This post was updated Nov. 13 at 11:48 p.m.
One stop stood between the Bruins and a chance to clinch win No. 9.
It’s a tale as old as time for the blue and gold. The trailing Wildcats lined up on 4th-and-4 desperately in need of a score.
Quarterback Jayden de Laura had time in the pocket, ultimately unloading toward the end zone. His pass fell directly into the waiting arms of wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan.
No. 12 UCLA football (8-2, 5-2 Pac-12) would have one last chance, but the blue and gold couldn’t overcome Arizona (4-6, 2-5), falling 34-28 at the Rose Bowl on Saturday night. The Wildcats’ win puts the Bruins on the outside looking in for a Pac-12 championship berth.
Coach Chip Kelly said that whether it was an upset or not, his team didn’t put itself in a position to win.
“I look at it as we didn’t make enough plays to win a football game,” Kelly said. “We don’t get into the narrative of inspired, not inspired, who’s ranked, who’s unranked. I think everybody is really good. We knew this football team was really, really good.”
McMillan’s late score set redshirt senior quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson and company up with 65 seconds to drive 72 yards with no timeouts. And while the Bruins found themselves knocking on the door with three straight completions to open the possessions, Thompson-Robinson missed on his next four attempts.
With the clock at triple zeroes, Thompson-Robinson fired one last pass at the back of the end zone. A diving attempt by redshirt senior wide receiver Jake Bobo came up empty, however, as the Bruins’ Hail Mary hopes were dashed.
“It was our Hail Mary play. We had one opportunity to try to put it in the end zone one last time,” Thompson-Robinson said. “The ball didn’t roll our way.”
Arizona entered the weekend with the seventh-best passing attack in the nation, but the Wildcats turned to their backfield early. After the teams traded empty possessions, Arizona went 55 yards in seven plays, six of which came on the ground.
Wildcat running back Michael Wiley lined up in the slot out of a bunch on the left side before coming across the formation and taking a carry straight up the gut for six.
The Wildcats went right back to their bread and butter on their ensuing drive, marching down the field through the air. A second straight UCLA punt set Arizona up with a chance to go up two scores, but the Wildcats’ drive had seemingly stalled deep in the Bruins’ territory.
De Laura had other plans, however. Facing a 3rd-and-18 from the UCLA 22-yard line, the Arizona quarterback scrambled right before firing a strike to Wiley, who waltzed in for his second score of the night.
Kelly said the Bruins simply couldn’t contain de Laura when it mattered the most.
“We ran into a really good quarterback,” Kelly said. “He extended plays like nobody we played against this year, and I can’t recall since we’ve been here a kid that’s run around like that. All those big plays he made when he was running around were the difference in the football game.”
Scoreless in the first quarter for the first time all season, the Bruins wouldn’t be held off the board for long. A 12-play, 73-yard march down the field followed by a five-play, 99-yard drive knotted the score at 14 apiece.
The momentum had seemingly flipped until de Laura put the ball right back in UCLA’s court. The quarterback scrambled to his left on 3rd-and-4 before throwing a laser across his body for a gain of 28 and a first down.
Then de Laura turned to his legs, escaping the pocket and scrambling for another first down. And finally, the quarterback punched it in himself with a three-yard touchdown run to put his team back on top and ensure the Bruins would enter the halftime locker room with a deficit.
De Laura would finish the night 22-of-28 through the air with 315 passing yards and three total touchdowns to his name.
“I just feel like it’s the way he carries himself. He’s very confident in his play, and it shows,” said redshirt senior defensive back Mo Osling III. “Hats off to him. He did a great job tonight.”
Neither of the nation’s top-10 offenses found much traction in the third quarter, but Charbonnet’s second one-yard score of the game evened the score once more.
The Bruins and Wildcats traded blow after blow in the fourth. A field goal gave the control back to Arizona before Charbonnet punched in his third.
But McMillan’s 17-yard touchdown reception on 4th-and-3 proved to be the game-winner. The Wildcats tacked on another field goal late to increase their lead to six, a touchdown difference the Bruins couldn’t make up.
“Probably a step away from making a play and winning the football game,” Kelly said. “We were a step away in a few things tonight.”
While an Oregon loss earlier in the evening had put UCLA in control of its own destiny in the Pac-12, the Bruins’ defeat leaves them needing help to earn a Pac-12 championship berth.
