Football Faces Utah Saturday in Home Opener
Venue: Spieker Field at the Rose Bowl
Kickoff Time: 7:30 p.m. PT
Television: FOX (Aaron Goldsmith and Brady Quinn)
Radio (UCLA Sports Network from IMG College): AM 570 - Josh Lewin (play-by-play), Matt Stevens (analyst), Wayne Cook (reporter)
XM Ch. 198 / Internet 960
UCLA (0-1, 0-1) will host 2019 Pac-12 South champion Utah (0-0, 0-0) in the 2020 home opener at Spieker Field at the Rose Bowl in a Pac-12 Conference matchup on Saturday, November 14. The game will be televised by FOX. The Bruin IMG Radio Network will broadcast the contest, which will also be aired over SiriusXM, uclabruins.com and tunein.com and the TuneIn App.
UCLA salutes all veterans this week and would like to recognize three who are key members of Coach Chip Kelly's staff --- Chief of Staff Bryce McDonald (U.S. Marine Corps - Pacific Theater), Coaching Analyst Joe Speed (U.S. Marine Corps - Africa and Pacific Theaters) and Coaching Analyst Marcus Thomas (U.S. Marine Corps - Okinawa, Japan).
The Bruins own an 11-7 overall advantage (2-3 record in games played in the Rose Bowl) in the series against Utah, which started in 1933. UCLA is 0-2 vs. Utah under Coach Kelly. The Utes outscored the Bruins 41-10 in 2018 and 49-3 last season. Utah also snapped a streak of five straight UCLA 200-yard rushing games in last season's matchup. UCLA's last victory in the series came in 2015 at Salt Lake City (17-9), when QB Josh Rosen threw for 220 yards and Paul Perkins added 98 yards on the ground. The Bruins have not defeated Utah in the Rose Bowl since 2012 (21-14) when UCLA outrushed the Utes 171 to 75 behind QB Brett Hundley, who threw for 183 yards and ran for 68 more.
THE WATCH LIST
• Dorian Thompson-Robinson became the first Bruin to throw for 300 yards and also rush for at least 100 yards in the same game ... He had 303 yards passing and a career-best 109 yards on the ground (113 in the second half on 8 carries) ... It was his third-career 300 yard-plus passing game and the third 400-yard total offense performance of his career.
• UCLA played 10 true freshmen in the opener at Colorado to surpass the total of 9 used all of last season.
• TE Greg Dulcich made his first-career start at Colorado along with OL Sam Marrazzo; On defense, LB Damian Sellers, LB Mitchell Agude, LB Caleb Johnson, DB Obi Eboh and DB Qwuantrezz Knight all made their first starts as Bruins.
• The last true freshman to start a season opener at linebacker before Sellers was Asi Faoa in 1999 vs. Boise State.
• Dulcich caught four balls for 126 yards at Colorado, including a 52-yard TD. The last Bruin TE with a 100 receiving yards game was Devin Asiasi last season against USC (141 yds). This is the 7th straight season the Bruins have had a TE go over the century mark for receiving yards in a game (Asiasi in 2019, Caleb Wilson in 2018 and 2017, Nate Iese in 2016, Thomas Duarte in 2015 and 2014).
• 150 of UCLA's 303 passing yards went to the tight ends at Colorado - Dulcich 126, Mike Martinez 24.
• The Bruins did not force a turnover at Colorado ... Under Coach Kelly, UCLA is +11 turnovers in wins and -22 turnovers in losses ... UCLA forced 9 of its 14 turnovers in its 4 games won in 2019 ... The Bruins had a +3 turnover margin in wins and a -11 margin in 2019 losses.
• The Bruins had 75 receptions by running backs in '19 and RB Demetric Felton kept up the pace with a team-high 7 receptions at Colorado. Nine of Thompson-Robinson's 20 completions went to RBs.
• UCLA is 10-9 on Spieker Field at the Rose Bowl over the past three seasons.
• Felton and WR Jaylen Erwin each caught a pass for the 13th straight contest at Colorado.
• The last time UCLA blocked two kicks in a game was against USC in 2012 -- Eric Kendricks (punt) and Sheldon Price (FG).
• DB Stephan Blaylock tied his career best with 11 tackles at Colorado and is rated 11th in NCAA in total tackles and 2nd in NCAA in solo tackles (9.0) ... Last season, he ranked 18th in NCAA in solos (5.4/g) ... He had at least 6 in 9 of 12 games in '19, with high of 11 stops at USC.
• LB Caleb Johnson recorded five tackles in his first action as a Bruin, including the only sack of the game for UCLA.
• DL Datona Jackson tallied a career-high 6 stops at Colorado ... LB Osa Odighizuwa also had 6 stops and in 2019 his 10.0 tackles for loss were most by a Bruin interior lineman since Kenny Clark (now with Green Bay Packers) registered 11.0 in 2015 season.
• UCLA had 58 players take the field at Colorado ... 22 were seeing their first action as Bruins (38%).
• UCLA averaged 7.4 yards per play at Colorado, but CU held a 92 to 65 plays run advantage for the contest. • UCLA owned a halftime lead in 4 games in 2019 and won 3 of those contests. • First-career starts as Bruins - DB Obi Eboh, DB Qwuantrezz Knight, LB Caleb Johnson, LB Damian Sellers, LB Mitchell Agude, TE Greg Dulcich, OL Paul Grattan.
• First action as Bruins - LB Mitchell Agude, P Luke Akers, K Nicholas Barr-Mira, RB Brittain Brown, LB Choè Bryant-Strother, OL Josh Carlin, DB Obi Eboh, OL Paul Grattan, DB John Humphrey, LB Myles Jackson, LB Caleb Johnson, DB Qwuantrezz Knight, OL Siale Liku, K RJ Lopez, WR Logan Loya, DB William Nimmo, Jr., WR Charles Njoku, LB Damian Sellers, WR Matt Sykes, DB JonJon Vaughns, DB DJ Warnell, WR Colson Yankoff
• 10 true freshman played in the opener at Colorado (LB Damian Sellers, LB Choé Bryant-Strother, DB DJ Warnell, WR Matt Sykes, WR Logan Loya, LB Myles Jackson, K RJ Lopez, P Luke Akers, DB John Humphrey, DB JonJon Vaughns) to surpass the number of true freshmen (9) to see action all year in 2019. A total of 21 true freshmen saw the field in the 2018 season to set a new school record (old mark was 18 in 2013) ... True freshmen played in recent seasons: 2020-10; 2019-8, 2018-21, 2017-8, 2016-11, 2015-10, 2014-9, 2013-18, 2011-12.
• Rhyan has now started 13 straight games at left tackle ... Rhyan became the first true freshman to start a season opener (at Cincinnati in 2019) at offensive tackle since Simon Goines did so at Rice in 2012 ... He was one of just eight true freshmen opening-game starters along the offensive line in the nation in 2019.