PASADENA >> When the game between UCLA and Cal became official Friday, Bruins coach Chip Kelly evaluated what he would expect to see from the Pac-12 North Division team.
Cal was returning most of its starters and defeated the Bruins in the conference finale at the Rose Bowl to end the 2019 schedule. While that film was available to Kelly’s coaching staff, it wouldn’t have helped his defense this season.
Cal brought in Bill Musgrave as its offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach after Beau Baldwin became the head coach at Cal Poly SLO.
Musgrave added 21 years of NFL coaching experience to the program and was with the Denver Broncos in 2017-18. The Bruins defense studied that film instead.
“The defense wasn’t a mystery to us,” Kelly said after UCLA’s 34-10 victory over Cal on Sunday. “The offense was going to be a mystery because they had a new coordinator that was not in college last year, so we spent a lot of time watching the Broncos tape.”
Safety Qwuantrezz Knight said the Golden Bears put the Bruins’ defense in similar situations to what they had studied on film.
The Golden Bears kept their offense out on the field for two fourth-down attempts in the final quarter but were unsuccessful against the Bruins.
“It was very important,” Bruins linebacker Caleb Johnson said. “I feel like that really killed the momentum, and it gives our offense a lot of momentum to go and score the ball easier. ”
The Bruins offense would score on one of the two drives following the turnover on downs.
Increased work load
Graduate transfer Brittain Brown saw an increased number of carries against Cal after the running back had just two carries for no gain against Colorado on Nov. 7.
“We didn’t get Brittain the ball enough last week and part of that was me as a play-caller,” Kelly said. “We got behind so we didn’t run the ball as much, but we need to be balanced and run the football and Britt was a really good complement to (Demetric Felton) today.”
Brown ran with an attitude during a 31-yard touchdown run, as several defenders were unsuccessful trying to bring him down. He finished the game with 12 carries for 71 yards.
Backup QB
Redshirt freshman Chase Griffin may be penciled in as the backup quarterback behind Dorian Thompson-Robinson.
The Bruins were comfortable with their lead in the fourth quarter and decided to give Thompson-Robinson rest. Griffin took over and was tabbed with the responsibility of handling the offense during the final minutes.
Griffin was in a quarterback competition with Chase Artopoeus for the backup role during the final week of fall camp, after Colson Yankoff made the switch to receiver.
Defending the Rose Bowl
The last time UCLA won its home opener was a 45-44 thriller against Texas A&M at the Rose Bowl on Sept. 3, 2017. It was also the last time the Bruins played on a Sunday.
Quarterback Josh Rosen and the Bruins would score 35 unanswered points in the second half to complete the program’s biggest comeback.
Texas A&M and UCLA agreed to play the game on a Sunday five months in advance and had 64,635 fans in attendance.
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