This post was updated Oct. 31 at 5:32 p.m.
Luke Duncan’s Halloween costume left the Wolf Pack terrified in his return to the Rose Bowl on Saturday.
The former Bruin dressed up as a starting quarterback, but he couldn’t keep the act up for long.
No. 7 UCLA football (8-0, 5-0 Big Ten) picked off Duncan three times in a 27-0 win that left Nevada (3-5, 2-2 Mountain West) tangled in tricks with hardly a treat. The Bruins are 8-0 for the first time since 2005 and just the second time in the 21st century. The shutout is UCLA’s first since 2015.
“To get yourself to 8-0, that’s a big deal, and to shut a team out at any level is a big deal,” said coach Bob Chesney. “I like where we’re at, and there’s a whole lot more that we have to continue to step up. These next four games are going to be very physical, and what we put out there at moments isn’t going to work.”
The Rose Bowl proved to be Duncan’s haunted house from the jump. His first pass was intercepted by senior defensive back Scooter Jackson. His sixth attempt was picked off by fifth-year linebacker Jalen Woods. His eighth and final attempt ended up in the hands of senior defensive back Derrick Barksdale, who ran it back for a pick-six.
Duncan completed just one pass Saturday and spent most of the afternoon where he spent most of his Bruin career – the sideline. Backup quarterback AJ Bianco first came in with 7:33 left in the first quarter and would remain Nevada’s field general for a majority of the affair, with true freshman Reeve Slone also making an appearance to close the game.
Bianco completed just six of his 13 passes for 71 yards.
“We practice hard, we play hard, we play hard together,” Barksdale said. “It’s just a testament to all of our hard work.”
Meanwhile, the Bruins’ ground attack found itself back in a funk. UCLA’s 120 total rushing yards are its fewest in a single game this season outside of a 120-yard showing against Wisconsin on Oct. 17.
Fifth-year running back Wayne Knight had his seven-game rushing touchdown streak snapped – but he did reel in the team’s only passing touchdown, bringing his season total to 14. UCLA’s leading rusher finished with 53 yards on 11 carries. Knight has followed three straight games where he had 100 rushing yards with three straight where he had fewer than 60.
Fellow running backs fifth-year Anthony Woods and senior Jaivian Thomas couldn’t get the ground game going either, finishing with 36 yards on eight carries and 29 yards on five carries, respectively.
Senior quarterback Ty Dieffenbach won his third-straight game as UCLA’s starting quarterback. He compiled 178 yards on 16-of-30 passing with a touchdown to Knight.
Defensively, UCLA limited Nevada to 1.9 yards per carry for a total of 65 rushing yards. The Wolf Pack have had as many as 323 rushing yards in a single game this season, and until Saturday, had a season-low of 95 in a single game.
Junior defensive lineman Sahir West and fifth-year defensive lineman Aiden Gobaira combined for three sacks and five tackles for loss.
“We prepare each week, in and out, like it’s our Super Bowl because it is,” Gobaira said. “We got to be 1-0 every week. That’s all.”
Senior defensive back Ty Lee would end the game picking off Slone for the team’s fourth interception, giving the ball back to a Bruin offense that just needed to kneel the ball to victory.
Facing a mid-major team this late into the season has brought up some skepticism about the Bruins’ strength of schedule.
However, whether UCLA is truly a top-10 team or just pretending to be one will have to wait until after Halloween.
