UCLA takes a beating, and gets hit with targeting penalties

UCLA was involved with two potential targeting penalties Sunday. Neither worked out in the Bruins’ favor.

Linebacker Kenny Young appeared to absorb a helmet-to-helmet blow from Hawaii tight end Metuisela Unga in the first quarter, but officials ruled the contact was only shoulder to shoulder and Unga was not penalized. A woozy Young left the game and did not return.

UCLA lost another linebacker in the fourth quarter when Josh Woods was called for targeting on a fourth-down pass to Rainbow Warriors receiver Kalakaua Timoteo that fell incomplete. Woods was ejected after officials reviewed the play and must also sit out the first half of the Bruins’ game against Memphis next week.

UCLA coach Jim Mora said there was no upside to a targeting rule that imposes such harsh penalties.

“I think it’s an awful rule, frankly, that you just take a young man who’s playing football hard, at full speed,” Mora said after the Bruins’ 56-23 victory. “Josh is anything but a dirty player. He’s not a dirty player at all. He makes a clean hit. Things happen so fast out there. They happen so fast. Receiver catches it, he’s coming down, so all of a sudden Josh hits him kind of high, and now you’re going to punish this guy [by] not letting him play for an entire half? I think it’s a terrible injustice, and I think it’s a horrible rule.”

The targeting rule is meant to protect players and serve as a deterrent from unnecessarily harsh hits, but Mora said it failed its latter intent.

“I don’t think it deters anybody from anything,” Mora said. “Those guys are out there laying it on the line every down. … I don’t think college players go out there with the intent to play dirty, or the intent to target. I’m not talking about just ours. I’m talking about college players in general. I think they like to play the game hard and physical, and the way it’s supposed to be played.

“The penalty, you know, I can live with the penalty, but the penalty to the player, having him sit out an entire half … they only get 12 chances in college [per season]. It’s an awful rule.”

Freshman moments

UCLA true freshman safety Darnay Holmes was tired of the quick hitch passes Hawaii kept completing in the first half.

“I was just like, ‘All right, I’m over that, looking bad on my side of the ball,’ ” Holmes said. “So I just have to jump it and stop that little trickeration they have going on.”

Holmes stepped in front of a Dru Brown pass late in the second quarter for an interception he returned 30 yards for a touchdown, pointing a finger skyward once he reached the end zone.

“I was just thinking in my head, like, is this real?” Holmes, a native of Pasadena, said of scoring his first collegiate touchdown in his hometown. “My celebration wasn’t the best celebration, I just soaked it all in, but it’s just honestly a blessing.”

Holmes also returned a kickoff 54 yards, a shoestring tackle preventing him from possibly scoring on the play.

Quick hits

UCLA receiver Christian Pabico, a junior walk-on, made the first three catches of his career for 47 yards. … UCLA linebacker Krys Barnes, subbing for the injured Young, made a team-high 12 tackles. … The announced crowd of 50,444 was UCLA’s smallest at home since drawing 42,685 on Sept. 10, 2011, against San Jose State. … The game was completed in 3 hours 14 minutes after the Pac-12 Conference implemented several measures to shorten its length. … UCLA improved to 3-0 all time against Hawaii.

ben.bolch@latimes.com

Follow Ben Bolch on Twitter @latbbolch