From entitled to un-titled — Bruins take early 7-0 and 10-7 leads, then give up a stunning 24 straight points to a dominating 5-loss Stanford team to lose 31-10 — their seventh straight loss to the Cardinal — costing UCLA the Pac-12 South Division Title and killing their Playoff dreams
Curses, spoiled again. For the seventh straight time for UCLA and fourth for Jim Mora, the Bruins have gotten beat by Stanford. In the past, it was because Stanford had a better team on paper and on the field. This time, the 9-2 Bruins were 6-point favorites at home over the 6-5 Cardinal. And the Bruins were playing for the Division Title, while Stanford was playing for nothing. It was Senior Day for UCLA, so all the Seniors on the team — plus Brett Hundley — were all fired up, playing their last home game of their college careers. And UCLA came out on fire, forcing a Stanford 3-and-out, then driving down the field for a TD (on a Hundley-to Thomas Duarte 15-yard pass) to draw first blood and a 7-0 lead. But that would be UCLA’s only TD all day, as Stanford outscored UCLA 31-3 the rest of the day, dominating every facet of the game.
Even without their star Wide Receiver/Kick Returner Ty Montgomery, the Cardinal moved up and down the field at will. QB Kevin Hogan was 16-19 passing for 234 yards, completing his first 12 passes. He burned UCLA’s best, as Myles Jack and Anthony Jefferson could not stop Hogan’s TD passes. The game was really won in the trenches, as Stanford totally controlled both lines. UCLA could not pressure Hogan, but Hundley could not find any running room, and had many of his passes rushed. Hundley was unusually off-target, and had no effective scrambles, as Stanford’s stellar D completely neutralized him.
The Bruins WERE able to run on Stanford, as the Pac-12’s leading rusher Paul Perkins gained 116 yards on the ground. But he couldn’t get to the end zone, and with the Cardinal controlling the clock for the last 35 minutes of the game, Perkins’ running was not nearly enough for the Bruins to compete.
Stanford scored on a long pass right before halftime to make it 21-10, then scored again in the 3rd quarter to increase the margin to 18. Stanford’s Defense is 7th in the Nation, and nearly impossible to mount a comeback against, especially with Hundley having an off-day. So STUNford shocked the Bruins, playing spoiler, and sending ARIZONA (who beat ASU) to the Title game, as Oregon gets a rematch against the only team who beat them this year. This time, Oregon will be healthier, and will be a prohibitive favorite to get their revenge. UCLA will now have one more chance for Hundley to go out a winner, as they will be invited to some lousy Bowl game, somewhere like El Paso or Las Vegas, or somewhere else where nobody on the team wanted to go. But that’s what you get in December when you don’t show up for a must-win game in November.
Below are 69 more GAME and CHEER photos from this daytime nightmare.
Comments
6 responses to “STUN AND DONE”
Even worse than the Miami game in 1998–was that Nick Aliotti calling defensive signals? Was that Troy Aikman in Kevin Hogan’s uniform? Is Ismael Adams clearly not 100% recovered from that ankle inury? Or was our secondary simply just exposed? Did Hundley forget that he’s not dominant as a pocket passer but as a running QB who can also pass? He never looked to run!
Ultimately, this team never learned that it needs to be as up for Stanford (and Utah) as it is for sc, to win a big game, and they clearly weren’t. They assumed victory, especially after the opening two series’, and lost accordingly. Greatness will have to wait another year. And our biggest adjustment may have to be ATTITUDE.
On the bright side, Tennessee didn’t win it until the year after Peyton left…
Very sad game. Our team looked like they could care less if we won or not. After the game, they didn’t look that sad. They should have been rolling Hundley out. Stanfurd really made us look bad. Very bad feeling after the game. It ruined our day here at Bruin Central.
You nailed it! It was a NIGHTMARE! So disappointing to watch, even a little disturbing. I didn’t even speak 10 words for the rest of the day. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Ruined my day and the rest of the weekend. So close and yet, gone! How could they have been so unprepared?!?
Great job as usual T-H especially the pics of Troy. Yep. The game sure sucked especially with so much on the line. That’s football sometimes… Kevin Hogan always seems to have a good game against the Bruins.
It could be argued that the UCLA football program has plateaued under Coach Mora.
The Bruins had so many ups and downs this season but had the potential for greatness. I blame the coaches for not impacting the games in critical decision points.
against Stanford the game was decided in the drives before and after halftime. If the Bruins had controlled the ball (with 4 down strategy like Oregon) to get a score (TD or even field goal) it would have kept Stanford off the field before the half (and taken 7 points off the board). Then the first possession after halftime would have been a key with the 4 down strategy to again get 3 or 7, control the time of possession, keep stanford off the field, and rest our D.
This two drives would have been a key difference and helped to get our offense in synch. We had a good start and then Stanford got in their game plan but we didn’t disrupt.
It was a good season but not great. I admire the players and support them 100%.
Go Bruins!
I hope they get a good matchup in the bowl.