First off a Mora team covered a double digit spread which has to be one of the first times that has happened in his tenure.
QB
Rosen is the team. Not sure there's more to say than that. Has to be a leading Heisman candidate at this point.
RB
Not good. Starks looks to be the best of a bad group. If you watched the SC Stanford game you saw what good backs looks like. The UCLA RBs are lucky to be at UCLA at SC or Stanford they may not dress for the game.
WR
Howard looked great. First time in years a UCLA WR has looked dangerous after the catch. Also, Felton deserves praise. He too actually looked dangerous. Andrews was steady as always. He's not particularly flashy but makes plays.
TE
Great throw by Wilson. Other than that was bracketed which opened up other options.
OL
Gave up 3 sacks on 25 pass attempts to put that in perspective Umass gave up 4 to them on 30 pass attempts and they got 2 sacks against western carolina on 21 attempts. Also, very little push in the run game. UCLA will not run effectively on anyone this year. Rosen's health. Rosen has been sacked 6 times in 2 games with 2 fumbles on two blindside hits. On this pace that would place UCLA around 111th (per last year's stats) in the country. I don't see Rosen making it through the year if this continues.
DL
Hawaii rushed 42 for 281 at 6.7 a rush. They generated 1 sack. Not good, but on the other hand the staff isn't helping them out a ton.
LB
injuries and poor play were the main themes. As said before, poor fundamentals are starting to show through as the talent level at LB has dropped.
DB
Holmes is the real deal. When was the last time you saw a UCLA DB jump a hitch route? Yeah, I can't remember either. They may try to break him of this aggressiveness but until then he's a pleasure to watch. Pickett injury is real bad. DBs missed a lot of tackles. Backup safeties played pretty poorly. Would like Mossi Johnson get more minutes. Played better than the other two units.
Special Teams
A nice return by Holmes was the highlight. Molson was solid. Coverage was just okay. Not a lot to judge but this is clearly not a team strength to date.
Coaching
Offense
Fisch coached a great game. Maybe too great, could've saved a few of those trick plays in my opinion, particularly the Wilson pass. Here's something people have rarely said during the Mora era "he gets it." Fisch understands his run offense and personnel are pretty much garbage so he tries to use the pass to set up whatever run he can get. He gets what rushing yards he can in a creative way. Your RBs are too slow to hit the corner use a WR like Felton. Have to give him a ton of credit through two games. It's always nice to have a generational QB like Rosen, but when the other parts are so mediocre, it takes real skill to get the most out of his abilities. To date Fisch has done a great job.
Defense
Well, through 2 games against one middling mountain west team and one middling to bad SEC team that can't throw (they beat Nichols State 24-14) they are currently 123rd in rush defense and 99th in total defense. I think we can safely say that they aren't holding anything back. This has been the same defense under Mora every year, and it's been bad to very bad. And while UCLA sends talent to the NFL it never seems to put out a good consistent product on the field. Currently, this defense is bad enough to cost Rosen Heisman. I don't see how it keeps games close against SC, Stanford, Oregon and Washington. There is talent on this side of the ball, but there are holes. Great coaches disguise holes as much as they can by playing to their strengths. UCLA's coaches seem to flaunt them.
Total Defense Under Mora
2017 99
2016 47
2015 67
2014 63
2013 54
2012 76
QB
Rosen is the team. Not sure there's more to say than that. Has to be a leading Heisman candidate at this point.
RB
Not good. Starks looks to be the best of a bad group. If you watched the SC Stanford game you saw what good backs looks like. The UCLA RBs are lucky to be at UCLA at SC or Stanford they may not dress for the game.
WR
Howard looked great. First time in years a UCLA WR has looked dangerous after the catch. Also, Felton deserves praise. He too actually looked dangerous. Andrews was steady as always. He's not particularly flashy but makes plays.
TE
Great throw by Wilson. Other than that was bracketed which opened up other options.
OL
Gave up 3 sacks on 25 pass attempts to put that in perspective Umass gave up 4 to them on 30 pass attempts and they got 2 sacks against western carolina on 21 attempts. Also, very little push in the run game. UCLA will not run effectively on anyone this year. Rosen's health. Rosen has been sacked 6 times in 2 games with 2 fumbles on two blindside hits. On this pace that would place UCLA around 111th (per last year's stats) in the country. I don't see Rosen making it through the year if this continues.
DL
Hawaii rushed 42 for 281 at 6.7 a rush. They generated 1 sack. Not good, but on the other hand the staff isn't helping them out a ton.
LB
injuries and poor play were the main themes. As said before, poor fundamentals are starting to show through as the talent level at LB has dropped.
DB
Holmes is the real deal. When was the last time you saw a UCLA DB jump a hitch route? Yeah, I can't remember either. They may try to break him of this aggressiveness but until then he's a pleasure to watch. Pickett injury is real bad. DBs missed a lot of tackles. Backup safeties played pretty poorly. Would like Mossi Johnson get more minutes. Played better than the other two units.
Special Teams
A nice return by Holmes was the highlight. Molson was solid. Coverage was just okay. Not a lot to judge but this is clearly not a team strength to date.
Coaching
Offense
Fisch coached a great game. Maybe too great, could've saved a few of those trick plays in my opinion, particularly the Wilson pass. Here's something people have rarely said during the Mora era "he gets it." Fisch understands his run offense and personnel are pretty much garbage so he tries to use the pass to set up whatever run he can get. He gets what rushing yards he can in a creative way. Your RBs are too slow to hit the corner use a WR like Felton. Have to give him a ton of credit through two games. It's always nice to have a generational QB like Rosen, but when the other parts are so mediocre, it takes real skill to get the most out of his abilities. To date Fisch has done a great job.
Defense
Well, through 2 games against one middling mountain west team and one middling to bad SEC team that can't throw (they beat Nichols State 24-14) they are currently 123rd in rush defense and 99th in total defense. I think we can safely say that they aren't holding anything back. This has been the same defense under Mora every year, and it's been bad to very bad. And while UCLA sends talent to the NFL it never seems to put out a good consistent product on the field. Currently, this defense is bad enough to cost Rosen Heisman. I don't see how it keeps games close against SC, Stanford, Oregon and Washington. There is talent on this side of the ball, but there are holes. Great coaches disguise holes as much as they can by playing to their strengths. UCLA's coaches seem to flaunt them.
Total Defense Under Mora
2017 99
2016 47
2015 67
2014 63
2013 54
2012 76
