No. 17 UCLA Runs Past California, 35-28

BERKELEY, Calif. – No. 17 UCLA (9-3) ran past California (4-8) for a 35-28 win at FTX Field at California Memorial Stadium on Friday afternoon. It is the first time UCLA has finished the regular season with nine or more wins since 2014. The win also marked the fifth for the Bruins in the last six games against Cal.

UCLA had a season-high 64 rushes for 352 yards (second-most in 2022), paced by Zach Charbonnet's 119 yards and one touchdown on 24 carries (5.0 yards per carry). It was a committee effort on the ground as freshman T.J. Harden had career-highs in carries (12) and rushing yards (89), as did redshirt junior Colson Yankoff (11 carries for 59 yards). Dorian Thompson-Robinson rushed 14 times for 88 yards and a pair of touchdowns. UCLA has rushed for 200 yards or more in each of the past five games and nine times overall this season (the first since 1995).

Thompson-Robinson also went 21-for-30 through the air for 189 yards and one score with no interceptions. A total of 10 different Bruins caught a pass from DTR, led by Jake Bobo's seven catches for 62 yards and one TD.

California's Jack Plummer threw for 294 yards (24-for-34) with four TDs and no INTs. At one point, he completed 14 consecutive passes in the game. Jaydn Ott led the Golden Bears' on the ground, rushing for 55 yards on 13 carries (also had eight receptions for 51 yards and one TD). Jeremiah Hunter paced the California air attack with eight catches for 153 yards and two TDs. J. Michael Sturdivant also had five receptions for 70 yards and a score.

After both teams were forced to punt on their respective opening drives, the Bruins struck first when Bobo snagged a brilliant catch in the end zone for a five-yard touchdown reception from Thompson-Robinson (1Q - 7:04) to lead 7-0. The Bruins then forced another three-and-out and engineered a 10 play-drive that stalled and ended with a 33-yard missed field goal.

Plummer connected with Sturdivant for a 46-yard TD reception (1Q - 0:16) to tie the game at 7-7. The next drive by the Bruins looked promising, but the Bruins couldn't punch it in on third down at the California one-yard-line and a false start penalty on the Bruins' fourth-and-goal forced UCLA to settle for a Nicholas Barr-Mira 23-yard field goal (2Q - 9:33) that put the Bruins back in front, 10-7.
 
Another long score through the air by Hunter (38 yards) from Plummer (2Q - 4:37) would give the Golden Bears their first lead of the game at 14-10. But California wasn't done, scoring another TD through the air when Plummer hit Hunter again, this time for a 22-yard TD (2Q - 0:58), to extend the lead to 21-10.

UCLA took possession of the ball with just 0:58 left in the second quarter, but DTR and the Bruins needed just 0:40 to get into the end zone UCLA went 75 yards on just five plays, culminating in a 19-yard TD run by Thompson-Robinson to cut the deficit to 21-17 at the break.

The Golden Bears got the ball first in the second half, but UCLA forced them to punt on the opening possession of the third quarter and then went on a long drive. UCLA would retake the lead at 24-21 with a 12-play, 90-yard drive that DTR capped with a 14-yard TD run (3Q - 7:06), his second of the game.

California was winning the battle of field position after forcing UCLA to punt after a three-and-out at the Bruins' 12-yard line. But on special teams, Jack Landherr IV forced a fumble on a excellent individual effort just before Hunter was able to down the ball. Laiatu Latu recovered the fumble for UCLA and a review would confirm the ruling on the field. UCLA couldn't take full advantage of the turnover, seeing its drive stall inside the California five-yard line with the Bruins settling for a 26-yard Barr-Mira field goal (4Q - 14:01) to push the lead to 27-21 (a 17-0 scoring run by UCLA).

A big pass play of 49 yards from Plummer to Hunter set up an eight-yard TD reception on the subsequent play by Plummer to Ott (4Q - 11:16) as the Golden Bears would retake the lead at 28-27.

On the Bruins' next possession, Charbonnet rushed for five yards up the middle to put the Bruins back in front (4Q - 7:53) and then Thompson-Robinson hit Bobo in the end zone for a two-point conversion to put the Bruins back in front, 35-28.

From there the Bruin defense took over, forcing a three-and-out with 7:09 left in the game. After UCLA turned the ball over on downs with 1:58 to go, the Bruin defense forced another fumble. Ott caught a pass from Plummer that went for 12 yards, but Kain Medrano forced a fumble that was recovered by Carl Jones Jr. UCLA ran out the final 1:28 with DTR kneeling on three straight plays to secure the win.

Bowl game selections will be announced on Dec. 4.