UCLA
Kansas State
Bruins Head for Desert and Dec. 26 Cactus Bowl
December 21, 2017 | Football
GAME INFORMATION
Venue: Chase Field (48,500)
Kickoff Time: 7:00 p.m. MST/6:00 p.m. PST
Television: ESPN
TV Crew: Jason Benetti (play-by-play), Jordan Rodgers (analyst), Olivia Harlan (sideline)
Radio (UCLA Sports Network from IMG College): AM 1150
Radio Crew: Josh Lewin (play-by-play), Matt Stevens (analyst), Wayne Cook (sideline)
ESPN Radio: Mark Kestecher, Tom Ramsey
SIRIUS/XM Radio: Sirius and XM Ch. 80; Internet Ch. 80
BRUINS MEET WILDCATS IN PHOENIX
UCLA (6-6) will meet Kansas State (7-5) in the 29th annual edition of the Cactus Bowl on Tuesday, December 26 in Chase Field, home of MLB's Arizona Diamondbacks, at 7:00 p.m. MST/6:00 p.m. PST. The game will be televised by ESPN. The Bruin IMG Radio Network will radio broadcast the contest, which will also be aired over ESPN Radio and Sirius/XM.
PRIOR MEETINGS
The Bruins lead the series with Kansas State, 2-1, with the last meeting taking place in January of 2015 at the Valero Alamo Bowl in San Antonio, Texas. In that contest, quarterback Brett Hundley led then-No. 14 UCLA to a 31-6 halftime lead and the Bruins held off the No. 11 Wildcats for a 40-35 win. The win was UCLA's 10th of the season, which matched the school record. It was the third win over a team ranked among the AP top-15 at the time of the contest, the most since 1952. It was also the 10th-straight Bruin win away from the Rose Bowl.
Prior to that meeting, the two programs each split a home-and-home series in the 2010 and 2009 seasons, with the host team coming away with the win. In 2010 at Manhattan, Kansas, the Bruins took a 10-7 halftime lead, only to see Kansas State come back to take the lead on its first possession of the second half. Kai Forbath booted his third field goal of the contest to slice the KSU advantage to 17-16 with 6:28 left in the game. K-State moved down the field and scored with 2:03 remaining for a 24-16 lead. UCLA answered just 44 seconds later on a scoring pass from Kevin Prince to Ricky Marvray but failed to even the score on a two-point conversion. A late K-State score made the final margin 31-22.
In 2009, at the Rose Bowl, quarterback Kevin Craft started in place of Kevin Prince, who had fractured his jaw against Tennessee. The Bruin run game was big, as freshman Johnathan Franklin recorded his first rushing performance over 100 yards (119). Kicker Kai Forbath was a perfect 3-for-3 on field goals to help the Bruins score a 23-9 victory. The UCLA defense held K-State to 3-of-14 on third down conversions and just 69 yards rushing. Tony Dye led the defense with nine tackles, while Akeem Ayers added two sacks. Alter- raun Verner had two interceptions in the game.
THE WATCH LIST
• This will be the first time the Bruins have played in the Cactus Bowl and the third time UCLA has played in a bowl game in Arizona - also the Jan. 1985 Fiesta Bowl UCLA 39, Miami 37; Dec. 1978 Fiesta Bowl UCLA 10, Arkansas 10.
• The Bruins have played in a bowl game in 12 of the previous 15 seasons (not after 2008, 2010, 2016 seasons) -- 2015 Foster Farms Bowl, Jan. 2015 Alamo Bowl, 2013 Sun Bowl, 2012 Holiday Bowl, 2011 Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl, 2009 EagleBank Bowl, 2007 Las Vegas Bowl, 2006 Emerald Bowl, 2005 Sun Bowl, 2004 Las Vegas Bowl, 2003 Silicon Valley Bowl, 2002 Las Vegas Bowl.
• Top 20 Bruins in the NCAA Rankings/ Pac-12 Leaders --- Completions: Josh Rosen - 4th (25.64); Passing Tds: Rosen - 16th (26); Passing Yds: Rosen - 10th (3,717); Passing Yds per Game: Rosen - 3rd NCAA / P12 leader (337.9); Total Offense: Rosen - 9th NCAA / P12 leader; Pts. Responsible for Per G: Rosen - 20th NCAA / P12 leader (15.6); Receiving Tds: Darren Andrews - 15th NCAA / P12 leader (10); Receiving Yds Per G: Andrews - 22nd NCAA / P12 leader (85.9); Receptions Per G: Andrews - 9th NCAA / P12 leader (6.7); Receiving Yards: Jordan Lasley - 11th NCAA / P12 leader (1,136); Solo Tackles per G: Kenny Young - 18th (5.7).
• Jordan Lasley's 142.0 receiving yards per game average would be a school record total (current season leader Freddie Mitchell - 124.5 in 2000) ... Lasley's average would lead the nation, but he has not played in 75% of this season's games needed to qualify for the NCAA stats listing.
• Senior linebacker Kenny Young will be the last Bruin football player to wear No. 42 on the gridiron. In 2014, on the 75th anniversary of Jackie Robinson's arrival at UCLA, Athletics Director Dan Guerrero announced that the school was retiring number 42 across all sports. While he wore several numbers at UCLA, Jackie Robinson made the number 42 as iconic as the man himself.
• UCLA is averaging 6.4 yards per play, which would approach a school record mark. The only other seasons (dating to 1945) in which UCLA has averaged more than 6.5 yards per play are 6.81 in 1998 and 6.62 in 1973.
• Josh Rosen (3,756) has moved past Brett Hundley (3,740 in 2012) into first on all-time UCLA single-season passing yards list.
• UCLA went 6-0 while playing in the Rose Bowl this season ... the last time the Bruins registered a perfect mark at home was in 2005 (6-0). Perfection in the Rose Bowl was also achieved in the 1987 (6-0) and 1985 seasons (5-0, including Rose Bowl game win).
• WR Jordan Lasley owns the P12 lead with six 100-yard receiving games this season... He has 29 catches for 593 yards (20.4 yds/catch) in last 3 games (197.3 yds/g ave.) vs. ASU, USC, Cal ... Lasley and Caleb Wilson (208 vs. Texas A&M) own the only 200-yard receiving games by P12 players this season.
• LB Kenny Young leads the team in tackles (101), and his average per game of 9.2 is second in P12... S Adarius Pickett is second with 81 stops (18th in P12 with 6.8 avg.), S Jaleel Wadood is third with 70 overall tackles (15th in P12 7.0 avg.); CB Nate Meadors tops the team with 10 pass break-ups, which is tied for 8th in the P12; Young, DL Jacob Tuioti-Mariner and DL Chigozie Nnoruka lead with 7.5 TFLs; Tuioti-Mariner tops the team with 5.5 sacks (16th in P12 with 0.46 avg.) and had a career-best 10 stops vs. ASU ... He has 17 tackles in last three games.
