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UCLA running back Demetric Felton, front center, is stopped by, from left to right, Colorado linebacker Carson Wells, linebacker Akil Jones, defensive end Mustafa Johnson and cornerback Chris Miller in the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Nov. 7, 2020, in Boulder, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
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Colorado quarterback Sam Noyer, right, throws a pass under pressure from UCLA defensive back Qwuantrezz Knight in the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Nov. 7, 2020, in Boulder, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
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UCLA quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson, left, looks to throw the ball under pressure froim Colorado cornerback Chris Miller in the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Nov. 7, 2020, in Boulder, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
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Colorado linebacker Carson Wells, left, celebrates his interception of a pass with defensive tackle Lloyd Murray Jr. in the first half of an NCAA college football game against UCLA, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2020, in Boulder, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
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Colorado linebacker Carson Wells, center, inercept a pass thrown by UCLA quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson, right, for wide receiver Kyle Philips, left, in the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Nov. 7, 2020, in Boulder, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
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UCLA running back Demetric Felton, front, is tackled by Colorado linebacker Akil Jones after catching a pass in the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Nov. 7, 2020, in Boulder, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
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UCLA quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson looks to pass the ball against Colorado in the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Nov. 7, 2020, in Boulder, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
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UCLA linebacker Bo Calvert, left, looks to tackle Colorado quarterback Sam Noyer after a short gain in the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Nov. 7, 2020, in Boulder, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
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Colorado running back Jarek Broussard reacts after rushing for a touchdown against UCLA in the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Nov. 7, 2020, in Boulder, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
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Colorado special teams player Derrion Rakestraw, left, forces UCLA punt-returner Kyle Philips to fumble a punt in the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Nov. 7, 2020, in Boulder, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
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Colorado safety Isaiah Lewis, front right, hits UCLA running back Demetric Felton who loses control of the ball for an incomplete pass in the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Nov. 7, 2020, in Boulder, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
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UCLA defensive back Grady Liddell (20) leads teammates onto the gridiron to face Colorado in an NCAA college football game Saturday, Nov. 7, 2020, in Boulder, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
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Colorado head coach Karl Dorrell, center, leads his players onto the gridiron to host UCLA in an NCAA college football game Saturday, Nov. 7, 2020, in Boulder, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
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UCLA defensive back Quentin Lake, left, stops Colorado wide receiver Dimitri Stanley after he caught a pass in the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Nov. 7, 2020, in Boulder, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
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Colorado running back Jarek Broussard, front center, rolls into the end zone for a touchdown against UCLA in the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Nov. 7, 2020, in Boulder, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
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UCLA quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson, left, looks to pass the ball as Colorado defensive end Mustafa Johnson, center, fights for position with UCLA offensive lineman Paul Grattan, right, in the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Nov. 7, 2020, in Boulder, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
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A guard holds up signs for rules to follow for fans to deal with the coronavirus in the first half of an NCAA college football game as Colorado hosts UCLA, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2020, in Boulder, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
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Colorado running back Jarek Broussard reacts after rushing for a touchdown against UCLA in the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Nov. 7, 2020, in Boulder, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
A lot of crazy and unpredictable things have happened in 2020, but UCLA’s football team isn’t one of them.
The Bruins are still an exciting and excruciating team to watch, but the results remain the same.
It was hoped that junior quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson, as flashy and productive as he was, would protect the ball better in his third-year starting after tying for the most turnovers in college football last year with 19.
It was hoped that bringing defensive backs coach Brian Norwood over from Navy and implementing his 4-2-5 defense would improve the embarrassment of not being among the top 100-ranked defenses over the last two years.
And there was hope that Bruins coach Chip Kelly, once a college football coaching star at Oregon, would finally get the Bruins going after winning just seven games in his two previous seasons, and going 4-8 last year.
After game one, the answer is no, but at least the Bruins kept fighting.
Thanks to four turnovers in the first half, Colorado raced to a 28-point lead and even though the Bruins clawed back, they couldn’t claw all the way back, falling to the Buffaloes 48-42 at Folsom Field in a game that was one of the most winnable on their short seven-game schedule.
“I think we put our defense in a bad situation in the first half,” Kelly said during a zoom call afterward. “We dug to deep a hole in the first half to be able to come back.”
Thompson-Robinson put up good numbers, and almost engineered a big comeback, throwing for 303 yards and four touchdowns, and rushing for 109 yards and a touchdown, but he also had two turnovers, and one that led to a touchdown and was part of the reason the Bruins fell in a big hole early.
Thompson Robinson’s 9-yard TD pass to Mike Martinez with 1:35 left brought the Bruins to within six points, but the Buffaloes grabbed the onside kick and that was that.
It was obviously another frustrating start and loss for Kelly, and those quick to judge him because he’s in his third year means little to him.
