The Bruins take down No. 15 Washington

PASADENA, Calif. (News4usonline) – Don’t look now, but the UCLA football team is still undefeated at this point in the college football season. The mighty Washington Huskies came to town and wound up getting whupped. UCLA, behind the passing and scrambling of quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson, upended No. 15 Washington with a stunning 40-32 win against the Huskies at the Rose Bowl Stadium.

“Our guys really competed, I thought our defense did a great job,” UCLA head coach Chip Kelly said afterward. “You know, [Michael] Penix led the nation in passing coming into this game. For our guys to get us that lead when we needed every inch of it, to put [Washington] behind on the scoreboard so it turned into a big throw game for them in the second half was huge.”

“I thought our guys did a great job in coverage, and we know how explosive their offense can be, to get them to turn it over twice in the first half was really big for us on the defensive side of the ball. It was important for us to not to turn it over at all – when you’re playing in conference games, if you win the turnover battle, you have a shot,” Kelly added.  

The Bruins won this game because of the play of Thompson-Robinson. Period. Thompson-Robinson proved to be the difference-maker. The numbers speak for themselves. Through the air, Thompson-Robinson made good on 72 percent of his passes for 315 yards and three touchdowns.

On the ground, the UCLA quarterback rushed for another 60 yards and a score. That’s 375 yards in total offense and four touchdowns against one of the better teams in the country. All four touchdowns that Thompson-Robinson contributed to the win took place in the second and third quarters when the Bruins outscored Washington, 31-9.        

“I just thought [Dorian Thompson-Robinson] was clutch,” Kelly said about his quarterback. “We have total confidence in everything that Dorian does, I think he has a great grasp on what we’re trying to do. You look at the last play, it’s third and six and we call a passing play, he put the ball exactly where it needed to be and converted the first down. That’s the confidence we have in him as a quarterback.”

All 5?? touchdowns from Win #??5??! pic.twitter.com/Ho20JuYEkG

— UCLA Football (@UCLAFootball) October 1, 2022

Thompson-Robinson is a redshirt senior now playing in his fifth season with the Bruins. So, he has seen it all as a college football player, especially going up against a tough opponent in a prime-time game. This is nothing new to him, Kelly said.

“He has played in a lot of really big football games for us,” said Kelly. “I go back to his freshman year.  His first start was at Oklahoma playing in front of 93,000.  The one thing about him is he doesn’t get fazed, doesn’t get rattled.  He’s as tough as they come, he takes hits, and he gets up and he continues to play.  He is a competitor, so it was really cool to see the game end the way it ended. He had three options on the play, went to one right away and ripped it on time. It was really a microcosm of how we feel about him.”

The feeling is mutual. To the surprise of many of being a good team, Thompson-Robinson is not shy about talking about what his teammates mean to him. They have his back, and he certainly has theirs. Collectively, the Bruins came away with a big win.    

“I think for me, I’m reading all the articles out there throughout the week saying that we are the worst 4-0 teams out there,” Thompson-Robinson said. “They’re writing us off. My boys came here with a chip on their shoulders. I think I told you all on Monday to see if Washington can run with us, not the other way around, so that’s my answer. I’m turned up. Ooh-wee.”

After being outscored 26-10 through the first two quarters, the Huskies tried to make a run at it, but it was a matter of being too late coming to the party. Washington scored 16 of their 22 points in the second half in the fourth quarter. Washington coach Kalen DeBoer was not happy with the play of his ballclub.     

“Obviously, a tough loss,” DeBoer said. “We played ourselves [into] too deep a hole in the first half and early third quarter. It was a team thing. You look at … you’ve got to get a stop, to match some scores early in the game. We hurt ourselves, some penalties, field position, weighed heavily in their favor I think. There’s a team that’s hurting in there because they expect to win. They came out at halftime and had a genuine belief that we could go win the football game. It didn’t go our way, we have to be better in so many things, but the guys are going to fight.”