THE HUNDLEY GAMES II — CATCHING FIRE (AGAIN)

Hungry Hundley Bruin — In the annual Fight to the Death between UCLA and u$c, Brett Hundley executes the trojans for the second year in a row, running the Bruin Offense with Kat(niss)-like efficiency, throwing for 208 yards and running for 80 yards and 2 TD’s, while the UCLA Defense and Special Teams also win their Battle Royales versus the outmanned, outclassed, and out-hungered trojans, who drop passes, miss tackles, miss Receivers, blow blocking assignments, blow pass-coverage assignments, and probably cost their Coach his job, by getting blown out by UCLA 35-14 at home

“May the odds be ever in your favor” is the catchphrase from “The Hunger Games” but the odds were definitely NOT in UCLA’s favor coming into Saturday night’s Rivalry showdown against u$c.  The Bruins were 4-point underdogs, the trojans had won 5 straight games this year coming in to this game, and were playing to prolong beloved Coach Orgeron’s job, while the Bruins were coming off a demoralizing loss, and coming to the Coliseum, where they hadn’t won since 1997.

But when it comes to Rivalry Games, you can throw all the stats and trends out the window.  Just ask Ohio State, who earlier in the day had to survive a missed two-point conversion to beat the much lower-ranked Michigan Wolverines.  Or you can ask formerly #1-ranked Alabama, who moments before the UCLA kickoff lost to rival Auburn, on a literally last-second 100-yard return of a missed Field Goal.  And back in South Central Los Angeles, the local rivalry game didn’t go like most people expected.

Both teams came out nervous and feisty, dropping passes, getting in skirmishes, and going three-and-out three times before at least one team settled down.  Jim Mora’s Bruins were that team.  Led by cool customer QB Brett Hundley, UCLA finally got in a rhythm, relying on their old scheme of Screen Passes to Running Backs in the flat, and then counting on Hundley’s legs, on scrambles and on several designed Quarterback Draws, to move the chains all the way down the field.  The first scoring drive was capped by a short Myles Jack run for 6 points.  The next drive culminated with Jack’s fellow Freshman Defensive Star Eddie Vanderdoes punching it in to give UCLA an early 14-0 lead in the Second Quarter.

SC came back to cut the lead in half, behind the running of Javorius Allen, who gained over 100 yards on the day.  But QB Cody Kessler could not augment that with a decent passing attack.  Marqise Lee dropped an easy pass early, and that was an omen for a weak air game.  UCLA SACKED KESSLER SIX TIMES, as Cassius Marsh and Anthony Barr made his life miserable for three hours.

UCLA was up 14-7 at the Half, then went up 21-7 in the 3rd on a Hundley run.  Kessler threw a Touchdown pass to Tight End Xavier Grimble to make it 21-14, but Hundley came right back with another TD run to double the lead to 28-14.  Then the Bruin D harassed Kessler and the trojans, who never scored again.  Allen lost an unforced fumble that Jack recovered, and Kessler coughed up a ball when Barr stripped him, and Marsh recovered.  That recovery pretty much sealed the victory, and sent most of the 80,000 trojan fans streaming out to the streets of South Central.  Paul Perkins added a final Touchdown to make the final score 35-14.  That 21-point margin marks the biggest Bruin-over-trojan victory since 1970, and their biggest EVER at the venue as a non-co-resident of the Coliseum.  Jim Mora has now won 18 games in his first two years as UCLA Coach, which is the most EVER, and Hundley joins Paul Cameron, Wayne Cook, and Cade McNown as the only repeat Trojan-Killers QB’s.

Not only did the Bruins dominate both lines of scrimmage, but they also won Special Teams, thanks to horrible punting by u$c, and thanks especially to Ishmael Adams, whose stellar kick returns gave UCLA great field position all night long.  It was a night of total domination — even the Bruin crowd of 10,000 out-cheered the somber trojan 80K.  Deserving of those cheers but not mentioned here yet are Jordon James and Ben Wysocki.  James ran hard and turned Screen passes into good gains, and Wysocki came in for the ejected Caleb Benenoch, and held his own on the Offensive line (while sc’s line and Receivers HELD everything in sight).

Hopefully Pat Haden won’t fire Orgeron over Saturday’s uber-weak performance.  It would be nice to keep this guy and Offensive Coordinator Clay Helton in place for a few more years of mediocrity, as UCLA looks to extend their new-found superiority over troy.  The Bruins have much better Freshmen, so the seeds are planted for another 8 straight.

Below are 55 game and CHEERLEADER photos, all taken from my seat a couple of zip codes away from the field, where sc sticks their opponents… but it was still worth it!!!!  Click on the pics to make them bigger, and check back during the week for lots more.