The box score for the UCLA football team’s 29-21 loss against the Arizona Wildcats will read that the Bruins only recorded one sack and had five tackles for losses.
What it won’t tell you is that UCLA had opportunities aplenty to bring the ball carrier down behind the line of scrimmage, but couldn’t finish the play.
Missed tackles plagued the Bruins (3-5, 1-4 Pac-10) throughout the game, and extended the Wildcats’ drives.
“It’s third and five, and (the quarterback) gets the first down and gains 15 yards,” junior free safety Rahim Moore said. “If we stop him right there in the backfield, its fourth down, punt, our offense gets the momentum, they might score.
“But we missed the tackle, or we missed the running back, or missed the receiver and they’re just constantly moving the chains. And an offense like Arizona, when you give them that momentum, there’s no telling what they’re going to do because they’re a great offense.”
UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel praised his team for its effort, but did acknowledge the tackling issues.
“Certainly there were some missed tackles,” Neuheisel said. “And at this point in the season you’d hope to be making those, but you also have to give some credit to the guy making you miss.”
On many occasions, that guy was Arizona (7-1, 4-1) quarterback Matt Scott. For much of the game, Scott had plenty of time to read the field and find his targets, which he did 24 out of 36 times for 319 yards and a touchdown. When the Bruins brought pressure, he managed to free himself from the grasp of the defender and buy more time to make a play.
“You don’t get a lot of chances to get sacks, so when you do get them, you have to make them,” junior linebacker Akeem Ayers said. “It’s very frustrating not making that big play when your team really needs it.”
Moore said his team needs to work on bringing the ball carrier to the ground after making contact.
“Tackling drills, just constantly getting to the ball, wrapping up, squeezing,” Moore said. “A couple times we was there, we just didn’t wrap.”
With the injuries the Bruins have had to deal with recently, it will be difficult to work on tackling. The Bruins suffered another blow on Saturday when junior linebacker Steve Sloan strained his hamstring. Sloan was starting in place of redshirt sophomore linebacker Patrick Larimore after he dislocated his shoulder during the Bruins’ loss to Oregon on Oct. 21. Defensive coordinator Chuck Bullough said the coaching staff will have to be careful with addressing the tackling problems in practice.
“Obviously everybody knows about the injury situation we have,” Bullough said. “So if you have tackling live as a team, if you lose somebody, then obviously you’re playing guys who are third and fourth-teamers down the line, so we’ll have to reassess that as a defensive staff.”
Though the Bruins gave Scott credit for being shifty enough to escape potential sacks, they hold only themselves responsible for not finishing tackles.
“Those are plays you’ve got to make,” Ayers said. “That’s not on anybody but ourselves “¦ big game like this you’ve got to just make those plays, which we didn’t, and it definitely had a huge impact on the outcome of the game.”