Longhorns try to right ship in bout with 12th-ranked Bruins

Arlington, TX (SportsNetwork.com) – The 12th-ranked UCLA Bruins hope to remain perfect on the young season, as they head to the Lone Star State to tangle with the Texas Longhorns on Saturday night.

The game is being billed as the AdvoCare Cowboys Showdown, and will be played at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys.

UCLA has won its first two games, initially topping Virginia on the road (28-20), followed by a closer-than-expected 42-35 decision against visiting Memphis last Saturday.

UCLA head coach Jim Mora, while pleased to come away with the win over the Tigers, knows his team will need to play much better as the season moves along.

“The main objective is to get a win and we are 2-0. We are going to Texas this week and we are excited about that. But we have to put together a great week of practice and we have to go out and perform as a team.”

A victory in this contest would mark the third straight 3-0 start for the Bruins, give them five consecutive road wins, and be their seventh straight against a non-conference foe as well.

The Charlie Strong era in Austin hasn’t exactly gotten off to the start the former Louisville head coach had hoped, as the Longhorns got by North Texas in the opener (38-7), but then came up small for the second straight year against BYU, this time falling at home to the Cougars in a humiliating 41-7 final.

Strong summed up his feelings with his opening statement at the conclusion of the BYU game.

“It’s an embarrassment. It’s an embarrassment to this program. It’s an embarrassment to this university, and I knew it, and I didn’t do anything about it. And I take responsibility and all the blame for this loss.”

At this point, Texas is hoping to at least duplicate last year’s 8-5 record, but the Big 12 Conference slate will be difficult to navigate.

The series between these two storied programs is knotted at 3-3, and the last meeting went to Texas (49-20) in Pasadena on Sept. 17, 2011.

UCLA quarterback Brett Hundley kept pace in the 2014 Heisman race by throwing for 396 yards and three touchdowns in last week’s win over Memphis. Hundley completed 33-of-44 passes with an interception while suffering four sacks, but he also registered 26 rushing yards to set a new school record with the third 400-yard (total) effort of his career.

He completed passes to 10 different receivers in the game, nine of which went to Devin Fuller (58 yards). Thomas Duarte (110 yards, two TDs) and Jordan Payton (104 yards) became the first pass-catching duo for UCLA to have 100- yard efforts in the same game since three guys did it in a 2005 bout with Arizona State.

Paul Perkins led the Bruins’ rushing attack with 98 yards and two scores, averaging 4.3 ypc in the process. Overall, UCLA tallied 540 yards of total offense, converted half of its 16 third-down attempts, and scored touchdowns on all four of its trips to the red zone.

The two teams did however, combine for 19 penalties for a loss of 195 yards.

Defensively, the Bruins were rather lax in permitting 469 total yards, 305 of which came through the air. UCLA did not record a single takeaway, and had only one sack — its first of the season. By contrast, the Bruins have given up a total of nine sacks.

Eric Kendricks had a solid game from his linebacking spot, logging nine solo tackles, giving him 26 total stops in the early going.

UCLA is allowing 27.5 points, 142 yards rushing and 285.5 yards passing per game, and the club is averaging more than 10 penalties per contest as well.

Texas quarterback David Ash has been downgraded to out indefinitely after suffering a concussion in the season opener against North Texas. So, Tyrone Swoopes made his first career start last week against BYU, and while he completed 20-of-31 passes for 176 yards and a touchdown, he was picked off once and sacked three times.

Ash, who missed nearly all of last season due to concussions as well, was expected to lead the Longhorns back to Big 12 prominence, but it will be Swoopes who gets the nod now, and the youngster will have to learn on the job as he not only tries to keep opposing defenses at bay with his arm, but also tries to establish himself as a threat to run.

Last week against BYU, the ‘Horns produced just 82 net rushing yards, with Johnathan Gray leading the way with 47. Texas fumbled the ball away three times, and was just 3-of-15 on third-down conversion attempts.

The UT receiving corps was highlighted by the eight-catch, 77-yard, one-TD effort from John Harris, while veteran Jaxon Shipley hauled in five balls for 36 yards.

BYU quarterback Taysom Hill had a field day against the Texas defense last weekend, throwing for 181 yards and running for 99 more. He scored three rushing touchdowns, while hitting Jordan Leslie seven times for 85 yards down the field.

When the dust had settled, the Cougars had tallied 429 yards to Texas’ 258, scored on all six of their trips to the red zone, and claimed a near 10-minute advantage in time of possession.

About the only positives the Longhorns could claim on defense were that they logged a pair of takeaways while coming up with six sacks, 2.5 of which were credited to Malcolm Brown. Brown finished with 10 total tackles, 4.5 behind the line of scrimmage, while both Jordan Hicks and Steve Edmond tallied 14 stops apiece.

Although it’s early, Texas is yielding 24 points and 261.5 yards per game, those figures obviously skewed by the dominating effort in the season-opening win over North Texas in which the Mean Green scored but a single touchdown while generating a mere 94 total yards, which included only 15 via the pass.

Categorized in: NCAA Football