Points have been difficult to come by for UCLA’s offense, but they are focusing on the few good drives in their second half performance against the UNLV Rebels to improve ahead of this week’s matchup against New Mexico.
Junior tight end Jack Pederson spoke with the media on Monday, Sep. 8 and discussed some of the takeaways the offense had from their second half performance of their 30-23 loss to the Rebels. That included their focus on improving on what the Bruins were able to do well and ensuring that penalties will no longer cause drives to stall out.
“Yeah, a lot of positives to take from that second half,” Pederson said. “That starts with coming in on Sunday and cleaning up the things that we— mistakes in the first half and being able to find what did work in the second half for us. I think there are a lot of great things to look at from that game from us in that second half offense, obviously. Like we mentioned earlier, the penalties that is something that we can control and that we can move on from and be able to grow from. So I think Coach Sunseri is phenomenal, has a great plan in place for this offense, Coach Foster as well and there is a lot to look forward to with us. There is still a lot of season left, so we are really excited and ready to go.”
According to ESPN, the Bruins have scored 33 points this season with an average per game of 16.5 points per game, which ranks them as the No. 19 worse offense in college football. However, 23 of those points came against UNLV and 20 of them came in the second half.
That shows their offense has potential because it definitely has the talent when it has redshirt sophomore quarterback Nico Iamaleava under center. They should have been able to move the ball with ease, but poor performance on the field and penalties hurt them significantly.
The Bruins had 14 penalties for 129 yards in their embarrassing loss to the Rebels and it seems like they don’t want a repeat. Disciplined teams don’t give their opponents the advantage due to mental mistakes, so it’s good to hear that UCLA is focusing on limiting penalties.
They head into week 3 at the bottom of the Big Ten with an 0-2 record and a gauntlet of a schedule ahead of them. If their offense can start rolling with Iamaleava and their defense can start putting together the pieces, then the Bruins might be able to at least notch a win this week against the New Mexico Lobos on Friday, Sep. 12.
This article originally appeared on UCLA Wire: UCLA offense focuses on second half performance before Week 3
Reporting by Ryan Lorenz, UCLA Wire / UCLA Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
