What we learned in UCLA’s win over California

UCLA had its season saved on a last-minute interception from Marcus Rios, a defensive back who almost died from a fungal infection two years ago. That’s a heck of a sentence, and Rios is a heck of a story.

That was not a heck of a game, however. The Bruins squeaked past a Cal team that was dominated by Washington last week, snapping a two-game losing streak with a 36-34 victory. Here’s the in-game live blog, and here’s what we learned in the win:

This team continues to play down to its competition

Virginia. Memphis. Texas. Utah. Now, Cal.

The sad truth of this UCLA season is that the Bruins have played one complete game. They dominated Arizona State, true and fair.

Every other game of their season, save the blowout against Oregon, has been unnecessarily close. This was more understandable in the beginning of the season, when UCLA was dealing with huge expectations and were theoretically trying to figure its own game out.

It’s now October. There are no expectations left. This team continues to be unable to string together a solid game.

For all intents and purposes, Cal is a bad football team. Its defense can’t tackle, its offensive line can’t block, and its defensive line can’t get pressure. Jared Goff almost single-handedly led this team to a win, because UCLA let him. The Bruins committed dumb penalties, turned the ball over, and kicked three short field goals because they couldn’t punch the touchdown in. If not for a questionable play call to go for a touchdown when a field goal would have won the game, the Bears might have won this game.

Good teams win bad games, but if the majority of the games are bad, that’s a telling sign. There’s a major gap between the talent of this team and the way they actually perform, something we’ve consistently seen this entire season.

Something is up with Brett Hundley

The redshirt junior quarterback played without his bulky arm brace for the first time since injuring his elbow against Texas, but it didn’t look as if that helped him at all.

The numbers — 330 passing yards with two touchdowns — are deceiving. The vast majority of his passing yards came on short screens that got yardage after the catch. Cal has the worst secondary in the nation, and the Bruins didn’t let Hundley air it out much. When he did, Hundley was intercepted on a poorly thrown pass.

That interception was one of his two turnovers in the game. The other was a fumble. Both led to Cal scores. He also fumbled near the Golden Bears’ red zone, but the ball was recovered by a Bruin offensive lineman.

He did run the ball 17 times for 94 yards and a score, part of offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone’s plan to get his quarterback into space. And again, it’s not like he played a terrible game.

It just … it just wasn’t Hundley. He should have dominated this Cal team. Last year, he would have scored at ease against this miserable Cal secondary. I don’t know if it’s the schemes, his receivers, his line or some unknown injury, but Hundley doesn’t look anywhere close to the player that was seen as a dark-horse Heisman candidate in August.

The defensive line saved the day

Cal cannot block. Let’s just get that out of the way.

And yet, it has to be said that the defensive line played one of its better games of the season.

The Bruins would routinely rush three and get pressure. The unit allowed just 56 rushing yards on 1.8 yards per carry. The man with the impossible name and the impossible physique, Owamagbe Odighizuwa, straight dominated for the first time this season.

UCLA’s secondary struggled even with the defensive line playing as well as it did, so who knows what would have happened with a lackluster performance. It’s probably too much to say the defensive line won the game for the Bruins, but they definitely had a huge part in it.

The offensive line played one of its better games of the season

Again, let’s qualify this by saying Cal’s defensive line was not good, and was also missing its best defensive lineman, Brennan Scarlett.

Still, the addition of Conor McDermott to the starting group seemed to work the way it was supposed to. Malcolm Bunche moved back to his natural position, guard, and McDermott seemed to more than hold his own.

Hundley was sacked only one time and often had nothing but time in the pocket, while the Bruins ran for 237 yards and averaged five yards per carry.

It’s hard to tell what the unit will look like against a reasonable defensive line, but if nothing else, this could lead to some confidence and consistency from a group that is sorely in need of both.