That he has tougher tests ahead was known before Rosen, just eight months removed from high school, shredded the Cavaliers: 28 of 35, 351 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions.
This is what happens in Week 1. They also struggled in the red zone, one of the major factors in last season’s 5-7 finish as well. He threw 15 touchdowns and 14 interceptions.
UCLA senior kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn is experienced (37 of 43 on field-goal attempts inside the 40). While comparing defenses, the Virginia Cavaliers own the league’s No. 61 rank in terms of road run defense, allowing 176.2 yards per game. Not only that, he used a total of 10 receivers in the game, including Clark for a touchdown, just so that he could make up for his butterfingers play to open the first series for the Bruins. The day began and ended with Rosen. Rosen’s third touchdown pass came when he connected with defensive tackle Kenny Clark, who was moonlighting as a tight end. Defensive deal with David Dean was penalized for roughing the passer on the play, shifting UCLA to U.Va.’s Three. Barkley started the first game of the season and missed on start due to injury in leading the Trojans to a 9-4 record.
After Frye’s 31-yard field goal cut UCLA’s lead to 7-6 with 9:43 left in the second quarter, Rosen wasted no time getting the Bruins back in the end zone. The outcome shouldn’t come as a shock however, as UCLA was returning 18 players from a Top-20 team a year ago.
A freshman quarterback provided some good news to an otherwise rough first weekend of the season for the Pac-12.
UCLA held the Cavaliers to just 98 rushing yards on 34 carries after Virginia had a slight edge in rushing in last year’s meeting between the two teams.
The Longhorns would be better off with UNLV’s Decker at quarterback.
“I thought the throw to Thomas Duarte was a little bit of an, ‘Ohhh, that’s good.’ “Mora said. The early answer? easily. But that brings us to my next point.
The fourth-year head coach has long emphasized the importance of blocking out the noise and focusing on the voices inside the locker room – though he also admitted that last year’s squad was indeed affected by preseason hype. Could he enter the Heisman Trophy discussion?
He won the starting job over redshirt junior Jerry Neuheisel. That remains to be seen.
Rosen is going to be a special talent for UCLA and I wouldn’t put it past him to guide the Bruins through the ultra-competitive Pac-12 South division and compete for the conference championship and a potential berth in the College Football Playoff. Um, I doubt it, but good call either way, Josh. He admitted he was “incredibly nervous” before the game but said that’s standard for him, and once he got his hands on the ball, things settled down. On the other sideline is Mike London, who is barely above water.
It was a case of one team finding its stride, and another fading when the outcome was still very much in doubt.
The UCLA Bruins look to keep their recent momentum going with another strong showing this upcoming season. He said the team needs to work on cleaning up penalties, and while he was happy with the consistency on defense, there are some areas which need improvement.