UCLA Bruins' Big Ten premiere didn't go quite as planned, blown out by Hoosiers

The UCLA Bruins have had their not-so-warm welcome to the Big Ten via a home-game loss to their new conference opponent, the Indiana Hoosiers.

Not only did the Bruins lose head coach Chip Kelly just before the season, the Bruins pieced together a starting lineup that looks almost entirely different than it did last year. Sure, the Bruins went 8-5 overall last season so maybe UCLA wanted to look a little different but the Bruins have gone in the wrong direction.

Following a narrow victory over the Hawai'i Rainbow Warriors in Week 1, the Bruins had a bye week and headed into Week 3 at 1-0 overall and with hopes to earn a much more respectful victory over the Hoosiers.

However, Indiana had a different plan in mind. The Hoosiers held the Bruins to just 238 total yards (142 passing, 96 rushing) and just 1 touchdown.

UCLA quarterback Ethan Garbers only completed 14-of-23 pass attempts for 137 yards, 1 interception, and 0 touchdowns. On the other side of the ball, Indiana quarterback Kurtis Rourke completed 25 passes for 307 yards, 4 touchdowns, and 0 interceptions.

The Bruins' running game was basically held to a standstill beyond T.J. Harden's 48-yard game, in which he scored UCLA's sole touchdown. Meanwhile, the Hoosiers scored 2 touchdowns on the ground and earned an additional 123 yards.

Indiana isn't expected to be and hasn't looked like the most formidable force out of the Big Ten teams in the country so the 42-13 loss could be and should be a rude awakening for the Bruins' squad.

UCLA has to travel to No. 16 LSU next week before hosting the No. 9 Oregon Ducks and then visiting the No. 8 Penn State Nittany Lions. The Bruins also have to take on No. 23 Nebraska and No. 11 USC during their regular season, conference matchups.

The moral of the story is that the Bruins' game against the Hoosiers needed to be a wake-up call and the changes need to happen quickly.

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