This post was updated Oct. 10 at 8:04 p.m.
A top-five defense exists in Westwood in 2023.
It’s not led by basketball coaches Mick Cronin or Cori Close, nor does it involve fielding grounders with leather gloves or goalies making diving saves with padded ones.
Instead, it belongs to the Bruins’ football team – a program that has frequently had a statistically average to below-average defense over the past decade – that has shut down opposing offenses throughout the five games this season.
Redshirt senior defensive back Alex Johnson summarized things simply after another strong performance at the Rose Bowl on Saturday.
“The defense, everybody’s getting after it,” Johnson said.
No. 18 UCLA football’s defense has now held opposing offenses to just 10 points or fewer in four consecutive games after limiting then-No. 13 Washington State’s offense to 10 points in last Saturday’s 25-17 win. Only Coastal Carolina was able to break that threshold in the season-opener, but the Chanticleers were still held to 13 points by a Bruin defense that ranks tied for eighth in the nation in scoring defense.
After strong performances against varied competition, UCLA’s defense held a Washington State team that was fifth in the nation at 45.8 points per game to just 10.
The Cougars also boasted the best third-down conversion rate in the country, but they converted just 15.4% of their 13 third-down opportunities against the Bruins.
The team from Pullman even boasted the second-most passing yards per game in all of college football at 405.8 passing yards per game, and quarterback Cameron Ward entered the contest with 16 total touchdowns and zero interceptions.
Yet UCLA limited the passing attack to a season-low 197 passing yards, while Johnson and junior linebacker Oluwafemi Oladejo each grabbed a pick off of Ward.
Despite outperforming every UCLA defense of the last 20 years thus far, Oladejo said he was unsurprised by the early success.
“To be honest, no,” Oladejo said when asked about the newfound success. “Since spring (when) we got the new DC (defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn), we all came together as a team, and it’s just been constant growth. We’ve seen how well we can be and how much better we can be as well.”
The Bruins’ defense success has come under Lynn’s leadership in his first year.
The former Baltimore Ravens safeties and defensive backs coach has transformed UCLA’s secondary almost instantly, as the unit has gone from surrendering 273 passing yards per game in 2022 to just 189.6 so far in 2023. The Bruins had allowed at least 260 passing yards per game in the previous four seasons prior to Lynn’s arrival.
Even freshman quarterback Dante Moore praised the new member of the UCLA staff after Saturday’s victory.
“Coach Lynn is doing one hell of a job,” Moore said.
The former five-star recruit has contributed nearly as many points to the opposing team as his defense has allowed after throwing pick sixes in consecutive games. Moore’s pick six against Utah was responsible for seven of the Utes’ 14 points two weeks ago, and his similar mistake at the end of the first half against the Cougars put the Bruins behind at halftime.
Despite 11 collective turnovers from UCLA’s offense, the Bruins still have a plus-one turnover margin this season.
“When you have one hell of a defense that just does things … turnovers, fumbles, picks, just pressuring the quarterback and things like that … on the sideline we’re like, ‘All right, we’re getting the ball back whatever happens,’” Moore said. “Defense wins football games … our defense is doing really great.”
UCLA’s defense – not offense – has been the higher-ranked unit so far in 2023. Westwood has not experienced this version of success in a while, at least when it comes to the gridiron.
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