UCLA Bruins vs Oregon State Beavers: The Road to .500

There’s no place like home.

After another rough road game, UCLA comes back home to the Rose Bowl to face lowly Oregon State. The Beavers travel to Pasadena coming off a 27-10 loss against Stanford lowering their record to 2-7. The Bruins, also coming off a loss, will try to rebound this week as they look to gain some offensive momentum.

It’s no secret that the UCLA offense has been disappointing throughout the entire year. Even with Josh Rosen under center, they’ve failed to meet expectations that were set for them. This week must be a big offensive performance if they can even dream about a bowl game. The past three weeks, the OSU defense has given up 41, 31, and 26 points. Mike Fafaul has been brutally average; he has nine touchdowns to nine interceptions and averages 5 yards per attempt compared to Rosen’s 8 yards per attempt. UCLA needs Fafaul to play well because of their lack of a run game. UCLA’s leading rusher is Soso Jamabo who has 272 yards through nine games. That is horrible. Joe Williams rushed for more yards in one game against the Bruins than any Bruin back has all season. Jim Mora and the offense failed yet another test last week as they only scored 10 points against a stout Colorado defense. Mora has to find a way to put Fafaul in a place in to succeed and actually running the ball with some success will greatly aid the offense. Last week’s loss to Colorado was by the largest margin of the season and it was only 10 points. Why is this the case? The outstanding play of the defense.

The defense redeemed themselves with a solid performance against CU. They only gave up 20 points and deserved to get the win. The defensive line put the Buffalo offense under pressure all night and the secondary forced three interceptions. After the game, there have been rumors of the UCLA defense fighting the offense in the locker room which lead to a couple holes in the wall and a trashed locker room. This game will be a key for the year as Mora might be losing the locker room. If they take another loss, the locker room may turn on Mora and losing out could be a real possibility. I have confidence that UCLA can muster up enough points against this poor OSU defense. The defense will be able to limit the Beaver offense and UCLA will come home with a victory. The final score will be 31-10 Bruins.