How much did everyone pay attention to UCLA football throughout the season? I watched them blow past Nebraska 41-21 in early September because that game was on the TV in the bar next to the one broadcasting the Hokies. Outside of that, I didn't watch much Bruins football. For my own edification, I watched UCLA's games against Stanford (L 10-24), Arizona State (L, 33-38), and USC (W, 35-14).
UCLA (9-3, 6-3) finished runner up to Arizona State (10-3, 8-1) in the Pac-12 South. The Bruins were ranked 17th in the final BCS Standings. Of the teams they played ranked in the final BCS Poll UCLA lost to no. 5 Stanford, no. 10 Oregon, no. 14 Arizona State, and beat no. 25 USC.
By a measure of traditional statistics, UCLA is a balanced and formidable opponent.
| UCLA | Virginia Tech | |
|---|---|---|
| Yards Gained / Game | 448.2 (37th) | 359.1 (99th) |
| Points Scored / Game | 36.5 (23rd) | 23.4 (96th) |
| Yards Allowed / Game | 391.5 (55th) | 269.6 (4th) |
| Points Allowed / Game | 24.1 (39th) | 17.4 (8th) |
Football Outsiders F/+ advanced statistics paint an even more impressive picture of UCLA's season. UCLA ranks 13th overall, 21st on offense, 23rd on defense, and 8th on special teams. By comparison, Virginia Tech ranks 21st overall, 77th on offense, 1st on defense, and 91st on special teams.
It shouldn't come as a surprise that Vegas has tabbed UCLA as the early favorite.
UCLA opens as a 7-point favorite against the #Hokies in the Sun Bowl.— Andy Bitter (@AndyBitterVT) December 9, 2013
This is what popped off the film for me.
Dual-Threat quarterback Brett Hundley will give Virginia Tech's defense fits. The Hokies need a better game plan than the one that tried to contain Maryland quarterback C.J. Brown. UCLA's bread and butter run seems to be the zone read, and Hundley has the size (6-3, 222 pounds), speed, and elusiveness to churn out big gains. The coaches also take advantage of Hundley's legs with QB draws and designed runs. Hundley has a moderate pocket presence, and improvises well. UCLA features play-action more often than not.
UCLA loves taking advantage of underneath routes. Swing passes to the running back and wide receiver screens are favorites of their play caller. The short stuff really helps Hundley get into the flow of the game. Also, their skills guys make plays in space.
Pass protection is an issue. UCLA has allowed 34.0 sacks (109th nationally), Injuries forced shuffling on the offensive line earlier in the season. Xavier Su'a-Filo, for my money UCLA's best offensive lineman, moved outside from guard to tackle. He's a three year starter. UCLA has started 3 freshman at various times throughout the season (Quessenberry, Redmond, Benenoch). The o-line is only part of the problem though. Hundley is at times indecisive, or can get caught in the backfield scrambling. Also, there were situations where 6 defenders came and the tailback was ineffective at picking up the extra man.
Unless Virginia Tech gets their punt and kick coverage right, Ishmael Adams (#24) is going to break a big return. He did it multiple times in the games I watched. He's got jets and a knack for finding the crease.
UCLA runs a 3-4 defense and their linebackers are the strength of the unit. Outside linebacker Anthony Barr (6-4, 248-pounds) won the Lott IMPACT Trophy as the defensive player having the biggest influence on his team. Barr is a big and quick defensive stalwart who finished the season with 63 tackles, 20.0 tackles for loss, and 10.0 sacks. Jonathan McLaughlin is going to have his hands full. Myles Jack won the Pac-12's Freshman Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year award. He's a sure tackler (70 on the season). Jack also got carries at tailback because of injuries. He amassed 267 yards on 37 carries (7.2 yards per carry) and scored 7 times. He's a powerful short yardage back with a high gear too. Inside backers Eric Kendricks and Jordan Zumwalt are both multi-season starters who lead the Bruins in tackles, 105 and 83 respectively.
The secondary is serviceable, but not special.
Senior defensive end Cassius Marsh (6-4, 260 pounds) started 37 games. He's disruptive as a pass rusher, and really holds his ground and ties up a blocker against the run. He comes off as a mean player on film.
UCLA may be the best team Tech's played since Alabama. UCLA was very competitive in losses to Stanford and Arizona. They also had their way with way with a hot USC. The Cardinal was only able to put UCLA away late in the 4th quarter. UCLA had the ball down 10-17 when Hundley threw a pick with less than 3 minutes in the game.
Against Arizona State, UCLA was down 33-38 in the fourth quarter. In fact, the Bruins had outscored the Sun Devils 20-3 in the second half. With 9:15 to go UCLA drove to the 6-yard-line. They had two downs to score but pressure resulted in a 1-yard loss on second down, and a 13-yard sack on third down. Of course they missed the 38-yard field goal.
In October, AP college football writer Eric Olson noted 17 true freshmen, 13 of the top 22 on the depth chart, had played for UCLA this season. The Bruins are a talented, young team that spent 2013 trying figure out how to win against top competition. Perhaps they got over the hump against USC. Regardless, it's going to be a tall order for the Hokies to leave El Paso as Sun Bowl champions.
Comments
Good initial notes Joe, should we expect film reviews from French and Mason on UCLA before the bowl games/do you know of any UCLA sites that do film breakdowns like TKP?
Bruinsnation.com is their SBnation blog, there's usually quite a bit of content on there. Not as much in depth analysis as french's writeups but still good. That's the one I frequent. As someone who attended both schools and follows both teams, this is pretty much my worst sports-related nightmare.
