UCLA Football: 3 takeaways from victory over rival California

1. UCLA still has no consistent running game to balance its offense

Over the course of the season, UCLA has been one of the most unbalanced offenses in the country. While the Bruins have been stellar through the air thanks to Josh Rosen and a skilled corps of receivers, they have struggled when trying to run the ball. Coming into the Cal game, UCLA ranked 109th nationally as they averaged only 125 rushing yards per game.

That certainly didn’t change in #Pac12AfterDark action on Black Friday. At the Rose Bowl, the Bruins continued to find little running room for its backfield. The offensive line continued to have a hard time opening up holes for its running backs, as the Bruins finished the night with only 69 total yards on the ground.

Top running back Bolu Olorunfunmi managed just two yards on three uneventful carries. Soso Jamabo fared little better, running for 23 yards on four handoffs. The lone bright spot for an otherwise toothless ground game was Brandon Stephens, who ran for 83 yards and a touchdown. Even then, the sophomore running back needed 20 carries to hit that mark and racked up the bulk of his yardage on a 37-yard run in the first half.

It wasn’t like they were playing a dominant defense, either. The Golden Bears defense gives up an average of over 170 rushing yards per game. Against UCLA, though, they looked like one of the nation’s top defenses. A large part of the futility came thanks to the fact that sacks count as running plays in college football. But even taking sacks out of the equation, the Bruins still failed to reach even their season average.