When UCLA football suffered another embarrassing 35-10 loss to New Mexico on Friday, DeShaun Foster showed he can’t lead the Bruins any further. Undisciplined decisions by him and his team are not being reduced or addressed in any way.
Foster’s coaching has not worked. The self-inflicted mistakes cost the Bruins two of the most winnable games on the schedule. The Bruins made questionable decisions throughout the New Mexico game.
The Bruins ended their 30-23 loss to UNLV with a strong second-half performance, which created optimism that the offensive unit could turn into a cohesive group– as long as they could manage the penalties. Junior tight end Jack Pederson spoke about this earlier in the week; the hope was to prevent offensive drives from stalling out.
Ugly numbers continue
According to ESPN, the Bruins had 13 penalties for 116 yards in their losing battle against the Mountain West Conference’s Lobos. In their previous Mountain West matchup against UNLV, they had 14 penalties for 129 yards.
Four-point game after three quarters — it was there
The game was there for the taking, but the Bruins were once again inept on offense with multiple false start penalties ending their drives. Due to the constant loss of yards to penalties, UCLA was able to amass only 10 points.
Coaches asleep at the wheel
The Bruins could have had another chance at scoring when their defense got a stop with a little over a minute left in the first half. UCLA ran the ball once for no gain and let the time dwindle down until their were fewer than 30 seconds on the clock.
After that debacle, redshirt sophomore quarterback Nico Iamaleava was somehow able to drive the team down the field near midfield with a second left. A false start penalty set the Bruins back and then they chose to run the ball and leave with no points.
The whole drive was a confusing mess because they had a chance to drive down the field and at least get a field goal. Instead, they wasted time and rushed to try and make something happen. After another self-inflicted penalty, they chose to just give up? That is not a winning mindset and shows a lack of football awareness.
No corrections in second half
The penalties continued to hurt the Bruins in the second half. Poorly executed screen passes and false starts littered the field. Coincidentally, New Mexico had even more success as it scored 21 points in the fourth quarter with long runs carrying the Lobos out of the Rose Bowl with a win.
No accountability at UCLA football
Foster’s management of the Bruins has led them to look and play terrible game-in and game-out. Self-inflicted wounds once again cost them another winnable game. The Bruins need a new head coach if they want any success.
They’ll never be able to compete against the likes of Indiana or Michigan State if they can’t stop hurting themselves. DeShaun Foster has shown that he doesn’t seem to know how to correct these persistent problems.
This article originally appeared on UCLA Wire: DeShaun Foster needs to be fired after another undisciplined performance
Reporting by Ryan Lorenz, UCLA Wire / UCLA Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
