Bruins are good, but not great in 17-7 win over Arizona

ESPN lost UCLA’s address long ago.

Important Pac-12 Conference business was being done in Eugene (Oregon vs. Stanford) and Tempe (Arizona State vs. Utah) on Saturday.

And Bruins’ fans, those who spend a large chunk of time on message boards, knew what was wrong with their team: everything.

UCLA couldn’t seem to win for winning the last two weeks even as Coach Jim Mora took the soap box this week to say that the sky was not falling in Westwood.

“We’re after something and we realize there are going to be some ups and downs,” Mora said. “But we are going to work with the same intensity.”

The Bruins went out Saturday and waded through more ups and downs, and came away with a 17-7 victory over Arizona in the Rose Bowl.

Offensively, it wasn’t pretty. Defensively, it was just what was needed.

The victory was a bit of CPR for the Bruins (7-2 overall, 4-2 in Pac-12). Odds are, their first glimpse of Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara might still be in the San Francisco Bowl rather than the Pac-12 title game, but they wake up today in a little better position in the South Division.

Winning the division “would have been impossible” without this victory, Mora said. “A lot of things would have had to happen. A lot of things still have to happen.”

The No. 22 Bruins will certainly move up in the College Football Playoff rankings after beating No. 12 Arizona (6-2, 3-2).

“This was one of the biggest wins we’ve had since I have been here,” said receiver Jordan Payton, whose 70-yard touchdown reception in the third quarter gave UCLA a 17-7 lead. “We knew we had no choice. We needed it and we got it.”

Both teams came into the game with gaudy offensive numbers rolled up by up-tempo spread offenses. Both spent the evening trying to find some consistency.

The Bruins found a little in their running game, finishing with 272 yards on the ground. Hundley had 131. Paul Perkins had 78 yards, including a five-yard touchdown that finally gave the Bruins a 10-7 lead with five minutes left in the third quarter.

UCLA held the ball for 38 minutes, keeping the Wildcats’ offense cooling its heels on the sidelines.

“You want to score 40 points every night, yeah,” offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone said. “But when you see how our defense is playing, it’s awesome. Sometimes in offense, you just want to control the football. Play old-fashioned football.”

The defense gave its own throwback performance, holding Arizona to a season-low 272 yards, well below its average of 542 yards. Wildcats quarterback Anu Solomon, who had averaged 347 yards passing this season, threw for 175, completing only 18 of 48.

“I think that was the first game this season where everyone did their jobs on every play,” Mora said.

The laborious evening ended with the Bruins tied for second place in the South Division, one game behind Arizona State (7-1, 5-1).

Reaching the conference title game “would be a nice finish for me,” senior linebacker Eric Kendricks said.

The bar was set much higher than that in August. Many predicted that the Bruins would not only be one of the four teams in the College Football Playoff, but would win the national championship.

UCLA fans were easily swayed. Then the Bruins meandered through the first four games before losing to No. 18 Utah and No. 5 Oregon.

ESPN’s cameras have not returned to practice. South Division title talk focused on Arizona, Arizona State and Utah. Message boards on fan websites crackled with discontent.

“This year has been frustrating because of inconsistency,” Mora said. “We would all love to be sitting around undefeated. It’s hard to be perfect.”

Kendricks backed up his coach, saying, “This program has accomplished a lot in three years. We just need to take the next step.”

Saturday’s victory might had been a bigger step had it not been for UCLA insisting on making things difficult. The Bruins had 118 yards in penalties. Some, like the five holding calls, stalled the offense. Others pushed Arizona to a 7-0 lead.

Bruins linebacker Myles Jack kept Arizona’s only scoring drive alive … twice. The Bruins made a third-down stop, but the Wildcats retained possession when Jack was called for unsportsmanlike conduct. Later in the drive, Jack was called for a facemask penalty after another third-down stop.

Arizona could not refuse such generosity. Solomon tossed a 14-yard touchdown pass to Cayleb Jones on the next play for a 7-0 lead.

But from that point on, the Bruins stiffened. The Wildcats’ only other scoring opportunities ended in a missed field-goal attempt in the first half and a blocked field-goal attempt with two minutes left.

UCLA strung together a succession of plays without a penalty in the third quarter to take the lead. The 12-play drive included 10 running plays. Perkins handled the last one, going five yards for a 10-7 edge.

The Bruins’ next possession was quicker, and more efficient, as Hundley hit Payton in stride for a 70-yard score.

“I just want to keep moving in the right direction,” Mora had said during the week. “I think we are in many ways. Some of them are obvious. Some can’t be seen unless you are in there every day working with us.”

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