The UCLA Bruins made it look easy as they flew past the Maryland Terrapinswith a 54-3 win in a dominating performance at the SECU Stadium on Saturday.
The Bruins were held scoreless in the first quarter, but they awoke in the second and had seven touchdowns in the next three quarters to leave no doubt they would start the season with a 4-0 record. Here were five takeaways from the Bruins thrilling performance in College Park, Md.
Defense leads the way
UCLA‘s defense improved mightily from their soft performance against the Purdue Boilermakers last week by holding Maryland’s offense without a touchdown. Terrapins sophomore signal caller Malik Washington was under duress as the Bruins sacked him twice, took away Maryland’s ground game and forced five turnovers. When the Blue and Gold left the field, Maryland had just 181 total yards of offense.
Turnovers galore
The Bruins fumbled the ball twice during the game, which needs to be corrected. However, UCLA’s defense has become a turnover machine that gave the offense multiple extra opportunities. The Bruins intercepted Washington four times this game with two of them being returned to the house in the third quarter. The last turnover was a fumble that was forced on special teams late in the fourth quarter.
Offensive run game
The Bruins dominated the Terrapins run defense with a four rushing touchdown performance from four different running backs. UCLA’s ground game has continued to be a tone shifter as it propelled the Bruins to a three touchdown lead in the second quarter. UCLA’s passing attack will need to catch up, but the run game has been too good to be stopped so far.
Mr. Do-It-All
Speaking of the ground game, UCLA’s leading scorer, senior running back Wayne Knight added another rushing touchdown to his portfolio for his ninth touchdown of the season. He was the Bruins leading rusher with 10 carries going for 100 yards and was the second best receiver with three receptions for 35-yards. Knight has been UCLA’s best weapon this year and he doesn’t appear to be slowing down any.
Third down problems
It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows for the Bruins in College Park, Md. UCLA converted 2-of-10 attempts on third down. Fortunately for them, their defense made every yard difficult for Maryland and held them to just 1-of-15 third down conversion. However, the expectation can’t be that it will always be the case. The Bruins will need to be more efficient in future outings if they want to upset a team such as their next opponent, the Oregon Ducks on Oct. 10.
This article originally appeared on UCLA Wire: Five takeaways in UCLA Bruins blowout performance against Maryland
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