About last night: A review of UCLA’s 48-45 loss to Memphis

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UCLA quarterback Josh Rosen (3) scrambles against Memphis in the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Sept. 16, 2017, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

UCLA fell to 2-1 after losing a 48-45 shootout at Memphis at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium. The Bruins had a chance to win or tie on their final drive after a failed fake field goal attempt from Memphis, but they stalled near midfield. Memphis dialed up pressure and Josh Rosen was nearly intercepted on first-and-10. Rosen missed his next three passes, including the fourth-down attempt to Darren Andrews.

The UCLA defense gave up a season-high 560 yards and six passing touchdowns to Memphis quarterback Riley Ferguson. Opponents are averaging 515.3 yards per game and 6.2 yards per play against UCLA through three games.

Links to recap the action from UCLA’s nonconference finale:

A more in-depth review of the game:

GOODS

  • Jalen Starks: Jalen Starks stepped up for a struggling running backs group. Nate Starks went down early in the game with an apparent knee injury. Soso Jamabo did not travel due to a lingering injury problem. Brandon Stephens fumbled in the first quarter and got only one more carry afterward. Bolu Olorunfunmi ended up leading the team in rushing with 77 yards on 13 carries, but Jalen Starks played a critical role in all facets of the game: rushing (20 yards, 6 carries, 1 TD), receiving (2 catches, 70 yards) and pass protection. Memphis was bringing a lot of pressure in the second half and Jalen Starks did well to hold up in pass protection. The 6-foot, 265-pound sophomore seemed destined to be more of a situational back for the Bruins this year considering the team’s other options, but he showed that he’s no one-trick, short-yardage pony.
  • Rosen running: Rosen pulling the ball on the occasional zone read ended up being a valuable asset for the UCLA offense. He did it three times, came up with a 1-yard touchdown run in the second quarter and rushed for two first downs in the fourth quarter. He won’t be carrying the ball too often because of the injury risk, but it’s good to keep the defense honest. He scrambled three more times and ended up with 32 rushing yards on seven carries (one carry was a sack for a 10-yard loss).
  • Stefan Flintoft: Don’t sleep on Flintoft. He punted five times and pinned four of them inside the 20-yard line, including three that were inside the 10. Memphis’ average starting field position was on its own 23-yard line, 10 yards behind UCLA’s. The Bruins really struggled to win the field-position game last year, but Flintoft has become a weapon in that regard during these first three games. The Bruins are third in the Pac-12 in punting (net 42.4 yards).

BADS

  • Don’t be a hero: Rosen for the most part had a good day. He was 34-for-56 passing for 463 yards and four touchdowns, but also threw two costly interceptions in the second half. One was a 60-yard pick-6 and another came in the red zone in the fourth quarter. The junior quarterback said he got caught up “playing to play hero ball.” He often tried to be the hero early in his career and when Memphis brought heavy pressure in the second half, Rosen reverted back to the freshman version of himself that looked long-gone in the first two games.
    • The first interception was the worst of freshman Rosen: rolling out to the right and throwing back across his body to the left. It was an easy pick-6 by Tim Hart.
    • The second interception was on third-and-10 at the Memphis 19-yard line with UCLA trailing by three. There was an unblocked blitzer coming around the left side. Jordan Lasley didn’t recognize the pressure, so he didn’t break off his route and Rosen left it short. Rosen took the blame for the mistake, saying that he cost the team the game-tying three-point opportunity by turning it over in the red zone and not throwing it away.
  • The big one: The UCLA defense gave up 560 yards and 244 169 (corrected) of those came on three plays. Darrell Henderson rushed for 80 yards on Memphis’ first play of the day. Patrick Taylor took a short screen pass and turned it into a 47-yard touchdown and Tony Pollard did the same thing for a 42-yard score. That’s 30.2 percent of Memphis’ total yardage coming on just three plays. Big plays are the ultimate death of a defense and UCLA won’t improve if it can’t eliminate those.
    • Jim Mora was seen talking to the defensive players about eye discipline after the screen passes. The Memphis offense tricked the Bruins with misdirections and got the defense flowing in the wrong direction.
    • Missed tackles were also critical on those big plays. Lokeni Toailoa could have stopped Henderson for a 3-yard gain, but the sophomore missed the tackle and the running back scampered for 80.
  • More injuries: Jaelan Phillips was having a very good game until he suffered what appeared to be a very painful right ankle injury early in the fourth quarter. He had four tackles, two of which went for loss before leaving the game. He did well to contain the edge on running plays, which helped the Bruins give up just 82 rushing yards after that first 80-yard debacle. Phillips has shown steady improvement in his first three games, so if he’s out for a while, it’ll be a big loss. He wasn’t able to put any weight on his right leg while being helped off the field and was seen in a walking boot after the game.
    • Running back Nate Starks suffered a possible knee injury in the first quarter and walked out of the locker room on crutches.

QUOTABLE

“I think the next  step for him in becoming a great quarterback is getting us to the next down and for some reason that’s difficult for him to do right now.”

~ Jim Mora on Rosen

GO FIGURE

  • 560 total yards allowed by UCLA, a season-high
  • 175 receiving yards for Andrews, a career high
  • 3 for 12 on third-down attempts by Memphis
  • 170 rushing yards for UCLA, the most since last year’s game against UNLV

PERSONNEL NOTES

  • Adarius Pickett played every drive except for the first one after suffering that knee injury last weekend. On almost no practice, he had two tackles, one interception and one pass breakup. Without Kenny Young and Jaleel Wadood, getting Pickett back was a big boost for the defense.
  • Boss Tagaloa was available for the game, but didn’t come in until the very end. The first time I noticed him was in the fourth quarter. Tagaloa sat out against Hawaii, but seemed to be practicing this week after suffering what looked like a minor injury against Texas A&M.
  • Osa Odighizuwa will be suspended for the first half against Stanford for his fourth-quarter targeting penalty.