UCLA gets run over by Khalil Tate and Arizona 47-30
Arizona had been the salve for everything that troubled UCLA during Bruins coach Jim Mora’s first five seasons in Westwood.
Leaky defense? Penalties littering the field? Running game that managed next to nothing?
None of it seemed to matter.
The Bruins always beat the Wildcats and felt better about themselves for at least a week.
That made what happened Saturday night at Arizona Stadium something of a rocket-charged reverse. UCLA departed the desert with some new problems to go with the old ones after a 47-30 loss to Arizona that prompted some disbelief among at least one prominent Bruins alumnus.
“Ucla football doesn’t lose to Arizona ... straight embarrassing,” Atlanta Falcons defensive end Takkarist McKinley tweeted after UCLA had surrendered 30 points by halftime.
McKinley kept his thoughts to himself after the Bruins missed three tackles on the same play in the third quarter, Arizona quarterback Khalil Tate slipping through the defense for a 71-yard touchdown run.
It was certainly hard to tell that UCLA (3-3 overall, 1-2 Pac-12 Conference) had made tackling and containing the quarterback a focus in practices during its bye week.
“I’m not going to point any fingers,” UCLA linebacker Kenny Young said, “but some of the guys that I’ve seen, I don’t think they came with the full commitment tonight and I think they know that.”
When the carnage was over, Arizona fans giddily chanting “U of A!” in the final moments, the Wildcats had rolled up 605 yards of offense, including 457 on the ground.
Tate finished with 230 yards rushing and 148 yards passing while accounting for three touchdowns in a fine followup to his 327-yard rushing performance last week against Colorado, helping the Wildcats (4-2, 2-1) break their five-game losing streak against the Bruins.
“We put all our energy into stopping him,” Mora said, “and we did not get it done.”
UCLA quarterback Josh Rosen was a surprising culprit, failing to throw for a touchdown in a game for the first time this season while having three passes intercepted.
Rosen completed 20 of 34 passes for 219 yards and was sacked five times.
“I just didn’t play well,” said Rosen, who snapped his own school-record streak of throwing for at least one touchdown in 14 consecutive games going back to the 2015 season.
“At all.”
Three turnovers and shoddy defense doomed the Bruins to a 30-14 halftime deficit that they couldn’t climb out of even after finding some sustained success with their run game.
UCLA tailback Bolu Olorunfunmi ran for a career-high 102 yards and two touchdowns as part of the Bruins’ season-high 190 rushing yards and four touchdowns.
Olorunfunmi’s one-yard score pulled his team to within 40-30 with one minute left in the third quarter.
The Bruins might have had a chance if they didn’t have to send their defense back onto the field.
Arizona responded with its fifth touchdown drive that spanned 75 yards; the Wildcats needed an average of only 5.8 plays to score on those drives.
UCLA’s normally prolific passing game was a mess in the early going.
Receiver Jordan Lasley dropped two passes on the same drive and when he later badly beat the Arizona secondary to get open, Rosen overthrew him.
Two Rosen passes that didn’t have enough on them proved far more troublesome.
The first came when Rosen floated a pass toward receiver Darren Andrews in the corner of the end zone only to watch Arizona cornerback Jace Whittaker step in front of it for an interception.
Rosen then lofted another lazy pass on UCLA’s next drive that Whittaker intercepted and returned for a 42-yard touchdown that gave Arizona a 24-7 lead.
UCLA’s worst fears were realized on Arizona’s first drive, when the Wildcats needed only four plays to go 75 yards for a touchdown.
Three of the plays went for long gains, including Tate’s 45-yard scoring run.
Tate, the former standout from Gardena Serra High, then displayed his arm strength late in the first quarter when he fired a 53-yard pass to Shun Brown. Tailback Nick Wilson eventually ran for a one-yard touchdown to extend Arizona’s lead to 17-7.
The Wildcats were just getting started on a night when the Bruins provided every pick-me-up the home team needed.
Young said he believed UCLA could still win the Pac-12 South Division but acknowledged one thing had to change to make that a possibility.
“This losing stuff’s gotta go, man,” Young said. “It’s frustrating.”
Follow Ben Bolch on Twitter @latbbolch
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