UCLA
3-9 , 3-6
Stanford
7-4 , 5-3
UCLA Edged by Stanford, 49-42, in Wild Season Finale
November 24, 2018 | Football
LOS ANGELES – The UCLA football team wrapped up its 2018 season with a 49-42 loss to Stanford on Saturday afternoon at the Rose Bowl in a back-and-forth, see-saw affair.
The Bruins (3-9) led as late as the 8:20 mark of the fourth quarter after freshman running back Martell Irby scored his first career touchdown, but Cardinal (7-4) quarterback K.J. Costello responded on the ensuing drive with his fifth passing touchdown of the day to make it 47-42 and put the visitors up for good.
UCLA was led offensively by senior quarterback Wilton Speight, who registered a career-high 466 yards passing in the loss. He completed 29 of his 47 passes and had one interception.
Redshirt junior tight end Caleb Wilson was the Bruins' top receiver, logging a season-best 184 yards on nine catches. Junior wide receiver Theo Howard added 88 yards on five catches.
Joshua Kelley led the Bruins in rushing, totaling 55 yards on 18 carries. He also had a pair of touchdowns on the ground, giving him touchdowns in eight straight games to close out the season. It was the third multi-TD game of the campaign for the UC Davis transfer.
Stanford meanwhile was led by Costello's five passing scores and 344 yards. Wide receiver JJ Arcega-Whiteside had three touchdowns and 106 yards on seven catches. Trenton Irwin had 103 yards and one receiving touchdown. Bryce Love was the Cardinal's rushing leader with 85 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries.
Junior kicker JJ Molson opened the scoring with a 38-yard field goal on UCLA's first drive of the game, but the Bruins had to fight back in the first half after falling behind by as many as 11.
Speight and Kelley helped right the ship for the Bruins before the halftime break, allowing UCLA to head into the locker room trailing by just a single score. Speight, who started the game completing just one of his first five passes, responded by going 9-11 to close the half. Kelley capped off scoring drives for the Bruins with touchdown runs of 12 yards and one yard, the latter a fourth down goal-line ram-in that was initially ruled short of the end zone but was overturned by video replay.
The Bruins converted on another fourth down on their first drive of the second half, with Speight finding redshirt sophomore Devin Asiasi over the middle for a 25-yard catch and run. That conversion turned out to be critical, as on the next play Irby carried to the right and walked into the end zone untouched for a game-tying touchdown that set up the back-and-forth that would follow throughout the remainder of the game.
After Irby's score, Stanford immediately responded to take the lead. Love set up the drive for the Cardinal with a 22-yard rush that put the visitors in the red zone at the UCLA 18. A few players later, Costello found Arcega-Whiteside in the back right corner of the end zone for the go-ahead touchdown.
Stanford took advantage of a UCLA fumble on the ensuing possession to open its biggest lead of the day, as Costello and Arcega-Whiteside connected again for a two-yard jump ball touchdown at the left pylon.
UCLA began its charge back starting with 2:21 left in the third, as sophomore defensive end Martin Andrus Jr. broke through the line and tackled Love in the end zone a split second after receiving a handoff in the end zone, delivering two points for UCLA. It was the Bruins' first safety since the 2012 season (Anthony Barr).
The Bruins received another rarity moments later, as on the ensuing kickoff sophomore corner Darnay Holmes danced through the Cardinal defense and evaded a desperate lunging tackle from the kicker for a 93-yard touchdown, the Bruins' first kickoff return TD since 2014. That score brought UCLA within five at 41-36.
??: @ProwayDarnay
— UCLA Football (@UCLAFootball) November 24, 2018
??: "Time to celebrate!!"#BeatStanford | #GoBruins pic.twitter.com/XkaT1rzI9h
UCLA kept the momentum rolling in the fourth quarter, re-taking the lead at the 9:27 mark. Speight capped off the 90-yard rally with a one-yard touchdown run, successfully fooling the defense with a fake handoff before taking off to the left and entering the endzone untouched.
Unfortunately, that lead was short-lived as Stanford came right back to score on their next possession and take the lead for good. After back-to-back first down runs on the first two plays of the drive, Costello hit wide receiver Osiris St. Brown down the field in stride for a 52-yard touchdown score. After the Cardinal converted on the two-point conversion, the visitors led 49-42.
UCLA got into the red zone one more time, as Caleb Wilson turned a mid-range catch into a 66-yard completion at the 2:30 mark after using an explosive cut at the left sideline to shake multiple defenders and get back into the open field. However, the Cardinal came up with two sacks and forced a pair of incomplete passes to snuff out the drive.
Team Stats
STAN 0, UCLA 3
UCLA - Molson, Jj 38 yd field goal 4 plays, 2 yards, TOP 0:42
STAN 7, UCLA 3
STAN - A.-Whiteside,JJ 19 yd pass from Costello,K (Toner,J kick) 5 plays, 62 yards, TOP 2:12
STAN 10, UCLA 3
STAN - Toner,J 30 yd field goal 6 plays, 25 yards, TOP 3:02
STAN 10, UCLA 6
UCLA - Molson, Jj 35 yd field goal 8 plays, 57 yards, TOP 3:20
STAN 17, UCLA 6
STAN - Love,B 2 yd run (Toner,J kick), 7 plays, 75 yards, TOP 3:49
STAN 17, UCLA 13
UCLA - Kelley, Joshua 12 yd run (Molson, Jj kick), 9 plays, 75 yards, TOP 3:37
STAN 24, UCLA 13
STAN - Irwin,T 37 yd pass from Costello,K (Toner,J kick) 3 plays, 37 yards, TOP 0:16
STAN 24, UCLA 20
UCLA - Kelley, Joshua 1 yd run (Molson, Jj kick), 7 plays, 75 yards, TOP 1:50
STAN 27, UCLA 20
STAN - Toner,J 20 yd field goal 3 plays, 24 yards, TOP 0:22
STAN 27, UCLA 27
UCLA - Irby, Martell 12 yd run (Molson, Jj kick), 9 plays, 75 yards, TOP 2:41
STAN 34, UCLA 27
STAN - A.-Whiteside,JJ 23 yd pass from Costello,K (Toner,J kick) 10 plays, 75 yards, TOP 5:17
STAN 41, UCLA 27
STAN - A.-Whiteside,JJ 2 yd pass from Costello,K (Toner,J kick) 4 plays, 21 yards, TOP 1:30
STAN 41, UCLA 29
UCLA - Andrus, Martin 3 yd safety
STAN 41, UCLA 36
UCLA - Holmes, Darnay 93 yd kickoff return (Molson, Jj kick)
STAN 41, UCLA 42
UCLA - Speight, Wilton 1 yd run (Speight, Wilton passfailed), 13 plays, 90 yards, TOP 4:35
STAN 49, UCLA 42
STAN - St. Brown,O 52 yd pass from Costello,K (Love,B rush) 3 plays, 75 yards, TOP 1:08
