Washington Huskies opponent preview: Week 5 – UCLA Bruins
The Washington Huskies head to Los Angeles for Friday Night Lights against UCLA. Here is a look at this week’s opponent.
The Washington Huskies take on UCLA Bruins this Friday night at the Rose Bowl. Like the Huskies, UCLA is also undefeated with a 4-0 record. Last Saturday, they beat Colorado 45-17.
UCLA Offense
Quarterback
Dorian Thompson-Robinson, a fifth-year senior, is the Bruins’ starting quarterback. The dual-threat QB is now into his fourth as UCLA’s starter.
So far in 2022, Thompson-Robinson completed 80 of 107 passes for 896 yards with 8 touchdowns and 1 interception. Additionally, he has run the ball 21 times for 170 yards and 2 touchdowns.
However, half of his run production and both TDs came in UCLA’s opening game against Bowling Green. UW will have to find a way to stop DTR without giving up a big play to another Bruin.
No doubt the Washington Huskies edge rushers and linebackers will be coming for Thompson Robinson with the same gusto they did last week when they sacked Stanford’s Tanner McKee 8 times. It would be nice to see UW’s defense have back-to-back great games.
Running Back
The Bruins like to run more than pass. With senior Zach Charbonnet as the primary ball carrier, they average 220.5 rushing yards a game.v
Charbonnet is a major threat. Last year, he led all Pac-12 running back in 100-yard games, including the 131 he hung on Washington. Against Colorado, he had 111 yards and 3 touchdowns on only 9 carries.
Receivers
The Bruins go with three wide receivers. At the “X” position is Jake Bobo, who leads the team with 228. The grad transfer from Duke has one touchdown this season which came against Southern Alabama in game three.
At the other outside receiver spot or “Z” is junior Kam Brown. Currently, he leads the Bruins with 20 receptions. Last year his best game was against Huskies Head Coach Kalen DeBoer’s former team Fresno State, where he had five catches for 111 yards and a touchdown.
Senior Kazmeir Allen is the slot receiver. Washington will have to account for him because Allen can break big gains at any time. He led the Pac-12 last season in kickoff returns with a 29 yards per return average.
The tight end is senior Michael Ezeike. A reserve until this season, he has seven catches so far this season.
UCLA Defense
On defense, the Bruins go with a traditional 4-3, using two edge rushers, two defensive tackles, three linebackers, two safeties, and two cornerbacks.
Defensive Line
UCLA’s two starting edge rushers are senior Bo Calvert and junior Gabriel Murphy. Last season Calvert led the Bruins in sacks but has none in 2022.
At defensive tackle are redshirt freshman Jay Toia and Jacob Sykes, a graduate transfer from Harvard. Last year Sykes was All-Ivy league.
Linebackers
Junior JonJon Vaughns, senior Darius Muasau, and junior Kain Medrano are the three starting linebackers. Vaughns has 20 tackles and an interception this year. Muasau, a transfer this year from Hawaii, has 21 tackles and a fumble recovery.
But the linebacker the Washington Huskies should be wary of is someone they should be very familiar with. Laiatu Latu is a former Husky who was told last year by the UW medical staff that he should retire due to a neck injury.
Latu withdrew from UW, transferred to UCLA, got a clean bill of health, and was the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week with four sacks against Colorado last Saturday.
Defensive Back
In the defensive backfield are senior safeties Stephan Blaylock and Mo Osling III. Blalock is very experienced and on a streak of 35 consecutive starts.
UCLA’s cornerbacks are newly promoted John Humphrey and redshirt freshman Devin Kirkwood. The Huskies will also see plenty of Azizi Hearn, a graduate transfer from Wyoming.
If Kirkwood’s name sounds familiar, it is. In last year’s UW-UCLA matchup, he intercepted a pass near the end of the game to keep Washington from winning.
This unit plays the run very well, allowing just 84.3 yards per game and 2.6 yards per carry. The Huskies will have to be creative in their play calling because UCLA is pretty good against the pass as well.
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Even though both teams are undefeated and UCLA is at home, the Washington Huskies are 2.5-point favorites. Go Dawgs!