averaging less than 2.5 minutes per possession for each of their scores which is why they actually trailed in time-of-possession by more than 10 minutes.
Chip knows all about scoring quickly. The Oregon Ducks back in 2012, running Kelly’s “blur” offense, opened up their season against Arkansas State scoring seven TD’s in their first seven possessions in under 11 minutes. They won that game 57-34 averaging 1 point every 12.9 seconds. Back in 2010, in a game against his current team, they won 60-13 while averaging 1 point every 15.9 seconds. UCLA is not doing that but they certainly have plenty of weapons to enable the offense to score quickly and often. Of equal importance, if not more so, they have held their opponents so far to an average of just 225 total yards per game. If they can keep that, or anywhere near that, up against stiffer competition this should be the Bruins best year in quite a while. UCLA will be at home again this week to host South Alabama before opening up conference play the next week against what could be an even weaker opponent—Colorado.