Well, our Bell Week coverage has been a bit of a day late/dollar short affair, but what do you want for nothin'? Rubber biscuit? Let's reminisce about one of the most unintentionally hilarious seasons in recent Big Ten memory (excluding the immensely unintentionally hilarious Nebraska seasons that crop up on a regular basis).
What were the expectations?
MaximumSam: I'm not sure anyone on earth had any expectations for UCLA other than to play and lose a lot of games.
Transient Buckeye: As noted by their soon-to-be-fired head coach, Deshaun Foster, there was a strong expectation that UCLA could be found in Los Angeles. And if your team had UCLA on the schedule last season, you expected that you were getting a win.
AlmaOtter: I fondly recall the chatter in the OTR Survivor Pool early on as to when it was the best time to pick the Bruins to get a win. IIRC, half of the pool got bounced when UCLA lost to UNLV. Hopes were NOT good.
So, how'd it go?
MaximumSam: They were actually much better than anyone expected.
Transient Buckeye: Were they, though? The Bruins did post an impressive three-game winning streak in October, beating Penn State in Pasadena as a massive underdog, going on the road and thoroughly demolishing a Michigan State squad that was in full "pack up the bus" mode, and then coming back home and notching a win over October Maryland. But before and after that three-game stretch, it was mostly beatdowns. They lost a one-score game to Nebraska. Let me repeat: They lost a one-score game. To Nebraska.
MaximumSam: Hey that was three more games than I expected.
AlmaOtter: 0-3 in the non-con and an opening B1G loss to Northwestern in the Bunny Hutch was far worse than expected. I think I'm recalling correctly that they had not led in any game at any point. Every game seemed foreordained and played out like a beatdown. And then the Penn State absurdity happened. Did that salvage everything? Hell no. But ripping off three conference wins after firing Deshaun Foster helped to make the sting of the rest of the season hurt a bit less.
What were the highlights?
Transient Buckeye: The Penn State game might've been the most out-of-nowhere result the Big Ten produced last season. It wasn't surprising that the Lions came out a little flat and uninspired, given they'd just taken a crushing overtime loss to Oregon the week before. But UCLA had done absolutely nothing to indicate they'd be capable of putting up meaningful resistance. They rolled into that game at 0-4, and looked like a team that was destined for 0-12. Surprisingly, though, they came out playing very aggressively, and had an inspired game plan that let them jump out to a huge halftime lead. Then they held on for dear life, weathering Penn State's second-half comeback attempt and their own determined efforts to blow the game late. It was this game, not the Oregon game, that set in motion the chain of events that led to James Franklin's departure from Happy Valley.
BoilerUp89: They massacred the survivor pool on multiple occasions.
And the lowlights?
Transient Buckeye: Most of the rest of the season. Going 0-for-the-noncon was not a good way to begin the season. Losing to Utah is understandable, but UCLA was utterly dominated from the opening kickoff. They also dropped games to UNLV and New Mexico, both of whom were solid G5 teams. This feels mostly like a failure of scheduling. Given the state of its roster, UCLA needed some auto-wins built into nonconference play, and they got none. After the dead-Bruin bounce of early October that followed Deshaun Foster's firing, they went back to getting murdered in November. Outside of the aforementioned one-score loss to Nebraska, the Bruins played Indiana, Ohio State, Washington, and USC down the stretch, losing those four games by an average margin of 45-10.
Any memorable and or absurd moments?
Transient Buckeye: I already did this during Land Grant week, but the entire UCLA-Penn State game was a study in absurdity. Just in case you missed it last time:
The first-quarter onside kick is a personal favorite of mine. Catch it at the 3:12 mark.
