INJUSTICE LEAGUE

Holy Bat, man — Led by the Dynamic Duo of Rosen and Lasley (204 yards and 3 TD’s), UCLA out-plays, out-gains, and out-converts u$c, but gets a fumble recovery overturned, and a Touchdown and crucial 3rd down stop nullified, plus several passes BAT-ted down, so they end up caving 28-23

UCLA finally played a decent game on the road, but it was not enough to overcome the trojans and their refs, as the Bruins lose 28-23, and fall to an (im)perfect 0-6 on the road.  When was the last time a UCLA team failed to win a single game outside of Pasadena?

This game was only about 10 miles away from home, but the result was the same.  Even though the Bruins finally stopped an opponent’s running game, and stifled them on 3rd Downs, they couldn’t get that elusive Road victory.

UCLA outgained the trojans 501 to 417, including Josh Rosen’s 421 yards passing.  204 of those throwing yards went to Jordan Lasley, who scored all 3 of the Bruins’ TD’s.  Lasley could have gone down in history as the new J.J. Stokes, had the Bruins been able to pull this one out.

And pull it out they almost did.  Not only did they tally more Total Offense, they also won the Time of Possession battle.  And — the 3rd Down Conversion battle wasn’t even close, with UCLA at 10-of-19 and sc at 2-for-10.  So how could UCLA lose while winning all these stat categories?  Well, Rosen lost a fumble on a Sack, he threw an Interception in the end zone, and he had several passes deflected at the line of scrimmage.  On top of that, the Bruins suffered a bunch of dropped passes, missed a Field Goal, had a long Touchdown run called back on a Clipping penalty, and also saw a Sam Darnold lost fumble overturned after review.

Despite all of that, the Bruins still battled back from a 21-7 second half deficit, making it 21-17.  The Bruins almost got the ball back down 4 with about 10 minutes left, after holding sc on a 3rd down incompletion, but a Defensive Holding penalty kept the drive alive.  Sc went on to score again to make it 28-17 with about 5 minutes to go, but the Bruins didn’t quit.  They drove down the field and Lasley caught his third TD.  The Bruins missed the 2-point try, so it was a 5-point deficit.  The onside kick was not converted, and sc got their SECOND 3rd Down conversion of the game to clinch the victory.

UCLA beat the spread by two scores, and made it much tougher for the apparently over-rated trojans than most people expected.  But a loss is a loss, and now the Bruins will have to beat Cal at the Rose Bowl next week in order to secure Bowl eligibility.  Then they can go to Vegas or somewhere else for a non-prestigious postseason game.

Here are 37 more photos from the game.  More to come later this week.