Well, if you’re a UCLA fan and like to place a bet every now and then, the Bruins came in as a 27.5 point underdog and only lost by 16, 27-to-11, in a game that had an interception by the Bruins in the red zone called back for a non-existent holding penalty and a holding penalty that wasn’t called on a crucial UCLA down. Two calls to my way of thinking that resulted in probably a 14 point swing. Yeah, I am a little bitter about the officiating—definitely felt like it was home town referees calling the game. In spite of the loss I thought the Bruin defense did a pretty good job but unfortunately with an offense that’s ranked 127th in the nation and averaging just six plays a possession in this one you can probably never play good enough to win the game. They held the Penn State Junior QB Drew Allar to pretty much right at his average yards and even though he had thrown eight TD’s in their first four games he only connected once in this one. On the ground Penn State rushed for less than 100 yards against the UCLA run defense even though they had averaged 250 yards in their previous four games. And although I was very high on Senior QB Ethan Garbers coming into the season and in spite of the loss I really thought that Sophomore QB Justyn Martin, in for an injured Garbers, did a better job running the trying-to-emerge Bieniemy offense—also helped by a better effort on the offensive line.
I think there were a couple times where the Bruins were probably unnecessarily aggressive. UCLA won the toss, deferred, and held the Nittany Lions to a three-and-out their first possession of the game. Eleven plays later they were 4th and 1 at the Penn State 23 yard line and chose to go for it instead of take the easy three points. I felt like after all that great effort on both sides of the ball they needed to get some points up on the board that early in the game and take the lead. The next time late in the 2nd Qtr they were 4th and goal at the 7 yard line and did kick the three pointer, but Penn would come right back for their 2nd TD of the half to go in up 14-3 at the break instead of what could have been a single possession difference.
The Bruins would get held to a three-and-out on two of their first three possessions of the second half and would have to punt on the third and turn the ball over on downs on the 4th. They’d finally get their one and only TD of the game on a 16 play 73 yard drive that ended with a Logan Loya 1 yard run into the end zone and a Justyn Martin pass to Keegan Jones for a successful 2 point conversion. But with Penn State scoring a TD and a field goal in the 3rd Qtr and another three pointer in the fourth, UCLA’s TD with less than 20 seconds left just wouldn’t cut it.
For the Bruins, Sophomore QB Justyn Martin connected on over 70% of his passes for 167 yards, 1 TD, and no interceptions while on the ground Senior RB’s Keegan Jones and Jalen Berger along with Junior T.J. Harden collectively rushed 21 times for 102 yards but never found the end zone. Place Kicker Mateen Bhaghani made his only field goal attempt of 25 yards. For Penn State, Junior QB Drew Allar connected on 70% of his passes as well for 237 yards, 1 TD, and no picks to go along with four carries for another score on the ground, The Nittany Lions collectively rushed 30 times for 85 yards with Junior RB Kaytron Allen responsible for most of it, rushing 21 times for 78 yards and the other TD on the ground. A third of the Penn State points were put up by their Freshman Place Kicker, Ryan Barker, who connected on all three PAT’s as well as both of his field goal attempts—longest from 40 yards. UCLA heads back home to host Minnesota this next Saturday while Penn State hits the road to take on a USC team that will be desperate for a win.