UCLA quarterback Brett Hundley had everyone fooled, Sunday at Folsom Field.
In the second quarter the Bruins were up 14-7 on the Colorado 1-yardline. To that point, the Bruins game had been all about senior running back Johnathan Franklin, who had just completed a 28-yard pass play to give UCLA its position on the one.
Hundley took the snap and naturally handed it off to Franklin — or so the Buffs defense thought. While Franklin went through middle Hundley kept the ball and ran around the pile and into the end zone, completing an exceptionally clean zone read for a touchdown.
UCLA extended its lead to 21-7 and showed that this game was not just the Johnathan Franklin show. Contributions from each position in all three aspects of the game led UCLA to a 42-41 win over Colorado, giving the Bruins a bounce-back win in the Pac-12 that the entire team can feel good about.
Ranked third in Division I in total offense coming into the game, UCLA (3-1, 1-1 Pac-12) used more than just the usual suspects to wrack up another 501 net yards against Colorado (1-4, 1-1 Pac-12). Hundley connected with 11 different receivers to record 281 passing yards and two touchdowns. Five players combined for 220 rushing yards, with Franklin's 111 yards topping all rushers.
The team seemed like it was firing on all cylinders, and simply getting back to the basics after last week's loss against a complicated Oregon State team.
“Football is football, you've got to have fun with what you're doing out there,” Hundley said. “You've got to come out and have fun and play fast. When you're executing and doing the things you need to you have fun.”
UCLA jumped out to a fast start when Hundley found the end zone on a 12-yard rush. It was an impressive play, as the quarterback scrambled, found a hole, cut back and ran it in.
In the second quarter, Hundley led a 10-play drive that culminated in a beautiful touchdown pass to Darius Bell. Hundley wound up and hit Bell over the shoulder with a tight spiral to give the Bruins a 14-0 lead.
Jordan Webb followed up with a 17-yard touchdown pass of his own to put the Buffs on the board, but it would be the last scoring play for Colorado in the first half, as the Bruins defense forced them to punt on each drive through the rest of the half.
Webb, a transfer from Kansas that helped lead CU to one of the greatest comebacks in school history last week against Washington State, would find no such magic this time around. While he did well with 184 yards on 21 of 32 passing, he was sacked four times by a Bruin defense who controlled the pace of play from CU's first snap.
“We have great players like captains like Tevin McDonald doing a great job on defense and getting us the ball back,” Franklin said. “It took a lot of us today.”
CU looked as though they might find the end zone early in the third when Webb led a long drive down to midfield. On fourth-and-one, McDonald and Eric Kendricks swarmed on Tony Jones, standing him up the give the ball back to the Bruins.
On the Buff's next possession, it was the duo of McDonald and Kendricks that again took charge, when McDonald popped the ball out of Vincent Hobb's hands and Kendrick took it away.
In the third quarter, the offense picked up right where it left off when Hundley the ball in the hands of Joseph Fauria with an eight-yard touchdown pass that was so easy Fauria barely moved a muscle to make the catch.
UCLA's one downfall in the game was the 95-yards in penalties it coughed up.
"I feel like offensively there are a lot of things we can do better," Mora said. "We hurt ourselves in the first half with penalties and drops, and by not executing, but it's a conference win on the road, so that's a good thing."
"We made a lot of mistakes today; we have to get better," Franklin said. "I'm happy we came out with a win."