“I don’t think the year has anything to do with it,” Kelly said. “I don’t care if it was year one or year forty. Penalties and turnovers are things you can’t do if you’re trying to win football games in this league.”
UCLA’s defense couldn’t do anything to stop an offense led by Colorado quarterback Sam Noyer, a redshirt senior making his first start.
Noyer nearly transferred from Colorado this season after they converted him to safety, but they talked him out of the portal and with another shot to play QB, who better than UCLA to make him look like a star.
Noyer threw for 257 yards and a touchdown and also rushed for 64 yards and a TD. Jarek Broussard rushed for 187 yards and three touchdowns, and the Buffaloes piled up the yards like teams did against them all last year, finishing with 525 yards combined through the air and ground.
“Nothing,” Kelly said when asked what Colorado did differently on offense, particularly under new first-year coach Karl Dorrell. “It was the same offense they ran a year ago. Again, we put our defense in bad situations.”
Kelly was asked about the Buffaloes’ 261 yards rushing.
“I can’t look at that part of it and say we didn’t come up where we needed to come up, I think they’re obviously going to run a lot more because they were up the way they were up,” Kelly said. “They’re trying to work clock and they probably ran the ball more than they thought they were going to coming into it.”
The knockdown punches came early.
With UCLA’s first chance to get the ball, Kyle Phillips fumbled the punt and it led to Broussard eventually scoring on a six-yard TD run. And then Thompson-Robinson made things even worse following the ensuing kickoff, throwing a pick to Carson Wells that was almost returned for a touchdown, with Wells returning it 14 yards to the Bruins’ 1.
That set up another easy score for Broussard, his second touchdown in less than two minutes and a 14-0 lead.
Thompson-Robinson was disappointed with the turnovers and the start, noting that coaches remind him how deflating they can be.
“Yeah, I mean, any turnovers hurt right,” Thompson-Robinson said. “Our coaches bring up a statistic from the NFL. If you have two or more turnovers you might as well go home. So, It’s hard to turnover the ball and still win the game. The coaches talked about it after the game, we dug ourselves a big hole and couldn’t dig ourselves out.”
After trading scores, The Bruins’ turnovers continued to haunt them with Demetric Felton fumbling inside their own 10, and it took Broussard just two plays to cash it in, scoring on a one-yard run for a 28-7 lead.
After the Buffaloes extended their lead to 35-7 on Jaren Mangham’s two-yard run, Bruins tight end Greg Dulcich was able to stop the bleeding, turning a short pass into a 52-yard touchdown and the Bruins trailed 35-14 at half.
The Bruins used that momentum to open the third quarter with Thompson-Robinson going 65-yards for a touchdown to cut the Buffaloes’ lead to 35-21.
The Bruins’ good fortune continued after Jay Shaw blocked a field goal attempt with Qwuantrezz Knight, grabbing it and returning it 17 yards to the Bruins’ 40.
It took the Bruins just six plays to cash it in on Felton’s 15-yard touchdown run to pull with seven, trailing 35-28. Felton, a combo back, had a decent game, rushing for 57 yards to go with seven receptions for 46 yards.
But the Bruins could never pull ahead.
“I think there are a lot of positives you can build on,” Kelly said. “Mounting the comeback that we did, there were some positives things there. But it’s a matter of everything, you have to look at the whole game and how do we clean up what happened to us in the first half and build on what happened to us in the second half.”
Colorado snapped UCLA’s 21 straight unanswered point streak after Noyer finished a 10-play, 75 yard drive with a one-yard touchdown run to go back up, 42-28.
UCLA answered back with Thompson-Robinson and Keegan Jones hooking up for a 26-yard score, cutting Colorado’s lead to 42-35, but the Buffaloes added a pair of field goals from Evan Price to extend their lead to 48-35 early in the fourth quarter.
Thompson-Robinson noted the long layoff between last season to Saturday’s game probably contributed to the poor start and some of the sloppiness.
“For sure, we haven’t played against a live opponent in almost a year,” Thompson-Robinson said. “You see it around the country, guys are making mistakes early on, and even later on in the season too. It’s definitely a tough year, it’s different, it’s not like any other year.”
The Pac-12 was late to the college football party, deciding late in the summer to start the season in November and play a seven-game schedule over seven weeks.
Two Pac-12 games were cancelled over the weekend due to coronavirus outbreaks including Arizona’s game against Utah and California’s opener against Washington. UCLA is scheduled to host Utah next Friday, but the Utes game was cancelled because of positive coronavirus cases within their program, so the Bruins will learn more about whether their game will continue early next week.
“I think our league and everybody is working on trying to come to a resolution,” Kelly said about next week’s game. “Utah is working very hard from their end but we haven’t got any final clarification on that.”
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