UCLA football (1-0) defeated Coastal Carolina (0-1) in a wire-to-wire 27-13 victory to open its season with a win for the third consecutive year. Sports staff writer Gavin Carlson gives his five main takeaways from Saturday’s contest.
Dante Moore, QB1?
From the moment five-star freshman quarterback Dante Moore flipped his commitment from Oregon to UCLA in December, coach Chip Kelly knew he’d have a quarterback race on his hands.
Kelly raised some eyebrows when he ranked redshirt junior Ethan Garbers first of three signal-callers who were set to play in the season opener.
He raised even more eyebrows with how he handled the quarterback rotation once UCLA football’s season-opener actually began Saturday night at the Rose Bowl.
After an up-and-down start from Garbers that included an opening touchdown drive and a brutal end zone interception, Kelly gave his prized recruit his first chance to make a statement.
Moore didn’t waste much time.
On just the third snap of his college career, the young quarterback was faced with a third-and-6 and a Coastal Carolina defensive line rolling towards him with pressure. But Moore was unfazed as he rolled to the right and unleashed a 39-yard dime on the sideline.
It was the most impressive throw of the night, until it wasn’t. He bested it.
After not playing for more than an hour and 15 minutes, and after a pair of unsuccessful Garbers drives, Moore dropped his first pass around 40 yards in the air perfectly into the waiting hands of redshirt sophomore wide receiver J.Michael Sturdivant, who took the ball into the end zone for a 62-yard touchdown.
Even with an interception of his own and no more touchdown drives for the remainder of the game, Moore had done enough to clearly outplay Garbers.
Whether Kelly elects to name one starting quarterback or continue his in-game rotations for the Bruins’ second game, anyone other than Moore taking the first snap in San Diego would be shocking.
A new star at WR
Moore was the biggest story, but Sturdivant had the best performance of any player making their UCLA debut.
The California transfer was on the other end of both of Moore’s special throws, but he was also targeted eight other times to make it an eye-opening 10 total.
Sturdivant only caught half of the 10 passes thrown his way between the two Bruin quarterbacks, but his five receptions were still good enough for 136 yards and a touchdown.
The 6-foot-3 receiver showed flashes as a deep threat last season for the Golden Bears, but he only eclipsed the 100-yard receiving mark once despite having five or more receptions in eight of his 12 contests.
Of course, Sturdivant won’t average 27.2 yards per catch every game the way he did Saturday night, but it’s clear he has unique big-play potential.
If Moore becomes the surefire quarterback going forward, those two could connect on deep passes all season long.
“J.Mike (Sturdivant) is a 10.3 100-meter dash runner and seeing him open in the field and raising his hands, I had to give him the ball,” Moore said after the game Saturday night. “Because I know he’s a playmaker, and you’ve got to give playmakers the ball.”
The Bruins haven’t had Sturdivant’s combination of size and speed in their receiving core in years.
They might just have stolen a star from the Golden Bears.
Shaky secondary still
Last year, UCLA allowed 273 passing yards per game, which ranked 117th in the country.
But most Bruins fans didn’t need that stat to know their team’s secondary was a liability. This has been a systemic issue within UCLA’s football program for years.
So in stepped new defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn – a former NFL defensive back and secondary coach for the Baltimore Ravens – to help fix the long-lasting issue.
After one week, the outlook on the secondary in 2023 is still foggy.
UCLA did force Coastal Carolina quarterback Grayson McCall to throw two interceptions in a game for the first time in his impressive career.
Defensive back Jaylin Davies came down with one of them, a huge pick in the red zone, to highlight an overall strong performance from the redshirt sophomore.
But opposite of Davies, the Bruins appear to have issues.
Junior Devin Kirkwood played a majority of the first half and appeared to be the locked-in starter on the other side of the field, but he was soon replaced after getting beat multiple times.
Though his replacement – senior John Humphrey – ended up with an interception of his own, it was only after he had given up a jump-ball touchdown reception and been beaten for a 52-yard catch down the sideline.
Even redshirt freshman Kamari Ramsey, who looked impressive as the team’s starting safety while he played, left the game early after coming off the field.
Plenty of question marks still remain in the positional unit that has been UCLA’s Achilles heel for years.
Deep front six
The secondary may be questionable, but the Bruins’ defensive line and linebackers were the opposite.
Despite playing with five defensive backs on the field on almost every play in Lynn’s Nickel 2-4-5 base defense, UCLA sacked McCall four times, forced a fumble and had seven total quarterback hurries.
Senior defensive lineman Laiatu Latu had three sacks of his own, as well as the forced fumble, and appears to be a top candidate for Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year.
But completing a feat more impressive than the sacks, the front six held the Chanticleers to just 56 rushing yards on 34 carries – only 1.6 yards per attempt.
Take out the plays where McCall was sacked or carried it himself, and Coastal Carolina’s other five rushers combined for just 61 yards on 24 carries. The average jumps to just 2.5 yards per rush.
The linebacking duo of redshirt senior Darius Muasau and senior Kain Medrano combined for 16 total tackles and one tackle for loss, and the Bruins have plenty of depth at that position.
And with redshirt junior defensive linemen Gabriel Murphy and Grayson Murphy and redshirt senior defensive lineman Carl Jones Jr. all contributing to UCLA’s 10 total tackles for loss, the unit headlined by Latu looks to be the Bruins’ best.
Lack of discipline
Despite the win, UCLA had far too many lapses in judgment for Kelly’s liking.
The Bruins committed six defensive penalties for 45 yards. More notably, four of the six were offsides penalties, and there were a few more infractions that were declined because the Chanticleers gained more yardage on the resulting free plays.
UCLA also committed two false starts in a two-minute span, despite being the home team in a quiet, half-empty Rose Bowl.
Redshirt junior defensive lineman Choé Bryant-Strother also had a late-game unnecessary roughness penalty offset by an identical infraction by an opposing player. However, it was still enough for Kelly to confront his own player on the sidelines after the mistake.
It’s only one game, but the Bruins were two Chanticleer field goals away from being in a much tighter ballgame Saturday night.
In closer games against stronger competition, those unforced errors could be the difference between winning and losing.
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