UCLA
1-1 , 1-1
California
0-1 , 0-1
UCLA Football Wins Home Opener Against Cal
November 15, 2020 | Football
PASADENA, Calif. – UCLA football (1-1) put up its first victory of the season defeating California (0-1) 34-10 in its home opener Sunday afternoon at the Rose Bowl.
UCLA quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson completed 14-of-26 passes for 196 yards and accounted for four of the Bruins' five total touchdowns. The junior has now had a hand in nine of UCLA's 11 touchdowns on the season.
Cal capitalized on a blocked punt and took an early 3-0 lead in the first quarter, but the Golden Bears would trail for the remainder of the contest after the UCLA offense got rolling. The Bruins would later respond with a 15-play, 88-yard touchdown drive that was capped by a 2-yard carry from Thompson-Robinson into the endzone. The drive included an 11-yard carry from Demetric Felton and gave the Bruins a 7-3 lead at the end of the first quarter.
A 27-yard connection from Thompson-Robinson to Charles Njoku gave the redshirt freshman his first-career reception and touchdown, putting UCLA up 14-3 to open the second frame. The nine-play, 77-yard drive included a 17-yard Thompson-Robinson carry and an 18-yard Greg Dulcich reception to give the Bruins their first double-digit lead of the season.
Cal answered with a touchdown of its own to cut the deficit to four, but Thompson-Robinson found Dulcich for a 44-yard reception, which set Chase Cota up for a 6-yard catch in the endzone to put the Bruins up 20-10. Cota logged his fourth-career touchdown while Dulcich finished the afternoon logging a team-high 80 receiving yards.
After Caleb Johnson snagged an interception off a deflection, the UCLA offense got the ball back at the Cal's 13-yard line, with Kyle Philips hauling in a five-yard touchdown pass from Thompson-Robinson, widening the Bruins' lead to 27-10.
UCLA's final scoring drive came early in the fourth quarter with a dominating possession on the ground. Felton took six straight carries and compiled 41 total yards before Brittain Brown capped off the drive with a 31-yard score to extend the UCLA advantage to 34-10.
Felton logged a team-high 25 carries, totaling 107 yards on the ground for the afternoon.
UCLA's defense held Cal to converting just 4-of-14 on third downs. Qwuantrezz Knight and Osa Odighizuwa both logged five tackles on the day, recording 1.0 and 1.5 sacks, respectively.
UCLA will face No. 11 Oregon on the road next Saturday, Nov. 21 at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore. The game will be nationally televised on ESPN.
Team Stats
CAL 3, UCLA 0
CAL - Longhetto, Dari 31 yd field goal 6 plays, 3 yards, TOP 2:38
CAL 3, UCLA 7
UCLA - Thmpsn-Robinson 2 yd run (Barr-Mira, N kick), 15 plays, 88 yards, TOP 6:20
CAL 3, UCLA 14
UCLA - Njoku, Charles 27 yd pass from Thmpsn-Robinson (Barr-Mira, N kick) 9 plays, 71 yards, TOP 3:04
CAL 10, UCLA 14
CAL - Garbers, Chase 8 yd run (Longhetto, Dari kick), 12 plays, 75 yards, TOP 4:35
CAL 10, UCLA 20
UCLA - Cota, Chase 6 yd pass from Thmpsn-Robinson (Barr-Mira, N kickfailed) 5 plays, 67 yards, TOP 1:14
CAL 10, UCLA 27
UCLA - Philips, Kyle 5 yd pass from Thmpsn-Robinson (Barr-Mira, N kick) 3 plays, 13 yards, TOP 1:22
CAL 10, UCLA 34
UCLA - Brown, Brittain 31 yd run (Barr-Mira, N kick), 8 plays, 78 yards, TOP 4:15