You could also look at it and say "at least one of my teams is guaranteed a win!"
*Commence SEC-like chest beating*
Expect film breakdowns. This was just an early look. There's still 3 weeks until the game. I don't know of a comparable website.
The thing that unnerves me the most.....they actually have a Fuller.....WR Devin Fuller. We may have a problem here...
WHAT!? BALLS!!!
I've been thinking that since about week 2 of this season... our worst nightmare might actually be coming true.
HOWEVER, the game's not until the 31st, which means Kyle might have a better chance of being healthy. That would give us 2 Fullers to their 1. We win.
Plus a Sam Rogers
Knowing what an unfortunate location El Paso is for most to travel to, I must admit I am really looking forward to this game. As Joe notes UCLA is actually quite a strong team. The biggest compliment you can give them is how balanced they are and I agree that Hudley and the offense could give us real problems.
But I like this match up for other reasons. I remember a time when growing up one of the most interesting aspect of going bowling was seeing who you would play (unless you were in top ten), and hoping that it was some team you've never had the chance to meet before. A true test of the program. It was the idea of getting paired up with a team you really had no idea about that was the most interesting. This style of football versus that style. It has intrigue. I may be in the minority but I really hate that the Hokies go to the Chik-Fil-A Bowl so much. It's just playing a team that is geographically near the Hokies and one they likely have played many times in the past. Unless we are in the big bowls I want to see VT play someone different.
I would have loved for VT to play ATM and shut down Manziel. Or Ole Miss would have been cool playing against Freeze who I really love as a coach. But I got to say I am most interested in what the Hokies can do against a solid PAC-12 team. I also may be in the minority with other Western States Hokies, but I generally loathe everyone in the PAC-12, save for Stanford, and would love to see our team beat anyone from the Western Power Conference.
With TV rights and Bowl Tie-ins contracted for so long we should really savor this opportunity to play someone so foreign to us. It's rare these days and I believe will become even more rare in the future. I for one sincerely hope ACC keeps a bowl tie-in to the west.
I can dig that view of the uniqueness of playing a team that VT doesn't normally play. It will be a huge test for VT, UCLA is a really good team that didn't get the attention they deserved during the regular season.
This will be a good measuring stick for a lot of the young players. Will be interesting to see who steps up at running back and how well Bud and crew can contain a mobile QB.
Seriously, I don't want to sound like I'm beating a dead horse here (que) but why not just stick a hard-hitting, athletic spy on Hundley (like they do in the pros)? That way the only thing that will give Foster's unit fits are the underneaths.
I have been wondering about this also. If mobile QB's are such a threat for Bud's system then why don't we have a spy as an integral part of our system? If mobile QB go Spy. If not then go normal. I am sure I am oversimplifying it, but I have often wondered about this.
First guy on the roster with those skills that pops into my mind is Kyle Fuller. It's a shame he probably won't be healthy to strap it up.
Well the bowl game is exactly 6 weeks after his surgery took place (Nov 19th), expecting 4-6 weeks of recovery, what are his chances of being able to play?
Like Kyle Fuller?
Not having Trey will really hurt in this one. Logan will probably get 10+ carries. I just hope Kyle can be back because Hundley is a great passer and we need as many healthy DBs as possible.
We need as many healthy Fullers as possible.
Let's get a waiver for Vince to suit up in place of Kyle, just in case. One Fuller can use another Fuller's eligibility on an ad hoc basis, right? I mean, they're Fullers, so they make the rules.
Our recent struggles against a mobile qb boggles me. We had one of the best mobile qbs in the history of the game and Beamer has made a living on them. We have nearly a month to come up with a plan. I think we actually come out on top in El Paso. Am I crazy?
Bud's unit shut down Denard Robinson when they had a month to prepare. Curious to see what he puts together for this one.
Good point, however Hundley is a much better quarterback than Denard. Denard was a much better athlete though.
I remember hearing a lot of the same arguments regarding our D's trouble containing mobile QBs. Denard was going to run wild against us, but it didn't play out that way. I don't remember if he used a spy or not. I would need to go back and rewatch it, but that game is filed away in a special vault along with the Matt Ryan incident and JMU.
And Hundley can, you know, pass.
Yeah but the thing about tha... DANNY COALE CAUGHT THAT BALL!
Myles Jack... how is it that he's just a freshman? I'd hate to be any Pac-12 team playing against him in the next couple of years...
That's what other teams are saying about our Fr CBs.
"Holy crap, another freshman Fuller?"
Guys maybe this is what we needed. Play a ranked and very respected team in UCLA... BUT NOT IN A BCS bowl. Maybe the guys will come in relaxed with no pressure and play. There's no record/ media build up that we shouldn't be at this game or ohh the Chokies are 1-8 or whatever in BCS bowls they suck.. Its just a game to go and play.
Yes it hurt to call my beloved Hokies the C word but its what I heard all last year and this year.
Then get a higher quality friend.
In UCLA's losses their o-line killed them. They have had a lot of injuries there. Given VT's strength on D is on their defensive line that's a positive. UCLA on defense has Anthony Barr, and given VT's line...this game could be hard to watch.
Question.. why does everyone throw out Maryland and CJ Brown as evidence that we can't handle a dual-threat QB? Maryland's offense scored 14 points in regulation.
Yes I think Cato is a better example of a mobile QB that made our defense struggle. I guess since we won that ame and lost to UMD?
He had 142 total rushing yards and netted 122. Hundley is a much better quarterback, and UCLA is a much better team. If Hundley tallies the rushing yards like Brown did, I expect UCLA to easily score more than 14 points in regulation.