Week 5: Arizona Wildcats vs UCLA Bruins Preview

Alright, let's not sugar coat it. Last week’s loss to Stanford was pretty disappointing. Losing on last second drives is always bad but, when you lose to a top 10 team on a last second drive, that hurts more.

Now, with that out of the way let us get to the positives. UCLA faces Arizona this week at home. This is game is a solid opportunity to bounce back from a tough week with one of the Pac-12’s lesser teams. Yes, they played Washington close last week but, I believe this was a case of being hyped for a ranked opponent. UCLA needs to use this game to improve phases of their game, especially the offense.

Josh Rosen and company has missed every single expectation that I had for them in the beginning of the year. Their offense hasn’t scored more than 30 points yet in the season against a power five team; Rosen has five touchdowns and four interceptions and they’re 114th in the nation in rushing. It has been difficult to watch the offensive line let defensive lines in so easily and getting to Rosen before he has anytime. Rosen also is at fault; he’s missed open passes and has throw too many interceptions. I understand that he’s still young but he was suppose to be the leader of this team and has yet to impress anyone. But, the most annoying and fixable thing that has caused my heart to skip a beat is obviously the wide receiving core. Drops have plagued the entire offense and have absolutely killed momentum at the most opportune times. The only thing in the entire offense that has shown some signs of life is the running game. UCLA’s running game has been inconsistent and only managed 77 yards against Stanford. Mora has switched running backs more than I switch cloths. Soso Jamabo, Bolu Olorunfunmi, Nate Starks, and Brandon Stephens have all taken double digit carries and all have had their ups and downs. All of these factors contribute in a disappointing season so far for new offensive coordinator Kennedy Polamalu.

If UCLA wants to win the Pac-12 South then the offense will have to perform as well as the Bruins’ defense has. In the past three games, the defense has yet to give up over 24 points and quite frankly has surprised me. The Arizona offense does not scare me if I’m a Bruins fan and I have confidence in Jim Mora and Polamalu and they’ll be able to fix the offense. If the offense doesn’t right the ship here then UCLA might as well throw in the towel because they absolutely need an offense to back up their amazing run of defensive play. UCLA will win, but I have a bad feeling that this game is going to be a lot closer than we expect. A -13 line on UCLA feels like an easy cover for Arizona but UCLA will eventually come away with the victory and look forward to two tough road games.