Analyzing the challenge for Colorado's offensive line against UCLA

Colorado’s offensive line has been one of the worst units in college football this year. That’s been no secret. They’ve allowed 35 sacks this season, ranking them 130th out of 132 qualifying teams. This weekend, they’ll have one of their toughest tests of the year as they go up against the UCLA Bruins’ defensive front. The Bruins’ defense has racked up 24 sacks in seven games, ranking them 10th in the country. On Thursday evening’s edition of the Andy Staples podcast, Pac-12 Network analyst Yogi Roth broke down the many different facets of this weekend’s matchup.

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How does Roth think this weekend’s game is going to unfold? “I think this is gonna be another fascinating one, right? We talked about Arizona’s quarterback situation. UCLA’s quarterback situation. My gut says they go Ethan Garbers. I don’t know if they go Dante Moore. A little bit of Colin Schlee. Who knows? But, they’re gonna run the football,” Roth began.

In the Bruins’ 42-7 victory over Stanford, Garbers got the majority of the work. He completed 20 of 28 passes for 240 yards, while tossing in two touchdowns with no interceptions. Garbers also ran for 51 yards on eight carries.

“And Carson Steele is a proven, legitimate Power Five back….It’s a part of what Chip Kelly wants to do. He loves repeating calls. If he can find a weakness, he’ll exploit it.” What did Stanford do? They ran the same play, it seemed like, seven times in the fourth quarter to beat Colorado in that comeback. Just kept running the same slant route,” Roth explained.

In 2022, Steele piled up over 1,500 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns for UCLA. This season, he’s run for 599 yards and six touchdowns.

Stanford was down 29-0 at halftime to Colorado. They stunned the Buffaloes, winning 46-43 in double overtime, capping off the largest comeback in Cardinal football history.

Roth did not hesitate when he made his pick for Saturday’s game and not surprisingly, he went with the Bruins. “So, I look at UCLA as the advantage here,” he said.

Roth can’t wait for the matchup between the Colorado offensive line and the UCLA defensive front

The biggest matchup that Roth is anticipating is he can’t wait to see how the Colorado offensive line handles one of the most dominant defensive units in the nation.

“The challenge and what I’ll be wanting to watch in this game is how does the offensive line of Colorado and Shedeur Sanders handle this defense of UCLA. Because it’s statistically on pace to be the best for the Bruins since 1988. D’Anton Lynn is their new defensive coordinator, son of Anthony Lynn. And they are an NFL defense and by that I mean, they’re not just gonna go play what they’ve played every game. They’re gonna give the opponent something new to deal with. An example, for the first four or five games this season, they were playing five down front. That’s what they were doing. They were covering everybody up on the offensive line and making it one on one,” Roth explained.

The UCLA defensive unit has been flat out dominant this year, only allowing 14.9 points per game, ranking them 10th in the country.

“Then they played Cameron Ward. Best passing offense, No. 2 offense in the country at the time. And they went with a three-man front and let Laiatu Latu roam all over that defensive front and he was a game wrecker the whole game.” Roth continued.

The Bruins’ defensive was dominant in that game, forcing four turnovers, pressuring the quarterback six times, and also racking up three sacks on Cam Ward. Coming into that game, Ward was averaging 347 yards passing, while completing 74.5% of his passes. Against the UCLA defense, he only managed to complete 19 of 39 passes for 197 yards and a touchdown. He also threw his first two interceptions of the season.

“So, I want to see how does this offensive front of Colorado which has struggled, especially when they don’t get that first first down and get into tempo mode. If they just have to execute, how do they do it? Against one of the better defenses in the country, not just out West. I go with UCLA in this game,” Roth explained.

Roth wanted to make sure to give Colorado and especially Deion Sanders plenty of credit for the turnaround job they’ve done this year with the Buffaloes.

“But I’m with ya. You have to give Coach Prime and Deion Sanders, his program a ton of credit. He got this team to believe. What did he do in the bye week? He made them practice. I know that. So, I’m excited to see how they come out,” he said.

Saturday’s matchup is a big-time opportunity for both teams on the recruiting front, too.

“It’s gonna be crazy though, because here in LA, you have these two teams. Colorado not playing like they did the first couple weeks of the season. It’s sold out. Tarps are off at the Rose Bowl. So, the buzz from Deion and in recruiting, you’d better believe, this is a huge opportunity for both teams in this ball game at the Rose Bowl,” the Pac-12 Network analyst noted.

UCLA and Colorado will face off on Saturday, Oct. 28th. Kick time for that one is set for 7:30 PM EST from the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. The game will be nationally televised on ABC.